A door closed

I called the center for the study surgery on Monday and found out that we were excluded from the study. Because it is unsure if I really have antiphospholipid antibody syndrome the doctors do not feel it would be safe for me to be involved with the surgery. My initial reaction was to be upset because I really felt like this was what we were supposed to do. After thinking about it more, and talking to a few people I realized it wasn't something to be upset about. We put this decision in God's hands and only He knows what is best for us. So we will continue care here in Abilene with Dr. Holt and Dr. Mayberry. We have appointments with both of them Sept. 10th. I am looking forward to getting to see Cannon again on the ultrasound. Then we meet with Dr. Honeycutt, the pediatric neurosurgeon on the 11th at Cooks in Ft. Worth.
As I was so excited about going and having the surgery for Cannon I didn't realize how much I would miss out on by being gone. And now I am getting more excited about things I have to look forward to until he gets here.
Trey and I are trying to get things together to get a house. I can't wait to put it together and especially do Cannon's nursery. However we haven't decided exactly how we are going to decorate it. But that's all fun stuff to figure out. I am looking forward to getting to pick out all kinds of things for him.

So our specific prayer for now is that God will heal Cannon and he'll be born without any complications. And that the possibility of me having antiphospholipid will be erased.

Until next time!
Trey, Ali, & Cannon

Everyone has been telling us that we need to start a blog so here it is.

Well most of you know that we are expecting a little boy in January. We are soooo excited!!! Trey and I are looking forward to starting a family. Well last Thursday we saw one of our doctors, the specialist or perinatologist, Dr. Mayberry. We were having our 16 week ultrasound, hoping to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. I'll never forget the look on the Dr.'s face when he told us that the baby appears to have spina bifida. He showed us what he was seeing and explained the classic signs that were there. He then told us we were having a boy. And that he was going to send us to a Dr. in Ft. Worth, another perinatologist. We went to Ft. Worth on Sunday and got to spend the evening with my mom (her and my Aunt Teri drove up to meet us), aunts, and grandma and cousins. Monday we went to see Dr. Tabor and they did another ultrasound. He basically confirmed the diagnosis and said that he would set us up with a neurosurgeon, who would preform the surgery after the baby is born. We has also heard of a surgery that they do while the baby is still in the womb, however Dr. Tabor didn't think we would be candidates for it. And at this point I wasn't really feeling like it was something I wanted to do.

Well, my mom got the number for me to talk to someone that had actually had the surgery in 2003. I called Kim and talked to her about the surgery, it is still in the trial study stages so you have to qualify for it. If you do then there are 2 groups you can be in, a prenatal or postnatal surgery. And they select groups "randomly". After talking with Kim I felt like I had to do it. I really want to do everything I can to help Cannon. So Wednesday I called to center for the study and on Thursday that called and got all my information. Now we are waiting for the team of doctors to go over my health history to see if I am a candidate. The only red flag is the episode I had in April with my head. Whether it was a stroke or migraine. And the "antiphospholipid syndrome" clotting disorder (I will touch back on that in a bit). So please pray that this is not too significant for their study. Trey and I are looking at this as giving it all to God, and if it is His plan for us to have the surgery then we will qualify and everything will work itself out. Otherwise He will shut this door and open the one we need to follow through. All we really want is healing for Cannon. Please continue to pray for us to have the wisdom to know where to go from here. I have to believe that no matter what happens there is a reason that I may not understand at this point, and that God is ultimately in control.

We have an appointment with a pediatric surgeon at Cooks in Ft. Worth for Sept. 11. If the study doesn't work out and Cannon has surgery after he is born, this is who would do it. They would do an amniocentesis at about 37 weeks to check for lung development, and if his lungs are strong enough we would have a scheduled C-section.

Okay, antiphospholipid syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that was picked up on one of the labs I had done in the ER when I had the "stroke like" episode back in April. It is a clotting disorder that puts you at a higher risk for getting a blood clot. During pregnancy you have a bigger blood supply therefore you are already at risk for a clot, so add that with this disorder and I am at higher risk for clots, stroke, and miscarriage. I am continuing to take a baby aspirin and was also started on a blood thinner shot that I take every night.

It has been a lot to take in in such a short time. Between Cannon and I this pregnancy has gotten off to a rough start. However I am grateful that however scary it may be at first, these are both things we can get through. All three of us have been covered in prayer, and I would like to thank everyone for that. Please continue to pray for us. We are specifically praying for acceptance into the study so that we can have immediate treatment for Cannon. Our number one prayer is healing, however it may come.

I appologize for getting wordy at times, I just wanted to get everything in so everyone would be on the same page. It's starting to run together who knows what and who I need to tell what. Hopefully this blog will help keep everyone filled in. It's getting late, but I will try to get on this weekend and put some pictures.

God Bless!