Brayden's MRI on Friday

Thank you ALL for lifting up our little man on Friday.

Before all this stuff with HCV hit our radar, Brayden was scheduled to have an MRI done on his spinal chord. Brayden has a cyst that is growing on his spinal chord and we have it imaged in order to ensure that it is not putting any pressure or compression on the chord. This would decrease the amount of blood and oxygen carried to the brain and is extremely dangerous. We have had the cyst imaged twice, once in December right before we carried him home and then again last Spring. The MRIs did show that the cyst was developing and giving the spinal chord room to grow, without much compression. THAT IS GOOD!! We are needing this cyst to stay off that spinal chord until Brayden is late teens, due to the nature of the surgery.

When we arrived at the hospital, we were admitted due to the need for anestheia during the proceedure. If his heart rate or breathing fluctuated during the MRI they would keep him overnight for observance. A few hours after we arrived, the anesthiolgist came to talk to us about the proceedure. When she learned of B's recent blood work she said that she did not feel comfortable administering meds during this crucial time for his liver. Anesthesia alter the blood flow to the liver and is hard for the body to metabolize. She said that she would have to contact the Neuro Surgeon who ordered the MRI before she could cancel it and that she would try to contact him. PRAISE GOD..she was able to speak with Dr. Roberts and they did confirm that we were in a position to give his little liver some time before we proceeded with a MRI.

We were so very thankful that the Dr. was protective over our litle son's liver and agreed to give him some time to, LORD WILLING, clear this HCV. The Neuro Surgeon requested that we see him in clinic before we were able to leave and so we did have a very long wait to see him. After his exam of Brayden he discussed, at length, his concerns and projections regarding this cyst. He felt really good about the decision to postpone the MRI for 3 months and then we will see where B is with his blood work.

It was a double edged sword...we were so anxious to see how this cyst was developing however, so very thankful that we waited and gave B this opportunity to fight. So on the front of the spinal cyst, we will have to wait 3 months. In the meantime...that just give us all the time to lay this precious little one at the Father's feet and ask for healing. I would love for the cyst to just disappear! Wouldn't that be a fun conversation with the doctors?

David and I have come to remember one of our very first prayers for this little boy. We prayed that Brayden's life would point people to Christ and glorify the Father. We prayed that all that came into contact with him would hear of the healing, faithful, providing, and merciful Jesus that has worked miracles in this littles life and stand ready to do the same for all.

To God be the glory for all things He has done.....and will do yet again.

Kelli

Update on Mr. B

On September 20th Brayden went to see Dr. Mazade at Cook Children's. We go to see Dr. Mazade every 3-6 months for blood work. Since Brayden's birth mom was Hepatitis C positive, we have watched him relatively closely. He has always tested negative and so David & I had just kind of checked this off our list as CLEAR! Dr. Mazade even mentioned that he really didn't intend to find anything this time around but we would test one more time at 18 months, as protocol.

On Monday, September 27th, a week later I had a message from Dr. Mazade and it didn't sound good. When we talked, he informed me that Brayden had tested positive for HCP RNA. We would re-test in 3 months but it was likely that it looked as if Brayden had contracted the Hepatitis C virus. After the call, David & I started researching and reading everything we could get our hands on about Hep C. Neither of us knew very much about it. It seems that out of all the Heps, it's the bad one. There is so much conflicting information out there and seems to be very limited on case studies actually done on infants. Mose cases were on adults that had either contracted Hep c from a blood transfusion or from shared needle use. Either way, the informatoin we were gathering wasn't very comforting.

Later that afternoon we had another consult with the doctor becuase we both had so so many questions. What kind of test had been done? Seems there are several ones out there. We found that B had had HCV RNA qualatative test. This means that it was a detection test only. There is a quantative test that tells how much viral load is in him and which genome type he has. Seems there are a few different variations of Hep C and this is important when it comes to treatments and liver affects. This will be determined by a liver biopsy later down the road. We asked about current treatment, however, the treatments that are currently available are too harsh for infants and there is currently no cure.

We are seeing a specialist this week that will help us with diet and some possible natural supplements that we pray will help support his liver during this time. There have been some case studies that have shown that infants do carry the ability to "clear" themselves of the virus, however, it is a very very small possibility. We are praying for that Jesus Christ makes that small possibility a reality in our little son's life.

Please pray that Brayden will clear himself of all HCV RNA.
Please pray that God will give us wisdom in caring for him and make evident any threats that we can protect his liver from and known any remedies that will support his immune system during this time.
Please pray for Dr. Bain and Dr. Masade as they make decisions for his health.
Please pray that Brayden will not contract Hepatitis C.

Standing in Grace,

Kelli, David, & BrayJ