Great strides

Mr. Victor is making great strides these days. He is definitely a crawler. And walking won't be far behind. He prides himself in letting go for a few seconds when standing up and holding onto something. But for now he is on all fours, exploring his world, not caring that he's likely to crawl right into a chair or sofa or wall, just because he can't see it there. He's fearless and that will do him well. Between May 5 and 15 we saw the eruption of his first 3 teeth with no ill effects. All of a sudden, there they were.

Oh, and he can ring the doorbell with his backside. Not something that just any baby can do.

Thank you to those of you who prayed for Victor and his MRI on Wednesday morning. After waiting 2 hours past his scheduled appointment, and trying to explain to a 1 year old that he couldn't eat due to the impending anesthesia (which is, by the way, impossible to explain), all went well.  I just spoke to the doctor this morning about the results of the MRI, all of which were exactly as expected.

Translated from doctor speak to Cindy's comprehension, and into written form for you, here are the more detailed results:

Viewing Victor's optic nerves was, of course, the reason for the test. The MRI confirmed that both optic nerves are smaller than they should be. Where the nerves join the brain, this is also smaller than normal. And finally, as you follow the optic tracks deep into the brain, these are also small. All this to say, Victor's optic nerves do not have the ability to take messages from his eyes to his brain. He is blind.

Victor's pituitary gland was a second reason for the scan. In about 20% of the cases of children with bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia, the pituitary is also involved because it is located in the same location as the optic nerves. There are several possible outcomes of this, the most common being issues with growth hormone. Praise God, Victor's pituitary looks exactly as it should which confirms what the endocrinologist has suspected. There is no reason to believe that Victor will develop pituitary issues.

A look at Victor's brain did show a small amount of scarring which likely occurred soon after birth but appears to have been asymptomatic since all NICU ultrasounds were completely white with no gray or dark areas at all.

So while it was difficult to have Victor's blindness confirmed in this way, there were no surprises in the results (only in being left alone for over an hour with a very hungry baby and no word of explanation or sympathy).

We know that God receives all the glory through Victor's story, whether that be in a miracle of complete healing, or in the miracle of the weak being made strong. Keep praying for Victor and for us. Has God given us more than we can handle?  Yes, He most certainly has. But right here, in the middle of the storm, is where we can look up and see the face of our Savior, right there with us. He was in the NICU, always standing next to Victor, hands on him, protecting him. He's right here with us now, always standing next to us, giving us just what we need for the day, for the moment. This is not about us, this is about growing in grace and trust and about giving all the glory to the One who knew how our lives would intersect with this precious little boy, long before we knew there'd be King Child #8.