Doctor's diagnosis and God's provision

As you can see from the picture, Elizabeth Fe'Lynn looks perfect. However, there is a part of her brain that didn't develop while she was in the womb. She has what is called complete agenesis of the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is the main communicator between the two hemispheres of the brain. There are some other smaller communicators betweeen the halves, but the corpus callosum does most of the work. The corpus callosum has over 200 million connections. The next largest connector only has about 50,000. There are several forms of agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC). Complete=absence of the corpus callosum. Partial=partial abscence. Hypoplasia of the corpus callosum=thin or underdeveloped. Dysgenesis=malformation. Elizabeth has complete which means that the corpus callosum is absent. There isn't a single cause that makes this happen. We probably will never know what happened, but that is okay. Some estimate that about 7 in 1000 children have some form of ACC. Others say it is as rare as 5 in a million. One study suggests that 2 out of every 100 of those with developmental disabilities may have this condition. The rate of diagnosis is likely to increase with greater access to the technology used to identify these structural abnormalities. Disorders of the corpus callosum are conditions one must "learn to live with" rather than "hope to recover from." However, many therapies and supports may help individuals with ACC lead more successful lives. Common characteristics in individuals with ACC with limited additional neurological problems include: delays in achieving motor, language, and/or cognitive milestones; poor motor coordination; sensitivity to particualar tactile sensations sucha s food textures and touch; high tolerance to pain; difficulty with multidimensional tasks such as using language in social situations, complex reasoning, creativity, and problem solving; challenges in social interactions including lack of awareness of the thoughts and feelings of others, misunderstanding social cues such as facial expressions and tone of voice, limited sophistication of humor, and difficulty imagining potential consequences of behavior; limited insight into one's own behavior, social problems, and cognitive challenges. There are also possible vision problems and the possibilities of seizures.

God has worked many miracles for us during this time and we want to give him credit for them. The baby didn't seem to be growing correctly, so our midwife scheduled a second ultrasound. This is where they first found that something didn't look right in the brain. They thought she had hydrocephaly. During this ultrasound, they also saw that the liver looked enlarged. This ultrasound led to several of the other praises. They scheduled a Cesaerean section for Pamela for April 20th because of the ultrasound findings and the baby not seeming to grow correctly. When new babies are born, they have a test they give to assess the baby's health. The highest score is 10 and it isn't given very often. Elizabeth scored a 9 on both of hers. Praise God she was healthy when she came out. There were probably 20-25 people in the delivery room. Most of them were pediatricians. A few hours after birth, they did an ultrasound on Elizabeth's head and liver. The liver had no calcification and wasn't enlarged at all. Praise God again. The ultrasound showed that she didn't have hydrocephaly, but that she had ACC and colpocephaly. Colpocephaly is an enlargment of two small structures in the brain. These are larger because the corpus callosum is missing. On Saturday, April 21st, the pediatrician that came in to see us told us about the ultrasound findings of ACC. She explained a little of what that meant and told us that we would want to make sure we had a doctor that would help coordinate between all of the different departments that would be involved in Elizabeth's care. The pediatrician we have used for the last twelve years told us that she wouldn't take any new patients. She told us this before we knew about all of the problems that Elizabeth has. We explained this to the new doctor that morning and she said that she would be happy to coordinate for us and to be our new doctor. Her name is Deanna Ward and she is a family physician with Saints Family Medicine Center. She is a Christian and she was praying for Elizabeth before she was ever born. She has now added Elizabeth to her permanent prayer list. We are going to be having all of our children changing over to her. She has been great to work with and coordinate with the different departments in the hospital to get everything done. We even discussed with her about immunizations and our feelings about them. She respected our views and said that if we decide to go overseas for any mission trips, that we should be immunized for the diseases that we might encounter. She has a great heart and we can already see her love for our little Elizabeth. Pamela prayed for a new pediatrician and now we have a new family doctor.

God has given us both peace during this trial and we have definitely felt your prayers. Pamela seems at times to be coping better than I. The six weeks of bed rest and just an ache in her heart told her something wasn't right with the baby. She had six weeks of crying out to God and learning to depend on him for everything. I on the other hand have been busier than ever and haven't really had time to cope with it all. There are times that I just feel like crying. For anyone that knows me very well, I am not a crier. I don't want to cry for myself, but for the difficulties that may lay ahead for my little girl. God is showing me that in reality all of my children, my wife and I, and everyone else are in His hands. We don't know what tomorrow holds for any of us. We just take for granted the health we all have. If someone would have told my pastor that his wife would be having hospice care because of the cancer that would ravage her body a year ago, he wouldn't have believed it. That is exactly what he is facing today though. Just remember that our time on this earth is short. We need to make every minute count. If you love someone, tell them. If you have unresolved issues with another person, do all in your power to rectify them. Spend time with your family and close friends, you may not have another chance. God has blessed each and every one of us. Let's not take those blessings for granted. Life is short, make yours count for eternity. Share your faith with the lost, live your faith out with your family, raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and Love God with everything and your neighbor as yourself.

Every need we have had to this point has been met over and above anything we could ask or even imagine. We had a toilet that was draining very slowly and carpets that needed cleaned before we came home with a new baby. One family in our church paid for a plumber to fix the toilet and for carpet cleaners to come and do the carpets while we were at the hospital and no one was in the house. We have had food, meals, house cleaning, baby-sitting, and offers for anything else we might need come from our church and home-school group.

Normally, I place prayer requests here at the bottom for our family. I will never be able to give back to all of you the things you have given to my family, but I would love to bring your needs before God's throne. So, I ask that you email me with any requests that I can pray over on your behalf.

May the Lord bless and keep you. May His face shine upon you and be gracious and give you peace.

Derek

For the Woods

Elizabeth Fe'Lyn Woods

She's Here!!

Elizabeth Fe'Lyn has arrived. She was born via Cesaerean section on 4/20/07 at 12:12pm. She weighed 7 lbs 5 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. She scored a 9 on both of her apgar tests. Pamela went through the surgery just fine and is recovering very well. The baby has nursed and had regular body functions and seems to be doing just fine.

The doctor's thought that she had hydroencephaly, but that may have been a mis-diagnosis from the ultrasound. They ran an ultrasound on her head and her liver to see what the swelling was they saw last week when they ran one on Pamela. We haven't gotten a report on the liver yet, but the pediatrician couldn't feel any swelling at all. We should know something more on it later today or at least by Monday. The initial report on the head is that the baby has colpocephaly. Colpocephaly is a congenital brain abnormality in which the occipital horns - the posterior or rear portion of the lateral ventricles (cavities) of the brain -- are larger than normal because white matter in the posterior cerebrum has failed to develop or thicken. They said that there was agenesis of the corpus calosum. Agenesis would mean- a=no, and genesis=beginning. They use this to reference that there is either no or very little of the corpus calosum. We are in a wait and see mode. The corpus calosum helps regulate how much cerebrospinal fluid is in the brain area. There is still a possibility that the baby will need a shunt to drain the excess, but as of right now they aren't sure. This conditions prognosis can be mild to severe mental retardation, poor vision, mild to severe seizures, and developmental delay. As of right now, she isn't showing any signs of any of these. Praise God. They are going to do an MRI on the baby on Monday morning to get another look and see anything more.

We just received this diagnosis this morning and I ran home to post pics and leave this update, so Pamela hasn't been told all of the information above. I will be informing her about it when I get back to the hospital in a little while. Please pray that God will continue to bless little Elizabeth. Praise God for all of you that have been praying, we certainly have been able to feel them. There will be pictures posted here as well. Please continue to keep our family in prayer and we will be calling on some of you for some assistance as we need it. God bless all of you who have already helped.

May the Lord bless and keep you. May His face shine upon you and be gracious and give you peace.

Derek
for the Woods family

Pamela's Pregnancy 36 weeks 5 days gestation

Yesterday, Pamela went to have her second ultrasound. As they were doing measurements, they realized that Elizabeth had some water around her brain and that it was slightly swollen. The liver was also swollen. They said this showed some signs of infection. They asked if they could do an amniocentisis to check on the baby's lungs. If Elizabeth's lungs were developed enough they were planning on doing a C-section to deliver the baby. The amniocentisis showed that Elizabeth's lungs were still somewhat immature and that it would be better to wait. They gave Pamela a steroid shot and we have to go and get another one today so that the baby's lungs can mature quicker. They have scheduled the C-section for next Friday morning. So, baby Elizabeth should be here by this time next week.

Please pray as it is hard knowing that something may be wrong, but not being able to do anything about it. Please pray as we take this next week to get everything done for bringing the baby home. Please pray for Pamela to have peace and not to dwell on what might be wrong or what she did that could have caused it. Please pray for our children as they prepare for a new sibling.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for us and helped us during this time. We really appreciate all that has been done on our behalf. May the Lord bless and keep you, may his face shine upon you and be gracious and give you peace.

Pamela's Pregnancy 36 weeks gestation

Pamela had an appointment today with the midwife. Pamela had gained one pound, but her measurement hadn't gone up any. The midwife was concerned about this, and has scheduled another ultrasound for this Friday. Elizabeth's (the new baby's name) heartbeat was strong, but the midwife just wants to check on her growth with this new ultrasound.

Please continue to pray that Pamela will continue to gain weight and that Elizabeth will continue to grow and be healthy. Please pray for the rest of our family as we all seem to be fighting a cold or some other infection right now. The drastic weather changes sure haven't helped, but what more can you expect from Oklahoma.

Easter Eve (The night before Resurrection Sunday) 2007

I did some interviews with people asking them, "What is easter? What's it all about? What is the significance of it? Why is the resurrection important?" Tracy Rodriguez and her two girls met me in Bricktown at 9pm. We had several conversations with people asking them these questions. They went pretty well. We also passed out some tracts to the people that weren't willing to stop. We talked with a group of four young ladies first off. They asked us to take their picture in front of the fountain. Tracy took their picture and I interviewed them. I recorded this conversation and have it posted on my podcast. We walked down the street and I talked to the couple behind us as we crossed the street. They said I was preaching to the choir when I was asking them about Easter. While I was walking with them Tracy had started a conversation with two young men. I walked down to listen and they started asking some questions that Tracy asked if I would like to answer. I started talking to them about the reliability of the Bible and how it has lots of evidence to support it. He said he believed in the Bible, he just didn't think we should take it word for word. I left them with the thought that everyone is going to die and where are they going to spend eternity. While I finished talking to these young men, Tracy started talking to another young man. She did a great job and we gave him some contact info. He is in the military and has just come here recently. He doesn't have many friends and was lonely. He seemed very happy to have someone to talk with and listened very intently. Please pray for him. I didn't write down his name, so I can't post it for you. I will ask Tracy and if she remembers, I will update this. We went back to the fountain area while we waited for Tracy's husband to come and get her. I stopped a couple that was headed to the movie theater. She was American, but he was from Portugal. I asked her what she thought Easter was about and she said the Easter bunny. I asked her if there was anything else and she said for me it's just about the bunny. The young man said he didn't know how to respond because his English wasn't that good. They were cold and didn't want to talk, so I gave them each a tract and sent them on their way. I posted this in my podcast as well. I put the two conversations together in one download. If you want to listen, just click on the link to the right.

Pamela's Pregnancy 35 weeks gestation

Pamela went to the midwife on Tuesday and received two praise reports. First, she had gained one pound during the week. Second, her measurement went up two inches. This puts her measurements at 34 weeks when she is 35 weeks along.

I bought her a blood glucose monitor and she has been measuring now for several days. He blood sugar is still having trouble staying steady. It will go up and down, but it does seem to be getting where the highs and lows aren't so drastic. She is still struggling, but we are trusting God to bring her healing.

Please pray that as she goes this Tuesday that she will have gained some weight and that her measurement will have gone up as well. Also, remember to pray for our little baby Elizabeth that all will be well with her as she is brought into this world.

Many thanks go out to each and every one of you that have helped out. You have been such a blessing to Pamela during this time. We pray that God will bless you for your efforts.

Derek

Medieval Fair-Norman Oklahoma

God has blessed me with a monk's outfit. Many thanks to the Martin's for making this outfit for me. Deborah and Bethany had heard me mention several months ago that I would love to dress up as a monk and pass out tracts at the medieval fair. Last Sunday, they asked me if I had one made yet. When I told them that I hadn't had time, Deborah said that if they had time and made it back to the fabric shop, they would try to make one for me. They did a wonderful job as you can see by the pictures. I designed a tract based on the old Catholic indulgence. You can view the text of the tract here.I had 1,000 of them made and we passed them all out in about 2 hours. We pray that the written word will touch men's hearts and they will see their need for a Savior.