This child…
had surgery on her spinal cord. It took 3 years of wondering and seeing Drs. about various gastrointestinal and mobility issues, but in late April of 2012 she was diagnosed with a tethered spinal cord. If you are wondering, “What is a tethered spinal cord?”, you can read about it on my old blog here. If you don’t have time to run over to the other blog, essentially a tethered cord is a “cousin” to spina bifida and she is cared for in the spina bifida clinic at Lurie Children’s. Back in 2012, when we finally had an answer, we were still terrified that we would make the wrong choice about what to do. You see, a year before this diagnosis, a radiologist told us that her cord was tethered, but her first neurosurgeon told us that there was nothing wrong with her “she just walks funny”.
In the year following the diagnosis of “funny walking”, we started seeing an amazing physical therapist. One night at PT, Wren had some very alarming symptoms which ultimately led us to a new neurosurgeon (Dr. Alden at Lurie) who confirmed the radiologist’s findings – a tethered spinal cord. After meeting him so many things happened to affirm his diagnosis. Two nights after seeing Dr. Alden, totally unexpectedly, one of Wren’s teachers at church called me. This Sunday School teacher is a pediatrician, and she was calling me to talk to me about some things that she had noticed at church. She said that she just couldn’t let this go, and she felt that God was prompting her to call me – then she asked if I had ever heard of a tethered cord? That was the first step in God’s provision of peace through this difficult season. A few days later, our chiropractor was adjusting Wren and said “something is wrong with her spinal cord”…”it’s like it’s stuck”. Finally, after the urologist ran some tests (that can only be described as horrific), we knew that Wren had to have surgery. Dr. Alden is the best, she was in good hands!! We had a lot of peace as she was rolled back to surgery on May 8, 2012!!!
Wren’s hymn of comfort today is “I’ve Got Peace Like a River” because, when I think back on that day, I just think about God’s peace. I wasn’t afraid, I knew that there were so many people praying for us and for the doctors that I wasn’t anxious!
She’s certainly faced challenges since then, but we are pretty proud of this courageous, kind, and joyful child!
Proud of Wren..and proud of her Mum. Grateful to God
I loved the hymn played by a beautifully gifted child.
That’s quite a journey with many challenges. She has conquered, blessed by our Heavenly Father, who blessed her with amazing parents.