Are We There Yet?

Surgery, Here We Come...

We met with the Colorectal Surgery team on Friday morning and, after an unexpected abdominal x-ray (what was THAT about?!) and a L-O-N-G wait (we were in the office for over two hours!), we finally got the news.

Does Molly need surgery? Unfortunately, yes. However, there IS good news.

The Colorectal Surgeon said that Molly has a teratoma (we knew that) and a few small cysts (we didn't know THAT) on her lower spinal cord. Based on his years of experience with these types of masses and the appearance of hers, he said he would recommend we just leave the masses there and watch them periodically for growth or changes through MRIs until or unless she has symptoms from them. He said on the spectrum of spine issues, hers is on the best end -- whew!!

However, since Molly's spinal cord is tethered -- which, if left untreated, can cause problems like pain, incontinence, and even scoliosis as she grows -- she needs to have surgery to fix that. The Colorectal Surgeon said his team will work with the Neurosurgery team and combine the surgeries into one procedure. (That is GREAT news!) The Colorectal Surgeon's explanation of removing the teratoma and the other cysts made the surgery sound like an uncomplicated procedure...sort of like plucking grapes off a vine. He said she will probably require a few days of recovery in the hospital and should have no long-term issues from the surgery. (Of course, they can't promise that, but that is the expectation.)

We're hoping to get the surgery scheduled in April...just waiting to hear from the Colorectal and Neurosurgery teams after they coordinate. While surgery is never preferred, all things considered this really is pretty good news.

Whewwwwwwwwwww! (That is us exhaling in relief...)