Great Orthopedist Appointment

We got a wonderful report from Gracie's orthopedist yesterday. After a quick examination, Dr. Messer said that based on where she is right now, he thinks she very well may walk without braces!! She also may be walking around the same time as a baby without any limitations. Not only does she move her legs, but she has feeling on the bottom of her feet (you can tickle them). Dr. Messer said that this meant she had nerve functioning at the sacral level (very low). We are hoping this discovery will lead to more good news at the urologist in January.

We appreciate all the prayers being sent up on behalf of our sweet little Gracie. Specifically, we ask for prayers for our neurosurgery appointment next week. So far, Gracie has not needed a shunt. The neonatal nurse practicioner had never seen a baby with spina bifida leave the hospital without a shunt, so it is a huge praise that she has made it this long. However, the fluid levels in her brain have been slowly rising since birth. At our last visit, Dr. Donahue wasn't ready to do the surgery, but let us now that if her levels continued to increase we probably weren't too far from needing to consider a shunt. While we are continuing to pray that she won't need a shunt , we know that is a simple procedure that most spina bifida patients undergo (85% have shunts).