Keryn and I went in for another ultrasound today. The results were very good. With spina bifida, the lower on the spine the defect is, the better. You're probably familar with the lumbar region of your back. The top bone in the spine in that region is called L1 down to L5. The bottom portion of the spine is the sacral region. At the first ultrasound (where we got the initial diagnosis), we heard that the defect was at the L/S boundary.
When we saw the specialist a few days later, the ultrasound showed a much higher location on the spine, up above L1! Generally speaking, the higher on the spine, the greater the chances for severe disability.
The ultrasound today put the defect pretty firmly back down near L5. Since it is a little bubble on the back, it can appear to be higher or lower depending on positioning. Today we seemed to get a look at the spinal cord and so we think we could see the origin of the bubble being lower down.
We won't know how severe the disabilities will be until he is born, but the news today was hopeful.
Add that to the goood news we got back from Dad's appointment in Phoenix and this has been a good week so far for medical news.
