You can't imagine how difficult it is waiting five weeks for an update on your baby's condition. There is absolutely nothing you can do but wait and pray. Today was my second appointment with the perinatologist so that he could measure the CCAM again and provide me with an updated measurement. Going in to the appointment, I knew that the CCAM would've grown. I was only praying that it would've grown proportionately with the baby and that my CVR (CCAM volume ratio) would be relatively low. To reiterate, anything less than 1.6 is good and means that there is a low risk of developing hydrops.
Unfortunately, Tim found out on Wed. that a 3 Star Admiral would be visiting his command today. Therefore, they wanted everyone there to run a set for him to observe. Seeing as though it was so last minute, and several of my friends were out of town or occupied, I decided to take Kendall with me to my appointment. I was very nervous. Nervous that she would run amuck and that my attention would be divided between the information that the doctor was presenting me with (I mean, it had been five weeks since my last measurement) and monitoring her behavior. Additionally, I was nervous that if I did receive bad news, I wouldn't be in any condition to be by myself, or to drive home from the hospital. Luckily, I came prepared and things ran pretty smoothly overall. Kendall was a little restless but did pretty good at listening to my cues during the exam. And, the appointment proved to be very successful. Although it looked large on the screen (consider that the baby is only about 13 inches long at this point), it appears as though the CCAM is measuring about 2.7 cm long. At my first perinatologist appointment during the first week of Dec., it measured about 2.5 cm. At my MRI, on Dec. 10th, it had remained about the same. Now, almost 4 weeks later, it has only grown .2 cm. On top of that, he finally calculated my CVR for me. It is calculated by taking length x height x width x .52/head circumfrance. Seeing as though I had a calculator on my phone, he had me calculate the CVR. 2.7 x 1.86 x 2.9/ 23.8 = .61 CVR. However, looking back at the formula, it appears as though I forgot to times the CAM volume x .52 before dividing by the head circumfrance. If this is correct, it actually looks like my CVR is much lower measuring at .32. I'll have to double check with the perinatologist to make sure that is correct. However, either way, we were both very pleased with the appointment and the fact that the lesion has not grown much over the past five weeks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the clear yet. CCAMs typically plateau in growth around the 28-29 week mark and I'm only at 25 weeks 2 days. However, it is very promising that in 5 weeks, my CCAM has not grown much in comparison with the rest of the baby. Please continue to keep my sweet baby girl in your prayers as I just know that they are working.
Additionally, at my appointment, the perinatologist did confirm again that the CCAM appears to be on the lower lobe of the right lung and does not appear to be affecting the growth of the heart at all. All four chambers of the heart looked excellent. He did see some healthy lung tissue on the right lung which is good. Additionally, he said that based upon the MRI, he was pretty positive that it was a CCAM and not a pulmonary sequestration.
Next week is my monthly OB/GYN appointment and my next perinatologist appointment is not until Feb. 1st. Until then. . .
