Hope Restored

As I sit here watching my wife get the first bit of good sleep she's had in a while, I can't stop thinking about how many people we know, and even more that we don't know, who reached out today with well wishes and prayers. Honestly, I couldn't keep up with it. I don't think there was a single five-minute span, from the time we arrived in Miami to right now, where we haven't received a phone call, a text message, an e-mail, a comment on my blog, or a comment on facebook. And if I wasn't able to reply or call you back, please don't think your message wasn't received. I've read EVERY single one! When Meg wasn't in surgery and when she's been awake, I've been reading her the comments and prayers that you're sending. They all put huge smiles on our faces. We are so thankful to have all of you in our lives.

It's almost midnight at the end of a day that I hope will be one of the most important in our and our girl's lives. I still can't believe that just a little over 24 hours ago, we were trying to get used to the idea that we were definitely not going to be the parents to triplets and that there was nothing we could do. And while it's still a possibility because, face it, triplet pregnancies are risky as-is, we both know that we've given our girls the best chance to survive. It's now in their and God's hands.

If you're just reading this blog for the first time, I'll try to provide a quick re-cap of where we've been. About a week and a half ago, started showing some concern about two of our triplets possibly having TTTS. He set us up with an appointment at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for the following week. Meg went for her weekly appointment with her MFM, Dr. Gallagher, this past Wednesday for weekly monitoring. It looked as if the TTTS was relatively mild. She drove to Philly the following day, Thursday, for a full-day assessment. The result of that assessment was that she had Stage IV TTTS, which is very advanced, and that surgery was not an option due to multiple factors related to how the babies were situated in Meg's belly. The safest option that was presented was to intentionally terminate, or selectively reduce, babies A and B to give baby C the best shot at survival. This is where things got interesting. After a series of events, described in my previous post, I booked us tickets to Miami for an appointment with Dr. Quintero.

Meg and I both started our Fridays very early to catch our respective flights so we could arrive in Miami at the same time. We met in baggage claim with a huge hug and a release of all of the built up anxiety, sadness, and excitement that had been filling our hearts over the last week. We grabbed our bags, hopped in a taxi, and went straight to Jackson Memorial Hospital. As soon as the plane hit the ground and I checked my phone, I already had a text message from Dr. Quintero's assistant, Micha. Dr. Quintero's team had already reserved a slot for us in the OR, in case surgery was a possibility. His team had already reached out to our other doctors to gather as much info as they could prior to our arrival. They also called our insurance provider to get the possible treatments pre-approved, so we wouldn't have to worry about the financial component. Micha met us in the lobby and brought us straight to our room.

The next several hours progressed at a frenzied pace. His team performed their own ultrasound scans so they could provide their own diagnosis and assess how they would potentially enter Meg's belly with the laser. A few hours later, Dr. Quintero came in to discuss our options. The first thing he shared with us was that laser surgery WAS an option! There were five other options, but the only one that felt right to us was to perform the surgery and give all of our girls a chance at life. He shared a bunch of stats with us about each option, but we knew in our hearts that we were not going to give up on our girls. Having chosen the surgery, there is a 65-75% chance that all of our girls will make it! Considering that less than 24 hours prior, we were already thinking about the fact that we were going to have to get rid of our triplet stroller, return the extra cribs, and take back two out of the three dresses that Meg had bought for our little girls, 65-75% offered a lot of hope.

Meg was in surgery for a couple of hours. When he was done, Dr. Quintero came to talk to me to tell me that everything went extremely well. He was able to laser the blood vessels that connected the twins that were causing the TTTS. Getting through the surgery was the first milestone. The next milestone is the ultrasound in the morning to verify that all of the babies still have heartbeats. I'll post again later when we know the results.