"God is So Good"

We had another doctor's appointment today in Columbia and wanted to give everyone an update.
They did, as usual, an ultrasound of the baby measuring her growth as well as checking on the cyst. She's just where she's supposed to be, size-wise, and the doctor said the cyst doesn't seem to have changed much. He did say that he's been in correspondence with a neonatologist and that we had an appointment to meet with him afterwards. We ended up having to wait half an hour because the social worker, that was to be there as well, wasn't available until then. After hearing that we were meeting with a baby specialist as well as a social worker, we were bracing for the worst. We assumed the social worker was to be there for moral support and to make sure we had a support network at home.
During the appointment, we discovered that the neonatologist not only had seen these cases before, but also teaches medical students on it. To our surprise, he was very upbeat about the whole thing. What he expects is for baby Allison to be born and that nothing will need to be done about the cyst unless she began to show symptoms. Many people have cysts and don't even know it until they have an x-ray done for another reason. Worst case scenario (5% chance) is that the cyst is attached to airway passages and after she's born and begins breathing, the cyst fills with air but has no way to get out, causing it to grow with every breath. If that were the case, they would need to surgically remove it, which the pediatric surgeon has done a couple of times there in Columbia. We were very thankful for the report!
It's so neat to think of God's Hand in this! At the first appointment, the OB doctor wanted to go in right then to try to aspirate the cyst, which, considering all that's involved, is probably a dangerous procedure; however, God had her turned in such a way that the doctor couldn't get to it. Today, she was turned in a perfect position (according to the doctor) if they were to aspirate, but now know she could go all her life with this cyst and live a perfectly normal life. I'm SO thankful He's in control of everything and that His kind Hand is upon her little life!!

One of the great blessings of this "trial" has been the hour and a half drives down and back with David. Today, David brought along some messages that were interviews that had been broadcasted on Family Life Today. They were a testimony of the lives of John and Donna Bishop. He had contracted meningitis, after having been married about 24 years and as a result of that had a case of amnesia (he completely lost every bit of his memory). He didn't know who he was, who his wife and 3 sons were, how to eat, walk, etc. Now it's been 15 years and 8 months ago, due to cluster headaches, he became legally blind. He's in constant pain from headaches but he is so full of joy! Here are some quotes from him (because of his illness, he speaks more child-like): "That night I hurting so bad and I listened to Psalm and it said 'Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusteth in Him!' Psalm 34:8; and I said 'God, I gonna believe you're good if I never get better, I still gonna believe your good because that what your Word says.' and I said 'Lord, this must be what faith means is believing you even when I don't feel like it.' So I gonna believe God good whether I feel good or not. I gonna believe God good whether I get better or not, just cause the Bible say it."
If you'd like to listen to his and his wife's testimonies, there are three interviews and each one is 30 minutes long. They'll only be on this link for a limited time. I highly recommend these!! To see the joy in this man's life despite his past trials as well as his current ones, including constant pain, is SO encouraging. Here are the links to the interviews in order:
episode 1
episode 2
episode 3
I hope they're as much of a blessing to you as they were to David and me!

Thank you all again for your prayers! "Praise the Savior, ye who know Him, who can tell how much we owe Him. Gladly let us render to Him all we have and are!"