Emmanuel, the MRI technician, brought us back to the MRI room. He, along with an anesthesiologist, prepped Aria for her MRI. He took one look at her scans and immediately texted Dr. Dukhi, the head of Neurology in Guyana. He was the doctor we had thought Aria had been seeing, but we would find out later that it was one of his staff that had seen her and they had messed up. There was no reason she should have a head full of fluid when she's been seeing neurology every 3 months.
Emmanuel said that her case was an emergency, not elective and that Dr. Dukhi would meet with us! Emmanuel personally escorted us to Dr. Dukhi's office and hand delivered Aria's scans a few minutes later.
Soon Dr. Dukhi arrived and brought us to his desk. He took one look at her scans and couldn't believe the fluid. He wanted to know who on his neurology staff had been seeing her. Unfortunately we didn't know. He said she needed a shunt placed ASAP and we could do it at the public hospital at some point when the schedule allowed or do it tomorrow here at Mercy...for a price. Of course we choose Mercy and are so thankful we could afford to do so. Dr. Dukhi himself will be performing the procedure. We are so grateful! He is a very highly regarded surgeon.
This is brain surgery and we are nervous and scared, but know that this is the only option available to ease her pain. They will insert a shunt into her head and somehow thread it through into her chest cavity where the fluid will drain. The shunt has a value that can measure the amount of pressure inside her head and will turn on when the pressure exceeds the standard amount.
Aria's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 7:30 am EST. Please lift her up in your prayers.
After such fabulous news, we thought we were in the clear of any other catastrophes. And then we got an email from Hopscotch, our Adoption Agency, stating that as of June 1, the U.S. has banned all adoptions from Guyana. Next to Aria's health concerns, this is the worst possible news we could have gotten. From the statement issued by the State Department, they are still trying to determine what will happen with open adoption cases. The USCIS has already given us approval. Aria NEEDS to come home. She will not make it here in Guyana. She needs to be with her family. Please pray that they will allow all current cases to move forward so that we can bring our daughter home. And please contact your US Senator. We are hoping that if enough Senators are contacted, they can make a few calls on our behalf so that our family doesn't need to be ripped apart.
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