Test Results

It has now been 8 weeks since Eden was born. We have been waiting patiently for the test results to come back from Mayo Clinic. We were told it would take about 6 weeks for the results to be back.

Bryan and I have learned so much over the past year. We've learned that NOTHING is in our control. We have learned to be a stronger couple. We have learned to put things into perspective. We have learned that things that we thought were so important to us, really are not that important after all. We have learned that family is more than just a word. Time is not infinite, and it must be treasured. We are given gifts, gifts that must be cherished, because as quickly as we are given those gifts, they can be taken away. To live for today because tomorrow is not guaranteed. Not to dwell on what you don’t have, but to cherish what you do. Never to part without telling the ones you love what they mean to you. We have also gained more faith than we ever thought possible. We are so blessed that through this we have become closer to Our Father and hopefully others have gained more trust and faith through our little angel.

Eden's blood was tested to see if there were any chromosomal abnormalities. There was a sequence on chromosome 5 that came back abnormal. In turn, Bryan and I had our blood drawn to see if we were carriers of this abnormality. Mayo Clinic only has 2 other reported cases of this abnormality. The 2 cases both went on to live but both had mental retardation, cleft palates, etc. Eden did not have a cleft palate and the autopsy confirmed that his brain was completely normal, meaning there was no mental retardation. We were told that this could be what they call balanced translocation. It would be called this if Bryan or I were carriers. The results came back for Bryan and me and both of our chromosomes were completely normal. Mine was 46 XX and Bryan was 46 XY. Yay! When people are carriers of balanced translocations, they typically have several miscarriages but can go on to have perfectly normal children. In our case, it was determined to be a "fluke". This was something completely separate from the polycystic kidney disease (Potter's syndrome). We received these results about 3 weeks ago.

We finally got the results of the PKD this past week. The results read as such:

'A mutation was NOT detected. These results decrease the likelihood, but do not rule out the diagnosis of Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease. Some individuals with ARPKD have mutations that are not identified by the methods described.' Basically, our doctor said that this means that in Eden's case, it was considered a "fluke".

We weren't really sure what results we were hoping for. On one hand, you want a scientific reason that you can attribute this all to. But on the other hand, we didn't want to find out that one of us had something wrong with us. I find myself trying to rationalize it all in my head almost daily. I always come to the same conclusion.....no matter what the medical/scientific results said, it doesn't change the obvious: God can do whatever HE wants to. That's it!!! There is NO rationalizing or making sense of it. That is the only answer.

We know that God was taking care of Eden the whole time. If he had only had the chromosomal abnormality, he could have lived, but he may have had a difficult life. Since there are only 2 other cases of this reported we really don't know what kind of difficulties he would have had. The Polycystic Kidneys were the reason that he could not survive outside of the womb. So, God took Eden to live a perfect life in heaven rather than making him suffer on earth. In that way, we feel blessed.

As far as our future goes, we are going to be doing a lot of praying and even more trusting that He will take care of us. We would love to be parents again some day, but we will just have to wait until He is ready.