Monday, May 17, 2010

Playdate at Laura's and update on Jena

Friday Jane and Jena and I went over to my friend Laura's house for a playdate. Jane and Elizabeth dressed up like fairies and Ben was the dragon. They were so cute and very involved in their made up game. It was nice to be able to just let the kids play while Laura and I talked! Are our kids that old already?



As for Jena, we took her to the opthomologist last week and were told that her colobomas were worse than what we were expecting. We thought that Jena just had colobomas of the irises but were told that she also is missing part of both of her retinas and also part of her choroid in one eye (the other eye he couldn't tell yet). All of this means that Jena will have serious vision problems and quite possibly will be legally blind, being able to see movement and light but not much else. I asked the doctor if she would be able to drive or read and he said at this point he simply couldn't tell. We were also told that Jena will need to have an MRI done very soon. The doctor said that the structure of the eye was very closely related to the structure of the central nervous system and being that she is missing so much of her eyes she needs an MRI to see if she has all of the parts of her brain. Then in a few months she needs another test to see if her brain is detecting light, patterns, etc... We still have not received any results from the blood tests taken at the hospital so we are very much appreciative of all of your continued prayers for good blood test results and now for good news from her MRI.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

My eyes teared up reading your post...concern for Jena and for the strength you have. I'll be thinking about you guys a lot. She is a beauty!
Jane, Elizabeth, and Ben look adorable! I love that he was the dragon!
Tricia

Joanne said...

Thanks Tricia! We are still very hopeful!! Ben was great as the dragon! The girls said their magic wands made him a good dragon not a mean one. He was so cute growling at them and such. AND you should have seen him with Jena- he wanted to hold the baby so bad. Such a sweet little boy!

Allison said...

I wish I hadn't missed your call and look forward to speaking to you soon! MANY prayers for baby Jena!! Plus, prayers for all of her family during this waiting game.
I can't believe your kids are that old. When I met you and Laura neither of you had any!!
Much Love!

Erin K said...

So glad you could get out of the house and enjoy some time with a good friend. Love that the kids are so imaginative. It made me so sad to hear about Jena's condition. I'm keeping your family in my prayers.

Meg said...

Will keep Jena and all the Sparks in my prayers! Praying for your strength to pursue all the medical and emotional help that is out there for you!
Hugs ~meg

Meg said...

It IS amazing that the princesses and dragon are old enough already to entertain themselves so the mamas can enjoy a great visit! :)

TLEB said...

We love you guys so much and we will be praying like crazy for some good results. We had a great visit too - I can't believe that our kids are old enough to just go off and play! It's fantastic!! :)

jessica said...

I too will be praying for good results for precious baby Jena! And for some peace for you guys during this waiting process! I love that the kids are at the age they can play by themselves, it just gets better from here!

Unknown said...

I heard the good news on the blood test from Bobbi! and remeber that beautiful model on America's Top Model a few years ago... she was legally blind AND beautiful... make her more intresting! Jena is one blessed baby to have such BELIEVERS as parents and lots and lots of people praying for her! Love you!