Good News

It was announced today that one of Melissa's doctors performed the first successful Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS)at Abbott in Minneapolis. This is the syndrome that Bea and Elsa had and we flew to Cincinnati to one of four or five hospitals in the country that performed the surgery. Thankfully there are now more opportunities for parents to perform the surgery, because in most cases there are literally days from diagnosis until fatal or life altering complications typically occur. We were diagnosed on a Friday morning and spent all day and much of the weekend trying to get an appointment in time to save the girls. With the weekend it wasn't until Monday that we were able to finalize everything and we flew out on Tuesday and did tests all day Wednesday and learned the horrible news that while we were candidates for the surgery Elsa had no placenta share and was not going to make it and we had surgery on Friday, seven (short), yet the longest and most horrible days of our lives, after our first diagnosis to save Bea.

We had to pay our way to fly to Cincinnati and stay there and we were fortunate we had the means to do so. We were even more fortunate for the excellent care in Minneapolis such that we were put into a high risk pool early on and monitored for just such a complication. Without the quick diagnosis we wouldn't have Bea today, and that's unthinkable as she's become such a part of our lives that we can't imagine not having her around, and it's hard to remember what it was like before her.

Thus I'm very happy for the healthy twin boys and their parents for the opportunity they had locally and that many more families in the upper west will have an quick and affordable opportunity to help save their twins. The television station stated 50 cases of TTTS arise in Minnesota each year, and that excludes families in Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakota and further outlying states and provinces that have Minneapolis as an option.

This is post became a little harder to write then I first expected, it's harder that Bea is staying with my parents from yesterday (Thursday) until Sunday as Melissa and I are cleaning our house for an open house on Sunday. Thus I can't run up to her room and look in on her or touch her or pick her up and hold her. I don't think I'll share this blog with Melissa until after we pick Bea up on Sunday.

It also makes me think of almost every night this summer when I was sprinkling the lawn for many hours at night in an effort to keep our new sod from drying out. I had a lot of time to look up at the sky and with the very dry summer we had the stars seemed extra magnificent this summer. I would regularly look up at the stars and say hi to Elsa and tell her I miss her and I appreciated her watching over us and especially her sister. It wasn't nearly as sad as it seems and sounds as I write now, because the stars make you feel touched, special and in our case comfortable and happy.

Sometimes I stop and wonder did all that happen last year. Is there really an identical twin to Bea out there somewhere, because that's hard to comprehend. But it did happen and we're very happy for how much Elsa touched us and continues to touch us and we're just as happy for all the joy that Bea brings to us and we channel a little extra love and happiness her way. She's simply such a happy, smiley, giggly baby and she seems to be pretty good physically and mentally and I wonder if some of that is a bit of Elsa coming out through Bea. And probably some of the extra happiness Melissa and I feel these days is Elsa channeling herself to and through us. Now that's a happier thought to end the night on. Night night (as Bea can say now).

Matt