Landed in Baltimore (actually, "Parked" is the right word)!

Hi to all! We made it to Baltimore last night around 9:30 PM after about 11 hours on the road and with a couple stops. Not too bad considering that there was more traffic than we expected for Sunday and a few accidents and even a camper fire that brought us to a slow crawl a few different times. Avery did great with the travel and was talking to me quite a bit along the way. We are staying at the Children's House which is literally 1/2 block from the main hospital. It is a really comfy, friendly and convenient place. Thank God that there are groups and donors out there that take the time and effort to create such places, homes-away-from-home, for families of sick children! They all know that family presence is a big factor in the healing of a child. It really is such a nice place. We could not be more at home at such a far distance. We should get to stay here again when Avery has surgery, if in fact our results this week are conclusive to that end. We sure hope they are and ask that you pray for that this week as you think of her. Avery had her brain MRI this morning. It went well. She is still tired from the sedative they gave her (Chloro hydrate) and we expect that it will take a few hours for it to completely run its course through her system. I am glad that they did not put her under anesthesia for this as Riley had done for her 2 previous MRIs. The MRI staff were most excellent with her and very kind and helpful to us. It is a bit weird to be here and walking these old halls (I guess parts of the hospital are quite old) and contrast that with the level of care they give here...that world class medical care they are so known for. After meeting the staff, we can certainly see how that comes to be. We are quite impressed so far. On a very exciting note, we ran into a parent that we had met at the hemispherectomy reunion when we were out here for Avery first consultation at Johns Hopkins. When Jon was bringing in the rest of our bags to our room, he ran into the father of Noah in the hallway. Both he (Christian) and his wife Jennifer are here at Johns Hopkins with Noah. Noah just had his hemispherectomy at the end of the the week before this past one. He and Jennifer have been staying at the Children's House while out here (taking turns of course while one stays at Noah's bedside). He had lots to share with us and we are planning to meet up again later to talk some more and to go and visit Noah. It will be a bit before they know how successful his surgery was, as they were not able to complete it in its entirety. That was because Noah is only 4 months old and surgery is a bit riskier. Dr. Jallo (the neurosurgeon) and Dr. Kossoff (the neurologist) decided that as the surgery progressed it was becoming too risky to continue farther, so they removed the "hottest" areas and then closed-up. Now it is a wait and see period. Noah does not have hemimegalencephaly, but what they call cortical dysplasia. It is a little less severe of a malformation and less pervasive, so there is a chance that even an incomplete hemispherectomy could greatly improve his outcome. It is also possible that they would have to go back in in the future after he is stronger and bigger. I know that none of you know this little guy (he is beautiful!) or his parents, but please keep him and his family in your prayers too. It is a rough but hopeful time for them and I know that they could use a few extra thoughts and prayers. Well, not a whole lot more to report as of yet. We have the rest of the day free, so we are going to venture out and about. I'll post more as soon as I can.