It is still incredibly hard for me to type this, but if I don’t now, I have no idea when the urge will occur again. I will start out by saying that I am doing this for him, our sweet baby boy Vohz. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to live his life and the one he did experience was full of pain and tests. This is no life for anyone, especially a child.
So finally here’s his story..
April 27, 2013, we found out we were expecting our second child. We were thrilled, which that word has no way to even begin to describe my excitement.
The pregnancy at the time seemed normal other than extreme fatigue on my part. It was totally different than what had occurred with our first. I could barely stay awake most days, my brain was always fogged, and my eyesight was progressively worse than it ever had been before, but it was all chalked up as normal (who knows what normal is anyway).
July 12, 2013, It’s a BOY!!!!
August 20, 2013, a day before our 5 year anniversary I went in for a routine checkup. This would be the last day of happily expecting our (normal) baby. His heart rate was low 103 and it seemed to be double beating. The Dr., of course, was concerned and called in others to listen. The consensus was that he had a possible heart defect and would need to be seen by a specialist to know for sure. Dr’s words to me will never leave my head. She said, “I doubt it’s anything serious, he probably won’t die”. I remember crying all the way to the elevator to call my husband.
Not sure of any date’s after these except at the end. Our life was a whirlwind of specialists trying to figure out what exactly was wrong.
Vohz was later diagnosed (after birth) with aortic coarctation, mild hydrocephalus, agenesis of the corpus callosum, and a Lymphatic system condition that remains undiagnosed and BAFFLED all who came in contact with little boy.
All of these conditions separate could be managed and the person could go on to lead a “normal” healthy, happy life however all of them together spelled disaster.
While still in the womb it was expected of a genetic issue, however, all tests came back negative.
My husband and I, of course, could not stop searching for “what went wrong”. We are healthy! I avoided and was extra cautious with EVERYTHING.
One Dr mentioned exposure to environmental toxins, and how these can, in fact, cause epigenetic changes within our body.
WHAT!?! Environmental Toxins?? For months, Jason and I lived in a house smack in the middle of FARMLAND. The house had sat vacant for some time and of course, running on none other than well water. Our older son and I would come out of the house often to watch the crop duster pass over the house and spray the crops…
Funny thing is, in this time Jason and I were very sick. Our stomachs were always upset and we both lost weight. Our son was unable to use the bathroom and was constantly constipated. Then one of our beloved pets became very ill. His limbs would swell with fluid and he had horrible diarrhea. Later it was determined that something had occurred to his Lymphatic system.
Of course, there is never ever one thing that caused it all. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. There are several other occurrences throughout our lives when we could have or did come into contact with things that are potential health threats. It is entirely impossible to be able to limit all exposures (what a perfect world that would be) But, I do believe there are steps that we can take to limit exposures to things that are known to cause harm with the human body. This can help to improve the life of not only our families but those around us, this includes plants, animals, and the environment.
More information on mentioned conditions
please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors
Vohz Baranyak Underhill 11/19/2013-12/16/2013
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