Well, folks, we have a plan. I talked with a nice lady from Duke today and it looks like Ethan will be going in for a cath sooner than later.
Much sooner, actually.
They will give us a call on Wednesday and let us know what time to bring him in Thursday morning. Yep. This Thursday. Much to her surprise, and mine, they had an opening in the schedule this week, and with the doctor we wanted.
If all goes well, we'll be leaving the hospital sometime Friday and heading down to Wilmington for the weekend!
Here are some specific things you can be praying for:
Jeramie and I know this is not the way things are supposed to be. God knows this is a disruption of his Shalom. Because of this, we are sad. However, we are trusting that our God is great and has more control over this situation than we can fathom. Because of that, we will not fear. We will not worry. We will follow His commands; we will be strong and courageous. We know that He will go before us, and will remain there with us.
That's a heck of a lot better than what my anxiety can do.
Much sooner, actually.
They will give us a call on Wednesday and let us know what time to bring him in Thursday morning. Yep. This Thursday. Much to her surprise, and mine, they had an opening in the schedule this week, and with the doctor we wanted.
If all goes well, we'll be leaving the hospital sometime Friday and heading down to Wilmington for the weekend!
Here are some specific things you can be praying for:
- Ethan has always tolerated anesthesia pretty well; pray this will remain true this week. (His body's handling of it, as well as him waking up from it.)
- This cath could be what Ethan's heart needs to give him more time before the next surgery. Pray that Dr. R will make wise choices that will be of the most benefit to Ethan. We are placing a lot of hope in the fact that Dr. R will be able to intervene, in the form of a balloon or stent, that will keep surgery at bay for a while longer.
- Pray there are no complications from the cath procedure itself. Clotting is a risk, as is bleeding, and we'll need to keep Ethan still for quite some time afterward in order to reduce these risks.
- ...which brings me to: COOPERATION! The older Ethan gets the harder, yet easier, it becomes to take him into the hospital. We can talk to him and explain things more than we could a year ago, but he's also much more mobile and opinionated than he was a year ago! Pray that we can prepare him the best we know how, and that he will be cooperative with us, the nurses, and the doctors.
- Finally, pray for good health throughout this week. They will not put him under anesthesia if he has a cold, and he's had a slight runny nose over the weekend. This needs to be cleared up by Thursday (read: we'll be in isolation until then)!
Jeramie and I know this is not the way things are supposed to be. God knows this is a disruption of his Shalom. Because of this, we are sad. However, we are trusting that our God is great and has more control over this situation than we can fathom. Because of that, we will not fear. We will not worry. We will follow His commands; we will be strong and courageous. We know that He will go before us, and will remain there with us.
That's a heck of a lot better than what my anxiety can do.
12 comments:
Sending those prayers up! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Love you girl!
Thanks for giving us some things to be praying for. Also, I really like the new layout of the blog. :) Love ya!
Praying, praying, praying!
praying for Ethan!! (((hugs)))
Praying for all of your request. :)
Love you guys, Grandma A.
Joye,
I can totally relate to the prayer requests for cooperation! It does get harder the older they get. Zach (just turned 5) just had a cath in March and we didn't talk to him until 1 or 2 days before. I think he remembered a little bit about surgery from last July, so talking about it any earlier only resulted in anxiety. We just told him that the doctor needed to take a look around in his heart and that they would give him a little sleepy medicine and he would take a little nap and that Mommy and Daddy would be there when he woke up. It's funny because the thing he stressed out about was that he was going to have to take a nap!
By the way, we will be praying for E (and his mom and dad!)
Heart hugs,
Pam
Praying for a great week! When I took D to get er stoma closed, we went over what would happen about 1000 times. We have a pretend dr kit and play dr alot. My trick for any dr appt (ENT, ortho Surg, orthotics...) is the sucker reward. She picks a special sucker and puts it in my purse. We discuss expectations (no kicking, no screaming, no running) and if she gets through the procedure by making "good choices" she gets the sucker. She didn't earn a sucker once...and still remembers. She doesn't even cry now when she gets shots. Not bad for a 3 year old. Hope whatever you decide to use as a motivator works out. ;)
I just wrote a whole book with words of wisdom but my comment didn't go through for some reason... so I just thought I'd post again and let you know we will be praying for you guys and Ethan! To sum up my other comment- we just tell Andrew that he has a "special heart" and that doctors need to "fix it" but that they will take care of him, and mommy, daddy and Jesus will be with him the whole time (I make sure I'm there when they put him under and when he wakes up). For caths, we explain they are going to "take pictures" of his heart. He seems to understand and accept it pretty well. I have a hard time not getting emotional when talking to him with his sweet, innocent face, but I try not to show it in front of him so he won't be scared. It is so hard though. Praying for your strength and peace as well!
Hi Joye,
I will be praying for sweet Ethan and for the wisdom of his cath doc. Hopefully they can balloon it or stent it - Jack has two overlapping stents in his conduit, also to try to buy him time. As far as preparing him, we tried to keep it simple and brief and told Jack something like this: “You know how you have a special heart? Right now it is not working as well as it can and the doctor’s need to help it work better. They need to do this so your heart can be healthier and so you can grow and play and have fun.” He sort of just said, ok, and went on with whatever he was doing. On the morning of, we told him that they would give him special sleep medicine and when he woke up they would be all done. They gave him versed about 45 minutes prior and then he entertained us all by being very silly and he has no memory. After the procedure we went through cycle after cycle of ice cream and sedatives to keep him calm and his legs straight (they had to go through both the left and right groin). He would wake up, have chocolate ice cream, start getting fussy, and then they would knock him out.
I will be thinking of you all in the next few days....
Kelly (Jack’s mom. carepage: JacksHeartUpdate)
Praying for you. It is really hard explaining this stuff to them at such a young age becuase they don't realy understand "why" they have to go through it. Everything is scray to them. Of course I would be scared to if it were me. No doubt! We just always try to explain things in very simple terms...that the docs will be giving Logan some medicine that will make him sleepy which will then make him take a little nap. We explain that the docs are going to take some pictures of his heart and that mommy/daddy/gma/gpa will all be there the whole time. He does pretty well with it but he for sure still gets a tad bit upset when it is time. Thankfully we have been able to give him versed before he goes back and it is AWESOME!!! The last time he was soooo incredibly happy when he went into the cath lab. Made me feel so much more at peace knowing that his last thoughts before his little nap were pleasant ones...not the usually "I am scared out of my mind" thoughts.
Thinking of you and praying!
Praying for you all this morning and knowing God is in control! Love, Emily Volger - a Visio family member
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