Relieved.

Over the past four and a half years, I've often struggled with "waiting for the other shoe to drop".  When Ethan was inpatient at Duke it seemed like there was always something, and those dramatics continued until well past his first birthday.  I had a difficult time trusting that he was truly okay and shaking those anxious feelings.

The further removed we get from his last surgery, though, I find myself "forgetting" that he has a less than ideal heart.  Words like "stable" and "healthy" replace "critical" and "rocky".   Two-week appointments are traded for six-month ones and we live a typical, relatively boring life in between them.  The anxiety subsides and we learn to trust Ethan and that special body of his.

Then, I get a mid-morning call and the worries and fears come racing back.  At one point yesterday, I had convinced myself that Ethan would need a defibrillator to further protect him from this arrhythmia.  Thankfully, I talked myself out of that one pretty quickly, but those dark places are still most definitely there!

But, enough about me.  I know who y'all are really here to read about...

The report from Dr. I this morning was music to our ears! "I am not concerned.  This isn't anything we need to worry about.  He's doing just fine."

Praise the Lord!

Here's what we know after this morning's tests: there is an atrial arrhythmia present, it has happened seventy-some times in the past seventy-six days, and it only lasts (on average) about 30 seconds.  It is something that we'll continue to keep an eye on, but no intervention (medicine or otherwise) is currently needed for it.

I'll take it.

Ethan's pacemaker is also performing excellently, so surgery is at least four months away.  Given that no other concerning rhythms show up on the monthly call-ins, we'll take Ethan back to see Dr. I at the end of March!

Thank you for the love you've shown us and the prayers you've prayed over the past twenty-four hours.  God is good and I am full of relief and gratitude. 

We love y'all!