Updates and surgery

"... The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge;
My savior, You save me from violence.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised ..."

2 Samuel 22: 2-4

Well it is about 10:30 pm on Tuesday August 18. It has been an interesting day. Actually it started yesterday. Tara and Laura went in for a follow up appointment. Dr. Macicek upped Laura's medications, and her food intake. He upped her food intake because he did not want Laura to plateau in her growth and weight gain before her surgery. He upped her medications because of how she is breathing.

The breathing issue brings us to the test results from from last week. Although everything looked fine, they did see some fluid on Laura's lungs. Dr. Maccicek is hoping that by upping Laura's medication we can get a grasp on the fluids on her lungs if he can. The other purpose of all of the tests that they ran on Laura, last week, was to establish a base line for her. This will be important when the doctors do a pre-op. exam and screen. Dr. Macicek did say that Laura's breathing is more shallow and rapid, but that she still seems to be getting plenty of air. He also said her heart is beating a little faster, but for now she appears to be able to handle it ok. So overall, a good report.

What a difference a day makes. This morning about 9:00 am we received a phone call from Texas Children's Hospital. They have scheduled us to have a consultation visit with Dr. Morales to discuss Laura's open heart surgery. This will be Tuesday September 1, 2009 at 2:00 pm. At this point we will discuss the procedure in some detail. We have been warned that this will likely scare us.

Then, on September 8 (a week later) we will go back to TCH for the pre-op exam and screen. This is done to make sure Laura is not sick and is healthy enough to have the surgery. Then we will be told to go to lunch. After lunch, we will meet back up with the doctors to discuss the results of the exam and screen. If everything looks good, Laura will be admitted that afternoon to Texas Children's Hospital. Currently, it is expected that Laura will have her surgery on Wednesday September 9, 2009. I do not know how long she will be in the hospital. It is expected that she will be unable to go anywhere other than home and doctors appointments for eight weeks after her surgery.

To have Laura's surgery upon us already threw me this morning. I called Tara at work, and let her know. I spent most of the day in one state of being scared or another. Yes we knew it was coming, but it is still terrifying to me to know that my 2 month old daughter is going to have open heart surgery before she is 3 months old. That just cannot be right. To have it put right there in front of you, that there is nothing you can do to help your child except hope and pray that everything goes well is not easy to deal with. I found myself praying off and on all day. I still have not settled down completely. Tara is doing better than I am. Laura seems fine with it as long as she gets held, fed and changed.

So that is the latest. We need all of your prayers. Please pray that Laura remains healthy and strong as we all go through this process the next few months. Please pray for the surgical team, that they do great work, that there are no complications and that God continues to bless them with great talent. Please pray for the post-op team that will watch over Laura after the surgery, that they take great care of our angel. Lastly, please pray for Laura’s parents and grandparents. We all knew this was coming. But now it is here, and in our own ways we are having a hard time with it. We are scared, we are excited to get the surgery done and begin to move to life after surgery, we are all experiencing many other emotions in our own way. The bottom line is, we need you all.

This next bit is for any and all REI employees that read this blog. You may or may not have known that while REI honors the Family Medical Leave Act, for hourly employees (such as myself) it is unpaid leave. I am anticipating being on leave under the FMLA for at least 4 weeks starting Monday September 7. As I used up almost all of my vacation and sick time after Laura's birth, this means I will be unpaid during my leave. I am asking that if any REI employees have any sick or vacation time they would not mind donating I could sure use them. If you are interested in donating some time please contact Deena Kreitz, Nick Curtis, Paul Houston or Michael McCoy at the Houston Galleria store (store # 55) and let them know. I am sure they will need your employee number. Thank you for your help.