Anna Grace - June 22 - 2nd Update

We arrived in Charleston this morning about 9:00 am. Brian came with us and is going to have his Jeep repaired here in Charleston.

Shortly after arriving in Charleston today we received a call from MUSC saying that an emergency had come up and Anna Grace's surgery is being postponed until Friday (June 25). Everything remains the same excpet now we will do pre-op on Thursday & surgery on Friday.

Thanks for continuing to pray....

Anna Grace - June 22

Looks like the kids and I (and our sweet friend Miss. B) are leaving for Charleston on Tuesday morning at 5:00 am. It's early, but hoping the kids will sleep on the way down. Brian and I are driving seprately to Charleston. The back passenger window on Brian's Jeep broke today so he is going to take it to the Jeep dealership in Spartanburg on Tuesday morning in hopes that they can fix it before he goes down to Charleston. If not, then he will be driving down with a broken window & try to get it fixed while we're in Charleston. Not terrific timing, but hey, these things happen.

I spoke with MUSC today to confirm Anna Grace's pre-op appointment on Wednesday. No food after 3:00 am on Wednesday morning. We have to be at the hospital at 9:00 am on Wednesday. They said to expect to be there about 6 hours. Anna Grace will have to be sedated, but she will not have to be intubated. They will do an extensive echo, an EKG, blood work/labs and then we will talk with anesthesia, we will talk with the PCICU cardiologists and we will talk to Dr. Bradley, the surgeon. Wednesday will be a big day - signing all the consent forms. Ugh....

Thursday will be an even bigger day. As it stands right now, we are supposed to be at the hospital on Thursday morning at 6:00 am for surgery. I'll try to post Wednesday night after we talk with the doctors to confirm that, but that is the plan as of right now.

Thank you all for praying for our family - for Anna Grace - for Dr. Bradley and his team. See you in Charleston...... God is in control.

Anna Grace - June 21

Today is Monday & it has been a hectic day trying to get everything together to head to Charleston. As I type this post (at 5:30 pm) we are still not sure if we are leaving tonight or in the morning to head to Charleston. Brian is trying to get things wrapped up at the office and as one would expect it is hard to get everything completed.

So far Anna Grace appears to be well - no cold or cough so as far as I know things look good for surgery Thursday.

Thank you all for praying for us as we travel and settle into our "second home" in Charleston.

Anna Grace - June15

Anna Grace had a cardiologist appointment this morning. She did great and the doctor said she looked great as well. However, I told him about our family cold (Brian & I both have it now). He said that they will not do the surgery if Anna Grace has a cold so PLEASE pray that she can stay well for the next week until surgery. He said if she is symptomatic at all before we go to Charleston to call him and he will help us make the decision about driving down there or not. If she is not symptompatic then we are to go ahead & proceed as planned. One of her pre-op tests is a white blood cell count, if that is elevated then they will reschedule her surgery 4-6 weeks from then - enough time to allow her body to heal. Trusting the Lord with HIS timing in this, but please join us in praying that Anna Grace stays well. Thank you friends!

CHD Survivior

I saw this on another BLOG and thought that I needed it too.

Bentley's - June 13

I spoke to my husband this morning by telephone since he & Zachary are at Mee-Mee's house so as not to expose Anna Grace to his illness. He is feeling terrible still - and sounds worse today than yesterday. PLEASE pray for healing for his body. Not sure how we're going to manage his coming home with him still being ill and the work-week approaching. Quarantine is hard. Lord - give us discernment.

Virus???? - June 11

My sweet husband woke up with a sore throat today. Ugh..... so I think he and Zachary will be heading to Mee-mee's house tonight to stay through the weekend to help keep any possible virus he may have away from Anna Grace. Please be praying that this is just a sinus issue and not a virus - we are so close to surgery it is really critical that Anna Grace stay well for these next two weeks. Thankfully the Lord is soverign and if it is His will for Anna Grace to catch a virus then we will trust His plan. The Holy Spirit has really been convicting me these last few weeks about not trying to control things and to trust HIM - this is hard for me. It seems like the closer we get to surgery the more difficult this is for me. I had to spend some time on my knees today about this. Thank you Lord for forgiveness.

As for me.... my body is trying to adjust to not producing breast milk. It hasn't been going that well. I was told that putting cabbage leaves in your bra will help dry your milk up, so in desperation I went to Food Lion and bought a huge head of cabbage. I have been putting the cabbage leaves in my bra. It really stinks and I'm not sure if it is helping or not, but I have been a trooper and have been doing this diligently. Today I ran out of cabbage so I had some romaine in my fridge - I substituted the cabbage with the romaine until I can get back to the store. I'm not sure if the cabbage worked but I'm pretty sure the romaine is not working. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It's OK if you're laughing at me right now..... I'll happily take any other remedies you might have :)