Monday, January 4, 2010
Anna Grace - January 4 - Updated #3
Just got a new page (10:15 am) that said "Still working away, all is going well".
Anna Grace - January 4 - Update #2
Just got a page from the OR (9:15 am). They said that all is going well in the OR. Anna Grace is on the heart/lung bypass machine & they doctor is working away. Anna Grace is stable.
Please continue to pray.
Please continue to pray.
Anna Grace - January 4 - Update #1
It is almost 8:00 right now. Brian & I got up this morning about 3:00 & headed to the hospital. We were able to spend some quality time with Anna Grace this morning before surgery. She was sleeping peacefully when we arrived - all swaddeled up like she likes to be. They had removed the little tube from her nose and we were able to se her little face without any tubes or tape on it. What a beautiful little face she has. Brian & I were also both able to hold her again this morning and that was such a blessing. She slept peacefully throughout it all.
Anesthesia came about 6:30 to get her. It was so hard to let them take her. We prayed over her before they wheeled her away. They are supposed to be starting surgery at 7:30. It is hard just sitting here waiting for news. Lots of prayers & tears. Weeping actually.
The hospital gave us a pager and they will send us pages periodically throughout surgery to update us on how surgery is going & how Anna Grace is doing. I will BLOG throughout the day as I find out more information.
Thank you all who rose ealry this morning specifically to pray for our sweet daughter. We are so blessed to have so many brothers & sisters in Christ who are faithfully lifting our daughter up to our heavenly Father. It is such a comfort - you will never know. We are tursting HIM.
Love in Christ,
Tina
Anesthesia came about 6:30 to get her. It was so hard to let them take her. We prayed over her before they wheeled her away. They are supposed to be starting surgery at 7:30. It is hard just sitting here waiting for news. Lots of prayers & tears. Weeping actually.
The hospital gave us a pager and they will send us pages periodically throughout surgery to update us on how surgery is going & how Anna Grace is doing. I will BLOG throughout the day as I find out more information.
Thank you all who rose ealry this morning specifically to pray for our sweet daughter. We are so blessed to have so many brothers & sisters in Christ who are faithfully lifting our daughter up to our heavenly Father. It is such a comfort - you will never know. We are tursting HIM.
Love in Christ,
Tina
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Anna Grace - January 3
There is much to update today for Anna Grace. I was able to spend about 3 hours with Anna Grace yesterday & Brian spent most of the day & night with her. While I was visiting Anna Grace yesterday she needed a diaper change & while changing her diaper I was able to examine her bottom which really has an awful diaper rash. Her nurse & I rigged up the "oxygen tent" around her bottom and tried our best to let her little bottom air out. Because her white blood cell count is now normal they have stopped the antibiotics so hopefully her little tummy wiill settle today & give her little bottom a rest. Anna Grace is also extremely hungry and last night around midnight we think because she is hungry & her bottom hurts she was just not able to rest. She was crying and had worked herself up and her heart rate was extremely high. The nurse finally give her some pain meds to calm her down & help her rest. After she had fallen asleep Brian finally came home from the hospital.
We were up at the hospital about 8:30 this morning and she has ben resting on and off this morning. The nurse gave me some breast milk in a small medicine cup today & I have been able to dip her pacifier in the milk & then put it in her mouth. It's not like nursing or having a bottle, but it seems to pacify her and she has not gotten too worked up today.
This morning Anna Grace also had another echocardiogram which confirmed once again everything that all the other echocardiograms have shown. At around 11:00 today we met with the Anesthesiologist and then at 11:30 today we finally met with Dr. Bradley. Dr. Bradley went over with us what would occur tomorrow during her surgery.
Basically, at 6:00 am tomorrow anesthesia is going to come get Anna Grace & take her to the OR. Once in the OR they are going to give her a sedative through her existing lines to put her to sleep. Once asleep they will put her on a heart/lung bypass machine and also run a couple of IV's in her hands and/or feet. After they have her sedated & on heart/lung bypass the surgery will begin at 7:30 am. Dr. Bradley along with his team will be performing the surgery. There are three things they need to accomplish in tomorrow's surgery: (1) They will apply a patch made of human tissue to her aorta in order to make her aorta larger because right now it is too small to use. (2) They will make a "Y" connection off her pulmonary artery to her aorta in order to supply blood to her body (3) They will put in a shunt off the pulmonary artery made of goretex to supply blood to her lungs. This is called the "Norwood Procedure" and Dr. Bradley has the most experience at MUSC with this procedure. The surgery will last about 6 hours and then it will take them another hour or two to get her settled back in PCICU after the surgery. They will have to leave her chest open after surgery for several reasons and it could be anywhere from 2 days to a week before they are able to close her chest up. Dr. Bradley said that the most critical time for her will be during surgery and for 2 or 3 days following surgery - that is when most prolems will occur for her.
Dr. Bradley told us that she has been able to stay alive this last week because of the Prostaglandin that they have her on but that without this surgery she will die. It's hard to hear. It's hard to process. We don't know what God's plan is for our little girl, but we are thankful for the time that He has given us with her. We were able to share with Dr. Bradley that we are Christians and that Anna Grace was conceived in India while we were there sharing our faith and praying about serving the Lord in full-time missions. We asked Dr. Bradley if we could pray for him and he said yes so the three of us prayed tgether at Anna Grace's bedside.
When she wakes up next today Dr. Bradley said that we could hold her. So, we are waiting patiently for her to wake from her nap and then for the special time that we will have just holding her in our arms. We have not been able to hold her yet. As weary as we both are we are excited for this opportunity.
Thank you all for continuig to be faithful to pray for our little girl. Tomororw she will be 7 days old and going into a very serious opertaion to save her life. We will keep you updated tomorow as we find out information.
Specifically you can pray that: the Lord will heal our little girl completley and that she wil not need surgery, Should the Lord choose not to heal her that Dr. Bradley can rest well tonight and that the Lord will annoint him tomorrow and give him steady hands and to make no mistakes, that Anna Grace will tolerate the medicinces and the heart lung bypass machine, that Anna grace would not have excessive blessing during the surgery tomorrow, that they will be able to wean her from heart/lung bypass to a ventilotor directly after surgery, that the Lord will HOLD HER during surgery while her heart is stopped for 6 hours, that Brian & I will have strength and courage, that the Lord will be glorified tomorrow.
We were up at the hospital about 8:30 this morning and she has ben resting on and off this morning. The nurse gave me some breast milk in a small medicine cup today & I have been able to dip her pacifier in the milk & then put it in her mouth. It's not like nursing or having a bottle, but it seems to pacify her and she has not gotten too worked up today.
This morning Anna Grace also had another echocardiogram which confirmed once again everything that all the other echocardiograms have shown. At around 11:00 today we met with the Anesthesiologist and then at 11:30 today we finally met with Dr. Bradley. Dr. Bradley went over with us what would occur tomorrow during her surgery.
Basically, at 6:00 am tomorrow anesthesia is going to come get Anna Grace & take her to the OR. Once in the OR they are going to give her a sedative through her existing lines to put her to sleep. Once asleep they will put her on a heart/lung bypass machine and also run a couple of IV's in her hands and/or feet. After they have her sedated & on heart/lung bypass the surgery will begin at 7:30 am. Dr. Bradley along with his team will be performing the surgery. There are three things they need to accomplish in tomorrow's surgery: (1) They will apply a patch made of human tissue to her aorta in order to make her aorta larger because right now it is too small to use. (2) They will make a "Y" connection off her pulmonary artery to her aorta in order to supply blood to her body (3) They will put in a shunt off the pulmonary artery made of goretex to supply blood to her lungs. This is called the "Norwood Procedure" and Dr. Bradley has the most experience at MUSC with this procedure. The surgery will last about 6 hours and then it will take them another hour or two to get her settled back in PCICU after the surgery. They will have to leave her chest open after surgery for several reasons and it could be anywhere from 2 days to a week before they are able to close her chest up. Dr. Bradley said that the most critical time for her will be during surgery and for 2 or 3 days following surgery - that is when most prolems will occur for her.
Dr. Bradley told us that she has been able to stay alive this last week because of the Prostaglandin that they have her on but that without this surgery she will die. It's hard to hear. It's hard to process. We don't know what God's plan is for our little girl, but we are thankful for the time that He has given us with her. We were able to share with Dr. Bradley that we are Christians and that Anna Grace was conceived in India while we were there sharing our faith and praying about serving the Lord in full-time missions. We asked Dr. Bradley if we could pray for him and he said yes so the three of us prayed tgether at Anna Grace's bedside.
When she wakes up next today Dr. Bradley said that we could hold her. So, we are waiting patiently for her to wake from her nap and then for the special time that we will have just holding her in our arms. We have not been able to hold her yet. As weary as we both are we are excited for this opportunity.
Thank you all for continuig to be faithful to pray for our little girl. Tomororw she will be 7 days old and going into a very serious opertaion to save her life. We will keep you updated tomorow as we find out information.
Specifically you can pray that: the Lord will heal our little girl completley and that she wil not need surgery, Should the Lord choose not to heal her that Dr. Bradley can rest well tonight and that the Lord will annoint him tomorrow and give him steady hands and to make no mistakes, that Anna Grace will tolerate the medicinces and the heart lung bypass machine, that Anna grace would not have excessive blessing during the surgery tomorrow, that they will be able to wean her from heart/lung bypass to a ventilotor directly after surgery, that the Lord will HOLD HER during surgery while her heart is stopped for 6 hours, that Brian & I will have strength and courage, that the Lord will be glorified tomorrow.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Anna Grace - December 2
I was able to go to the hospital last night for a few hours and see Anna Grace. She was battling an AWFUL diaper rash due to an upset tummy from all of the medication that she is on. I am happy to report this morning we talked to her nurse who said that they rigged up something to blow straight oxygen onto her little bottom throughout the night and that her diaper rash is doing much better today. Also, since her white blood cell count is now into normal they have stopped the antibiotic she was on so hopefully her tummy might start feeling a little better today.
She is still able to remain off the ventilator - PRAISE GOD and not only that she has still been able to remain off oxygen (well, she used oxygen for her bottom, but she doesn't need it to breathe) - this is another huge PRAISE!
Will BLOG more later today, but just wanted to give you the more recent update. Please continue to pray for our Anna Grace :)
She is still able to remain off the ventilator - PRAISE GOD and not only that she has still been able to remain off oxygen (well, she used oxygen for her bottom, but she doesn't need it to breathe) - this is another huge PRAISE!
Will BLOG more later today, but just wanted to give you the more recent update. Please continue to pray for our Anna Grace :)
Friday, January 1, 2010
Huge Encouragement
Over the Thanksgiving holiday Matt Chandler the lead pastor over at The Village Church found out he had a brain tumor. Doctors quickly removed it and he is currently undergoing treatments to keep it from coming back. Check out his blog here:
Matt’s strength has been a huge encouragement to me during the last month. Seeing another brother in Christ who is suffering and staying strong in Christ has helped me to push harder into Christ for my all in all. I encourage you to pray with me for Matt’s complete healing.
John Piper recently preached at The Village Church to encourage the congregation during Matt’s and The Village’s trial. It was an amazing sermon and the Holy Spirit touched me deeply while listening to it. I highly recommend it.
Listen to it here!
Matt’s strength has been a huge encouragement to me during the last month. Seeing another brother in Christ who is suffering and staying strong in Christ has helped me to push harder into Christ for my all in all. I encourage you to pray with me for Matt’s complete healing.
John Piper recently preached at The Village Church to encourage the congregation during Matt’s and The Village’s trial. It was an amazing sermon and the Holy Spirit touched me deeply while listening to it. I highly recommend it.
Listen to it here!
Anna Grace - January 1
Today I am resting in the bed at the townhouse and Brian is at the hospital with Anna Grace. I talked with Brian and he said that she has been sleeping comfortbly most of the morning. Her nurse said that she is doing well. It is a comfort as a Mommy to know that she is able to rest and appears to not be suffering despite all the tubes coming out of her little body.
Brian stayed with her last night late and didn't get home from the hospital until close to midnight. It is just so hard to leave her each day. We are thankful though that she has such great nurses taking care of her while we are away.
My plans are to try to go to see her for a couple of hours this afternoon. I know I am supposed to rest, but I just have to at least lay eyes on her today. We haven't been able to hold her yet and that is so hard. We are praying that we will be able to hold her for a little while on Monday morning before she goes into surgery.
I am feeling very weary today - physically & emotionally. The Lord tells me:
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. II Corinthians 12:9
I thank you Lord for your Word. I am weak.
Love in Christ,
Tina
Brian stayed with her last night late and didn't get home from the hospital until close to midnight. It is just so hard to leave her each day. We are thankful though that she has such great nurses taking care of her while we are away.
My plans are to try to go to see her for a couple of hours this afternoon. I know I am supposed to rest, but I just have to at least lay eyes on her today. We haven't been able to hold her yet and that is so hard. We are praying that we will be able to hold her for a little while on Monday morning before she goes into surgery.
I am feeling very weary today - physically & emotionally. The Lord tells me:
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. II Corinthians 12:9
I thank you Lord for your Word. I am weak.
Love in Christ,
Tina
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