We Made It!

Very short post to let you all know that Rebekah and I made it safely to Charleston around 10:30 tonight.  We are settled into our room and I am (still!!) waiting for that little stinker to fall asleep.  She had just enough sleep in the car to not want to fall asleep again now.  :)

We will be up bright and early for Rebekah's 9:00 pre-op schedule tomorrow.  It will be a long day, and I will not have my computer with me.  So the next chance I get to update will probably be tomorrow evening.  Please pray everything goes smoothly tomorrow!

Nancy

Bumped

Well, we all know it can happen, and sure enough it did!  Drew answered the phone call from MUSC around 8:00 this morning, and we were given two options:  give up Rebekah's surgery date on Wednesday (and get put back into the schedule for another 60 or so days from now), or scramble and be in Charleston this evening for pre-op tomorrow and surgery on Monday.  We were left with the distinct impression that we had a choice to make, but they were really hoping we would make it down there tonight.

So after scrambling through 20 minutes of phone calls, we called MUSC back and told them to put Rebekah on Monday's schedule (December 12).  This involves no small effort as plans for the boys, packing, school (both for the boys and for Drew), and last minute details all have to be rearranged in a matter of a few hours.  Things that we had four or five days to finish up now have to be done in four or five hours.  In all honesty, I can't believe I'm as calm as I am right now.  Either the panic hasn't set in yet, or I'm in complete denial! :)

We have a lot of things that need to happen today just to make this work, so I'm going to list a few specific prayer requests for today.  First, pray for Drew's parents.  They, too, are rearranging their schedules since they keeping the boys for us and we are using their car to go to Charleston.  Drew's mom is on her way here, and soon after she gets here, Rebekah and I will leave.  That brings me to my next point.  I really don't like driving at night, and it looks like a good portion of my trip this time will be at night.  Please pray for safety for Rebekah and I as we travel.  Also, Drew had already rescheduled some of his exams for today (technically his exam week begins on Monday 12/12), but he was planning on taking the remaining two exams on Monday morning, so those will also need to be rescheduled for tomorrow or Saturday.  As soon as those exams are done and he gets things wrapped up at home, he will join us in Charleston.  Please also be in prayer for our boys.  For weeks they have known that Rebekah will have surgery, and we had gone over the plan with them.  We had also planned to do a few special things this weekend that are obviously not going to happen now.  They are in a bit of shock that I will be leaving in just a few hours.

Once Rebekah and I get to Charleston, things will slow down.  She needs to be at the hospital at 9:00 tomorrow morning for pre-op, and we will probably be there till 4 or 5 in the afternoon.  Rebekah will have x-rays, bloodwork, an echo, possibly a sedated echo, possibly a CT scan or angiogram, and I can't remember what else.  Pray that all goes well tomorrow.  Saturday and Sunday we are just going to hang out in Charleston and rest.  I should find out tomorrow what time we have to be at the hospital on Monday, but I'm sure it will be early.

That's all I can think of for now.  I will try to update later tonight when Rebekah and I get to Charleston.  Thank you for praying for Rebekah and our family!

Nancy

Two Weeks

Two weeks is....

a long time yet

such a short time 

to get ready to

place my baby

in the hands of 

an incredibly skilled surgeon

his "A Team"

and most importantly

the Hands of God.

One Month

Well, as much as I have tried to not think about it, I have to admit to myself that Rebekah's surgery is really right around the corner.  One month from today, to be exact.  I've tried hard not to think "next month at this time we will be driving to Charleston," or "next month on this day we will be at MUSC for pre-op all day."  We both know that Rebekah needs to have this surgery, but knowing and doing are two completely different things.  It is never easy to take your child to the hospital for any type of surgery, but knowing that the outcome of this particular surgery is so questionable is difficult this time around.

Drew was finally able to catch Rebekah singing "Jesus Loves Me."

Then she promptly follows the song with an important announcement.  :)

Dr. Bradley warned me that his will be a longer and more complicated surgery than Rebekah has had before. They will have to cut through a large amount of scar tissue to get to the collateral that connects Rebekah's right sub-clavian artery to her right lung.  Dr. Bradley said it would be similar to chiseling a vein out of concrete - very long and very tedious.  The scariest part in the procedure is that they will have to partially or completely collapse Rebekah's right lung in order to reach the collateral.  Dr. Bradley is concerned about what effect that might have on the already high pressures in Rebekah's left lung.  If the pressures go to high, they will have to start Rebekah on nitric oxide to relax her heart and left lung.  There would be an increase in recovery time if she continued to need the nitric oxide.  We are really praying that she responds well to the collapse of her right lung so we don't need to face this option.

Dr. Bradley also said that Rebekah has "hundreds, if not thousands" of collaterals branching from her aortic system and leading to her right lung.  According to Dr. Bradley and Dr. L (our Greenville cardiologist), these collaterals range in size from microscopic to medium-size. The "medium-size" is the one that Dr. Bradley is going to try to connect to Rebekah's pulmonary artery.  Each of these little collaterals by themselves is no big deal, but the effect is staggering on Rebekah's heart.  Her heart is pumping blood through all of those little collaterals to her right lung, when it should be pumping that blood out to her body.  Dr. Bradley believes this is the main reason that Rebekah's left ventricle showed some enlargement on the last echo.  The plan is to coil off (block) the biggest handful (dozen or so) of these collaterals each time Rebekah has a heart catheterization, but we were told that, in effect, it will be like being covered in fire ants and picking them off one at a time with a pair of tweezers.  One fire ant is no big deal, but hundreds of them can be deadly.  We are really hopeful that this medium-sized collateral will provide some relief to Rebekah's tired heart, but in reality, it just may not be enough.  Please pray with us that this surgery will be successful and that this collateral will continue to grow and take on more and more pulmonary blood flow.

Rebekah and Mommy went to a friend's baby shower. 

It was fun to dress up and do something "girly!"

We truly, truly appreciate each one of you who has lifted Rebekah up in prayer. Your encouragement and love for our family has been such a blessing to us.  Please continue to pray with us.

Nancy

Princess Boo

Our kiddos dressed up for our church's annual 

Fall Festival two weekends ago.

The boys totally came up with their dress-up "theme" weeks ago. 

 It was all their idea.

They had a great time designing and painting their "armor!"

Introducing Princess Boo and her Knights in Shining Armor.

 Back: Justin and Zachary

Middle: Aaron

Front: Princess Boo and Caleb

 What? You aren't supposed to push the
 beanbags through the holes??!

 Even a princess needs to wear a ball cap once in a while!  :)

 I love the expression on Rebekah's face as she's peeking out from behind the scarecrow.  So cute!!

Oh, and she's sucking on her coveted Dum-dum lollipop.
Just try to take that away! :)

And a good time was had by all.  :)