If You Want Your Faith Increased...

If you want to have your faith increased by the amazing things that God can do, I would encourage you to head over to "Chrissie's" blog, All Are Precious in His Sight. Chrissie is four years old, adopted from Serbia, and just had open-heart surgery 11 days ago. Her parents had been told that her heart condition was incompatible with life, but God told them to go and bring her home. They did...and she is definitely in a fight for life. On a sidenote...SaraGrace had the same diagnosis as this little girl and was also said to be inoperable. Thankfully she had surgery at a much earlier age than Chrissie and God healed her.

God did some totally amazing miracles this week for Chrissie. She has coded twice--once for 45 min. and once for an hour but they were able to bring her back. Her body temperature had been lowered to help protect her from brain damage, but she is heavily sedated and being given paralytic drugs, so they are unsure if there has been any neurological damage. She raises her eyebrows in recognition of her parents and seems to understand everything being said to her.

Her story is truly amazing. If you ever doubted that God could heal in impossible situations, you need to go read her story. Be encouraged!

Kate's Pre-Op Visit

"Dr. Kate" listens to her panda's heart.

Kate was an amazing trouper today! We were worried that she would freak out the minute she got to the hospital, but she only wimpered a bit and got tears in her eyes. I think that made my heart ache worse than if she had gone into screaming meltdown mode.

"Please tell me I am having a bad dream and I'm not REALLY at the hospital again!"

We were there from 10AM until 3PM, so it was a long day for her. They are so thorough--I am very impressed. She had an EKG, echocardiogram, chest x-ray, health exam (three different times!), and blood work. Thankfully, the blood work was last on the agenda.

"This EKG is a piece of cake, especially with my panda beside me!"

Two different cardiologists talked to me, explaining things about the surgery. Both of them had been at the conference on Monday where her case was discussed, so they were fully aware of the details of her heart condition and surgery. Again...impressive to have doctors who hadn't just read a chart before they walked into the room and who FULLY understood her.

We had good news and not-so-good news, but most of it was good.
The Good:
-Her heart cath showed that she was a good case for a full repair
-People come from all over the world to have her heart surgeon operate on their children
-The procedures he is doing on Kate are his specialty
-She might not have to spend 3 weeks in the hospital--it might be more like 10 days if everything goes perfect
-Our hotel bill will be $40 per night--not $70
-8 out of 10 children come through this surgery very well

The Not-So-Good News
-One of the cardiologists very frankly told me that this surgery 'is a huge deal.'
-One in ten children die from complications of this surgery (This is the biggest on the not-do-good news for me. Despite the fact that 8 out 10 children come through the surgery well, my mama's heart fell to my toes when he said this. I know 10% is a low risk, but....)

They have given us a link to a video of what to expect her to look like after her surgery, which was very helpful. She will have three chest tubes draining fluid from her lungs and (I think) the area around her heart. She will be on a respirator for probably two days, so will have a tube down her throat, helping her breathe. One cardiologist told us that he wasn't sure if her chest would be closed up or if it would need to remain open for a few days. He assured us that there would be something covering it so that we wouldn't be looking down into her open chest cavity.

As long as we can keep her healthy until Monday, we are good to go for surgery. We are able to have our laptops with us in the waiting room, so I will be able to post to the blog every time they come out and tell us how the surgery is going.

***Note: I know most of you read this blog when it comes to you via email subscription. The subscription service only sends email to you once every 24 hours. If you want to read the updates as they are happening, you will need to go to the blog and read it there. If you wait for the email, it will probably not come to you until Tuesday morning. The blog address is: www.jacobsjourneyhome.blogspot.com . You can click on it from this post here, or scroll to the bottom of the email posts and click on the blue 'Treasures from Afar."***


All tuckered out on the ride home. She was playing with her sticker and fell asleep with it on her mouth.

Still in awe....

Jeff and I are still in awe about yesterday's news regarding Kate's heart. We are scratching our heads a bit, though, about how her China medical report said she had a single ventricle. She had open heart surgery in China. It's not like they gave her a diagnosis from an echocardiogram and just missed the ventricle. They opened her chest and did a surgery--which was successful in saving her life. Her doctor at U of M, thought maybe they chose that particular surgical procedure because her heart was so tiny and it was the only thing they felt they could do with any success.

So..I speculate further to say that to do that particular surgical procedure, they had to decide whether to sacrifice the use of the ventricle to save her life. I know that they didn't want to wait a day longer because they were so concerned that her high blood pressure would permanently damage her heart. There is a window of time that the heart needs to be repaired. She had other issues (infection/illness) that made the surgery extra risky, but they had to move forward or miss the window.

Perhaps after the surgery, they wrote 'single ventricle' on her discharge papers because they thought there was no way to undo what they had done and the ventricle would be forever rendered unusable.

At any rate...we are in awe of what God has done!

In other news...
Two nights ago at 2:30AM, a voice interrupted my sleep. I kept hearing, "Mom..Mom..." I finally realized that I was not dreaming and that there was a shadowy little figure standing next to my bed.
"What, honey?"
I then heard the words that no parent ever wants to hear.
"Mom...I barfed in my bed."
Uuuuuuugggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh.....
It was Jillian. I went to her room and just stared at the mess. My groggy brain could not figure out what to do. I eventually DID come up with a plan and got it cleaned up. So gross!!
Jillian and Molly share a double bed, but earlier that night, one of the little kids had been crying and woke Molly up. She had come into our room to sleep about an hour before Jillian barfed where Molly's head would have been. Ewwwww.....!
I did my best to quarantine Jillian, and we are praying that the rest of us don't get sick. I really don't care to repeat that night nine more times.

Miracle Kate

Kate, getting her Echocardiogram

"For you created me in my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." Psalm 139:13, 14

Kate was dubbed, 'miracle baby' in China because of all the times she almost died, and then pulled through. Her miracle continues...

We saw the cardiologist this morning at the University of Michigan. During her echocardiogram, we were shocked to be told that she has TWO ventricles--not the single ventricle that is on all of her paperwork from China! Not only are there TWO, but both of them are big enough to be usable!! I got very emotional when they told us the great news!

Later, the cardiologist told us that she is scheduling Kate for a heart catheterization very soon. If Kate's heart anatomy is the same as what the doctor can see from the Echo, she will approach the surgeon to see if he will do a FULL REPAIR! She thinks it is possible--and very likely! The surgeon she plans to approach is the #1 pediatric heart surgeon in the country!! Her surgery will likely take place this spring or early summer, since she does need it done fairly soon. Her oxygen level is only at 80%, which is why she has a blue tinge to her skin. For that reason, they would like to repair her heart and get her oxygen levels higher.

If he is not able to do a full repair, Kate is still a good candidate for what is called a 'fontan' procedure, but that would leave her with single ventricle function.

Kate's little heart is on the wrong side of her body and is also turned totally backwards. She has a large VSD, no pulmonary artery and one ventricle is not being used, due to the Glenn procedure she had in China. The doctor called her heart, 'very complicated,' but she still has great optimism that Kate can have a full repair, with only valve changes as she ages (due to size). SaraGrace, will also need valve changes as she ages, so we are familiar with what that entails.

We are soooo excited about this new possibility for Kate! We truly believe that she had the horrible diagnosis in China as a way for God to bring her our family. You may not remember, but one of the US doctors who reviewed her medical information said that she would need a heart transplant and had a very uncertain future. For that reason, many families turned down her referral. Because of our situation (already in process to adopt our 9th child), we would never have been considered as a potential family for her, if her diagnosis had been correct. She no doubt would have been chosen by another family if her medical report had looked more promising.

It is sooooo humbling to us that God went to this effort to get her into our family. Throughout the entire process of Kate's adoption, we were awed by all that swirled around us. We felt like we were flies on the wall, watching something huge unfold before our eyes. We continue to be amazed at what God is doing in little Kate's life and feel privilged to be a part of it.

SaraGrace went along to show Kate the ropes.