Day of Preparation

Well we made it to Denver without complication! The flight was smooth and Sam slept the whole time. Dana's brother Blake picked us up and we spent the day with him. It was fun to cruise around with someone we knew and get to see his and Jackie's apartment. We all went to dinner last night and just had a nice time visiting-much better than sitting around in our hotel room.
Today started very early-4 am to be exact. I had to feed Sam about 2 hrs earlier than normal because she is having a sedated echocardiogram today and had to be off milk for 4 hrs. We got to the hospital this morning, did some paperwork, and met with the welcome coordinator Ashley. From there they did a chest xray and took her into the surgery prep area for her sedated echo. We met with the anesthesiologist which was probably the hardest part so far. We of course know the risks, but it's still hard to hear them. He said the risks of the anesthesia during heart surgery itself include voice problems, cognitive dysfunction (either temporary or permanent) and of course a bad reaction resulting in death. So for all of you out there praying, there are some specific things to pray against. We firmly believe she is not going to die as God has shown us glimpses of what her future holds. But that good old fear wants to creep in about the other stuff, so keep us lifted in prayer. We know God is in control-it's that human part of us that has a hard time hearing all the "possibilities". Right now I'm in the waiting room while they do the echo. They just masked her down with gas today and are going to get her blood while she is sleeping. Once they are done-in about 10 min from now, we will go on a tour with the head nurse and then meet with the surgeon. Funny thing-the nurse, Ester, was my nurse when I had my heart surgery 21 years ago. I remember how wonderful she was so that makes my heart happy! I have to go for now-Ester is here for us.

Ready for round 2!

Ok, time to get back to the blog. Sam had an appointment with her cardiologist yesterday and got the ok for us to proceed with surgery next week. He said everything sounds the same and the ECG hasn't changed, so that means the defects are still there-darn it! I keep praying for that miracle that they will close-we still have a week! :) So I spoke with the Children's Hospital yesterday to work out the details and everything is in place.
We fly to Denver on Monday 11/21. Sam has a half day of appointments on Tuesday that include chest xray, sedated echocardiogram (ultrasound), and meeting with the anesthesiologist and surgeon. We will stay the first two nights in a hotel across the street from the hospital. Then the big day...Wed 11/23. We have to be there at 6am for 7:30 surgery-this is fine with me since I would rather get it done first thing and then its over. From Wed until she is released, we will be staying there at the hospital with Sam. She will be in ICU for a couple days, then in her own room for another few days-at least those are the averages post op. We are scheduled to fly home 11/30, but would love it if she's doing so well we can come back sooner.

A couple of specific prayer requests: continued health for Sam! We still have a week before surgery and as we already saw-she cannot afford to get sick. The other big thing has to do with her coming home on oxygen. From what the cardiologist says, she most likely will come home on it, but there is a chance she won't need it. So that's what we are praying-that she won't need it. We are praying that our little blessing Sam will recover so quickly and completely that it will leave them wondering how it was possible-in which case we will give God the glory! And a final need is that we would be able to find a car to borrow while we are down there. To rent one is expensive when we will only really need it the first couple days and to get to and from the airport. We have a few connections in Denver, so we are praying that need can be filled.

I will again continue to keep everyone posted as things progress. Your prayers are what we stand on during this season of time! Thankyou so much for them and may the Lord bless you in whatever is going on in your lives!

 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose"! And we also know that "we can do all things through Him who gives us strength"!

At home

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner! Sam was released from the hospital Monday, and we were happy to come home. She responded well to treatment and as of yesterday has not even coughed. Amazing! It has been so nice for the past couple days to just be back in our normal routine. I was sitting here watching the news and saw the huge snow dumping storm that hit Denver over the past 24 hours. I find it interesting that Dana +/- Sam and I were supposed to be driving back yesterday. I believe the Lord was saving us from that drive and the bad roads from the weather by keeping us here. I wish it wasn't pneumonia and the pediatric ICU that was needed to keep us here! Maybe its just my need to know the "why", but I do believe God has a plan in everything even when it doesn't make any rational sense to us. Whether it was the weather/roads He was protecting us from or some other reason, we still trust that God is in control.

Sam in now scheduled for surgery Wed. Nov 23. We will be leaving the 21st-flying this time to avoid any hang ups due to potential bad roads that happen this time of year. We are praying that Sam does not catch any of the numerous cold/flu bugs that also are part of this time of year. We really do just want to get her surgery behind us, so we can move forward. Thanks again to all of you for your prayer and support. I won't be posting much in the next 3-4 weeks unless something major comes up, and then I will start up again when we head to Denver.

No more tubes!

At least in Sam's face! This morning my baby got to get rid of her feeding tube and her air tube. So now I get to just look at her cute little cheeks and nose. Her bacterial culture is officially negative, so we dropped to just one antibiotic-the less irritating one to her vein! Its been a pretty low key day-Dana went to the house and was out for a few hours. So me and Sammy just hung out in our room. Got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Blankenbaker first thing this morning and from Great grandma Marjie late in the day. It was a day filled with smiles and coos and R & R-all good things. It makes the bummer of not being at home a little less. I sure do miss my Charlee and Tyler though-saw them briefly yesterday. It's gong to be hard when we are in Denver for a week or so. My posts are getting shorter-this is good-it means there's only good news!

Our own room!

Yep, we are out of ICU! My little Sam is doing even better today. We are now in room 454. She only has to be bothered every 4 hours now instead of 2! It's nice to have a little privacy as well-not that it was terrible in ICU since we were the only ones there-but I don't have to worry about bugging anyone. Her stats have been staying normal even as the air has been decreased. Still no bacterial growth so that's good! She also got to go back to eating on her own. No more feeding through the tube! She was very happy about that-she sucked it down in no time.

Bonus! The respiratory therapist just came in and got the ok from the doctor to turn off her high flow air. If she does good then we can get all the tubes off her face which would be great! She is so cute this afternoon-smiling and cooing at me! My li'l Punkin Pie!

Getting better!

Today is another day of improvement for Sam. Her vitals remain stable and she looks pretty good for a baby with lots of cords/wires/tubes attached to her. She has gained 1/2 lb since arriving so that's very good. Her oxygenation levels are remaining very high so she is being weaned from her air flow. If she continues at this rate, we should be moved out of ICU and into a private room tomorrow. That's where we will finish out the rest of her week long stay. The viral tests came back negative and we are still waiting on the bacterial cultures but they haven't grown anything yet. In light of her heart disease and high blood pressure that have been present since birth, she is at higher risk of getting RSV and if she got it, could end up in a pneumonia situation again. So since it's negative at this time, they gave her a shot of antibody against RSV today. I guess it's very spendy but prevents them from getting the RSV or at least lessens the symptoms. Its basically a super vaccine-instead of her body creating antibody to the vaccine, its just straight antibodies. Poor baby had to get that shot in the muscle so she's a little sore, but hanging in there.

I spoke today with the Childrens Hospital about rescheduling surgery. We have set up a tentative date of November 23-yes the day before Thanksgiving. That is 5 weeks out and we will just have to make sure everything is cleared with the cardiologist here in town.

We had several visitors today which is always appreciated. We can't say enough how much it means to have SO many people praying for us and for our little Sam. We know she is well covered! I'm hoping that when I update tomorrow it will be from our own room! Goodnight for now!

Brighter day!

After a very rough night, I'm so very happy that Sam is doing much better today. I did go in after my 3 hours of sleep this morning to find she had pulled one of her IVs out. She is such a determinted little bugger! Her vital signs are stable, her color is much better, and she is acting more like herself. She will smile at me when I'm talking to her and she even gave me a couple coos! Music to my ears! They did put a feeding tube in her because of the risk of aspiration if she nurses, and she is tolerating it pretty well. We called the Childrens Hospital in Denver and canceled our surgery appointment for Friday. We are now looking at 4-6 weeks before we get to have that done. Bummer-I was looking forward to getting it done and moving on. Guess we just have to wait a little longer. I have spent most of the day sitting in a recliner holding the little pumpkin. She is happiest with mommy, so I'm happy to do it! She has all kinds of lines and tubes-makes moving her around quite the challenge but we manage. Her bloodwork shows changes consistent with a bacterial pneumonia and the preliminary viral panel is negative so that is most likely. Shes on a combination of good broad spectrum antibiotics, so should kill what ails her. When they placed her feeding tube today, they took an xray to make sure it was into her small intestine. So we got to see her lungs again and they already look better after just 12 hours. Amazing! God is still caring for my little peanut and watching over our family. Hope to have some culture results tomorrow and home in a couple days!