Fixing Our Eyes

" I am going to put breath into you and make you live again."

Ezekiel 37:5

I am sitting here at our kitchen table listening to my little boy chatter and play in the next room...

I pray that I get to hear every tiny bit of what he has to say, every day because it is a deep, deep gift...

one without a guarantee of more.

This is one of the priceless treasures of parenting a child with a sweet broken heart,

the ever present reminder that every little bit is a gift.

Honestly, our hearts are weary.

We are so not ready to surrender our Sunshine Boy.

And yet, we know his heart desperately needs the intervention.

So, once again...

Your prayers mean so much.


So...Zeke's surgery is this Monday (Oct. 30th), we do not know the time yet.

His pulmonary valve has failed so they are attempting to place a Melody Valve via catheter

We are so beyond thankful that they are willing to try this rather than jumping straight to open heart surgery!

Here's what will happen:

* They will access Zeke's heart via catheter (from his groin and neck).

* They will first take measurements of his arteries and valve.

* They will then attempt to balloon his pulmonary artery to the size that it would be with a new artery. At this point his anatomy has to be just right, if the arteries are too close together, the ballooning will collapse the coronary artery. If this happens they will quickly stop surgery and re-schedule for open heart surgery.

* If his anatomy works with the ballooning, they will place a stent. The stent needs to sit firmly and not wiggle around. If it is too wiggly, they will again stop surgery and re-schedule for another heart cath after scar tissue has formed around the stent.

* If the stent sits well, they will attempt to place the valve.


So...there are alot of things to be praying for!

Here are some ways that you can specifically pray:

* We were told a year ago that Zeke's valve was close to failing. At that time they said, "We can attempt a Melody Valve but honestly, he would be the smallest patient we had placed one in...it would buy him time but the valve we would place would be so small that when it fails he would need open heart surgery to remove it and place another one." We will not know how big his arteries are now or the size of the valve they can place until they are in his heart. Please pray that they can place the perfect valve for Zeke's heart.

* These valves are still fairly experimental, some are lasting great and some are lasting a few months. Please pray for a strong healthy valve placement.

* Zeke is currently in heart failure. The right side of his heart is severely enlarged. The hope is, once he has a new valve, his heart will slowly firm up and shrink back to 'normal' size. We have been told that if it is too enlarged, it may not shrink back all the way thus affecting his heart function for the rest of his life. Please pray his sweet heart comes back to normal size.

* They have been surprised at the low function of Zeke's heart right now. Please pray for regained function and for wisdom if there is something else going on.

* With an enlarged heart and add new hardware to his heart, there are chances of heart rhythm complications. Could you pray that his heart rhythm stays stable?

* We have been told getting a pulmonary valve as a child via catheter is a "One in a million" chance. We are so beyond thankful for this chance. It is much safer than open heart surgery and the recovery is much quicker. I have great fear surrounding heart caths. When we were waiting to bring Georgia home, I prayed for and followed the story of another little girl adopted from China with the same heart condition. Once home, she had a diagnostic heart cath and an error was made and she did not survive. This story haunts me every time we kiss a child goodbye at the doors of the cath lab. I know that the Lord writes Zeke's story, every single second of it...but this fear weighs so heavy right now.

* Please pray for our big kids as they once again work so hard to be strong while we are apart. It hurts my heart to think of us being separated once again...thankfully (hopefully) only for a few night this time.

How in the world can we thank you enough for the ways in which we are carried by you all? Seriously...I think this is the only way we have strength to put one foot in front of the other right now.

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to him be glory..."
Ephesians 3:20-21