I'm Afraid We're Annoyingly Thankful

We have so much to be thankful for...
-We have such amazingly loving friends. Messages on the blog, emails, calls, visits, tears, ears, food and prayers--we're overwhelmed with your generous care.

-Even more precious to us has been our loving family. Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one. Your love-in-action has made all the difference.

-And most of all, we are so thankful for the love of Jesus. It has been such a gift to so tangibly experience God's peace and tender care through all of this. People can chat theory and theology all they want, but nobody can argue with our genuine encounters with God.

-Grant has been more wide-eyed and bushy-tailed (I don't know where he got the tail; must be Shannon's side).

-He's been so very content.

-He is taking an increasing percentage of his meals from a bottle vs. a feeding tube (means he is getting stronger).

-The chest tube has been removed. Hooray! It drained almost nothing in the last 36 hours so they said it was okay for it to come out. The day before it drained more than ever, meaning it would need to stay in longer; the doc said it might need to be in until Tuesday the 26th. But after we blogged for prayer on this it just dried right up. This is huge because it was the last big hurdle before we can go home.

-We've been able now to hold him quite a bit which has been just fantastic for all of us.

-UM Hospital nurses and doctors are absolutely incredible. One of the cardiologist doctors told me that if Grant had been born in most other areas of the country he likely wouldn't have made it. The UM hospital is one of the handful of places that are able to handle such a situation. There aren't many emergencies in pediatric cardiology--most conditions aren't immediately fatal. The obstruction Grant had along with his goofed-up plumbing, however, is the one and only cardiac emergency situation for kids. Put it this way--the helicopter ride Grant took to the UM Hospital was a life-saver. And I found this interesting: the doc surmised that if Grant had been born just 5-10 years ago he probably wouldn't have made it. Advancements in recent years have been that dramatic.

-We'll probably be able to go home on Tuesday the 26th or 27th.

-The doctors expect Grant to go on to a full recovery and be completely normal and healthy. I asked the doctor to expound on his definition of "normal"--I mean, can Grant be on both the chess team and the football team someday...or just chess? He said, and I paraphrase, the sky is the limit. The condition Grant had (so nice to be able to say had vs. has) is one of the few that actually have a fix, whereas most congenital heart conditions can only be managed with multiple surgeries and medications. Gosh, are we ever thankful for that.


Only a few challenges remain...
-Grant still isn't ready to wein off of the oxygen tubes. Please pray that he is soon able.

-Grant still needs to be fed about half of his meal through a nasogastric tube (referred to as an "NG"). I had to put a new one in him yesterday--it is kind of hard to shove 12 inches of tube down your son's nose until it gets to his stomach. But he just isn't strong enough yet to drink all of his milk from a bottle. It really isn't a big deal to do it, and once it is in it doesn't bother him much, but we'd really prefer to not have to go home with it. They say he may need it for a few weeks or even a month or so. Please pray that Grant quickly grows strong enough to take all of his milk from a bottle.

-Grant is on 4 medications and will hopefully wein off of them over the next few months: Sildenafil, which dilates blood vessels to reduce the blood pressure in his pulmonary arteries; two diuretics to also help reduce his blood pressure; and an inhaler to open his lungs and help him breathe. Please pray that his blood pressure returns to completely normal, his lungs heal completely and he is able to successfully wein off each medication.

-About 10% of patients that had Grant's condition have difficulties down the road. Some need a follow-up open-heart surgery, but that generally pops up within a year. Once a year has past, only a very small percentage ever has issues later. Grant's procedure went great and they expect him to be fine, but please pray that the pulmonary veins they surgically attached to his heart remain perfectly healthy and continue to grow along with Grant as he grows.

So, our dream is that many of you would continue to pray for Grant throughout 2007 for complete healing and that all of the wonderful things God has in store for Grant would someday come to pass.

Merry Christmas! And to some of our friends, Happy Kwanzaa! And to others, Happy (belated) Hanukkah! We so love you all,

Jim, Shannon & Grant.