Miguel

the dude pictured above is my dad, for those who have not had the pleasure of meeting him.

he's a nut. he has never met a stranger. he will talk to you until YOU are blue in the face. he is one of the friendliest people I know, but God HELP you if you get crossways with his family. he will give you the shirt off his back and the last ten bucks in his wallet.

I am just like him, and I couldn't be prouder. and if I marry half the man he is, I will be blessed beyond measure.

keep praying, keep praising!

Harper: Day 2 (6/14)

sweet girl was pretty heavily sedated after surgery and all night. however, they started weaning and allowing her to wake up this morning. guess what? when she woke up enough, her breathing tube was removed! that's awesome! she is still on a nasal cannula to blow a little air in and help keep things stimulated/inflated, but that's a GREAT BIG step!

Harper is also currently in heart block...that means her heart hasn't quite woken up from the shock of surgery (normal and expected), so she has the help of a temporary pacemaker right now. the doctors will give her heart up to a week to get its act together before they decide to place a permanent pacemaker that she will have for the rest of her life. while mommy and daddy don't necessarily WANT that, if that's the only thing they have to deal with, they'll take it!

Harper has also had some of her IVs removed, medications discontinued, and the girl is EATING, people! EATING, a day after heart surgery! and according to her daddy, she is breathing AND eating much better than before her surgery...this is fantastic news! right now, she's eating an ounce every three hours, and they will continue to advance that slowly until she is on "full feeds"...meaning she gets all of her nutrition from mama's milk and the IV fluids can be turned off completely.

Harper: Day 3 (6/15)

i didn't hear much today, except that Miss Harper's heart has kicked it into high gear and is working on its own! hallelujah, no pacemaker for this girl!

please continue praying for a good, speedy recovery. Harper will have another echocardiogram (heart sonogram) over the next few days to make sure the patches that were placed are not leaking at all (or maybe leaking just a tiny bit). so pray that Dr. Harrell's stitches are holding better than your grandma's quilt stitches ever thought about holding together!

here i raise my ebenezer...

i love this verse from the old hymn...it comes from a verse in 1 Samuel. The Israelites were being attacked by the Philistines, and God threw the Philistines into a tizzy, and they all ran in every direction BUT toward the Israelites. The Israelites chased after them and slaughtered them. In response to the victory, Samuel set up a sort of altar to praise God and mark the occasion...he called the stone "Ebenezer", which means "thus far has the Lord helped us."

in similar fashion, we are raising our Ebenezer stone in victory today...she made it! praise God, Miss Harper made it through surgery! see mama Amy's blog here. i got text updates throughout the day. Harper was taken back to the OR around 7:30 yesterday morning, and her day proceeded as follows:

1036: Harper went on the heart/lung machine about 10. Her heart will be stopped for about an hour. Surgery is going well so far.

1215: The repair was a little more complicated than they expected. There was another hole that had to be patched as well, but both have been patched and now they'll warm her up and restart her heart. (my aside...the heart ORs are kept very cold...i'm talking like 40 or 50 degrees fahrenheit. Aids with decrease in infection and body metabolism rates.)

I asked when I woke up this afternoon if sweet girl was settled in the PICU yet:

1441: I think so. Dr. Harrell said it was one of the most difficult repairs he's ever done. Her heart was much more deformed that they could see on the echo. So it took a lot longer than expected.

I also asked if she was still considered "fixed", and i got a big smile: Yes! All fixed :)

1755: She's doing well...considering. (i tried to upload a picture here, but blogger shut me down both times...)

1816: Sorry for such a long delay. Harper is in ICU and doing well. She may go off the ventilator as early as tonight. We are so relieved and thankful that she has done so well!

I asked how mommy and daddy are doing, and Amy said they are well...mostly just relieved, thankful, and at peace.

Please keep praying for Miss Harper. The second and third days after surgery are usually harder, as your body starts to wake up more and the AK-47 caliber of pain meds from surgery start to wear off. Harper will be kept on continuous pain and sedation drips for now to help, and she will also have medicine ordered for breakthrough pain. Continue to pray for healing to her body and that she stays free of infection. Continue to pray for guidance for the doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists caring for her. Pray for true rest for Amy and Dustin, and that they would continually be renewed and strengthened by the Father.

will post more later...continue to pray that His name is glorified in every way possible!

hit yo' knees for baby Harper!

ok friends...i am a lame, awful poster. however...that is a topic for a different post. i have something much more important to discuss.

this sweet girl right here...
is having her surgery TODAY! as i type, her mommy and daddy are driving toward Lubbock. they have to arrive by 6:00 AM, and surgery will begin sometime between 7:00 and 7:30.

here's what's going to happen: most of us have two ventricles in the lower half of our heart; one to pump deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and one to pump oxygenated blood that has returned from the lungs out to the body. these two are divided by a piece of muscle called a septum...same concept as that thing that divides your two nostrils. in Harper's case, she has a large VSD...ventricular septal defect. basically means that where that septum should be...there's a big ol' hole. so Miss Harper's deoxygenated blood is mixing with oxygenated blood. this is a problem, because the blood being pumped to her body is only semi-oxygenated. that makes it hard to breathe, hard to have energy, hard to eat...basically, everything is harder for little miss. so what the doctors are going to do is take a piece of gore-tex patch and sew in in where that septum should be. as long as all goes well...and we have faith that it will!...this will be the only surgery Harper will ever have to have and she will live a normal life from now on.

what does this mean for her? if you will look again at the picture above, you will notice an orange and white tube dangling from Miss Harper's left nostril. that is a feeding tube. remember how it's hard for her to have the energy to eat? since Harper came home from the hospital at 3-4 weeks of age (and even in the hospital), that tube has been her worst best friend. Harper gets to practice bottle-feeding a couple times a day just so she remembers how, but the vast majority of her nutrition is delivered via a feeding pump through that tube and directly into her stomach. that way, she gets all of her calories and can concentrate just on gaining weight, not having to work for it. this way, she's been able to get bigger more quickly in order to optimize her chances for surgery. since she came home from the hospital, this has been Harper's world:


the bag on the pole holds her milk, which then runs through her tubing. she gets fed every three hours, around the clock. you will also notice a white cord hanging off the front of her swing...that hooks to a monitor that measures the level of oxygen in Harper's blood. if it gets below a certain level, the monitor alarms loud enough to wake the dead for 20 miles...her mama will attest to this! as time has worn on, her monitors have gone off more often, and her color has not been quite as pink. she's also been working noticeably harder to breathe. between these things and her weekly appointments with the cardiologist, we have arrived at today.

Amy and Dustin have incredible faith...i watched it play out two and a half years ago with their twin boys. please pray for them...pray God will encourage and strengthen them today, and that they will have the Peace that passes all understanding. pray that the Perfect Love they cling to will cast out all of their fears.

and the team...pray for Dr. Harrell...he's the surgeon who will be operating on Miss Harper. pray for steady hands and wisdom. pray for the anesthesiologist who will be closely monitoring Harper's pain, sedation, and oxygenation levels during surgery. pray for the perfusionist who will be running the heart/lung machine that will do all of Harper's blood pumping and oxygenation during the most critical part of surgery...in order for the heart to be still enough to make the microscopic stitches needed, her heart will actually be stopped for a while. pray for the circulating nurses and scrub techs, that they will be able to anticipate every need.

after surgery, Miss Harper will be wheeled back to the pediatric intensive care unit. i know those nurses, and i know they are some of the best. they will be Harper's advocates throughout their stay. pray that their eyes are open and anticipating anything that may be cropping up with Miss Harper after surgery. and most of all...pray for Miss Harper. pray that her little 13 week old self knows the love and comfort of the Father through all of this. pray that her pain is well controlled and that healing comes quickly. pray that she doesn't develop an oral aversion from all of the tubes in her mouth (this will make it more difficult to relearn bottle feeding). pray that no post-op infections crop up and increase her hospital time.

it's gonna be a big day...pray that the Father is known above all.

more updates later.