Glory to God!

This Christmas we had so much to celebrate! A healthy new heart for Sara, and an excellent recovery. We were so happy to be in our home, we had a relaxing time together. Sara has amazed us with all her energy, smiles & silliness! It's a joy to have Sara back to herself, in a new way. Just today a friend mentioned how Sara's new heart is so alike to what Jesus has done for each one of us. How Jesus sacrificed himself for us, and if we accept that, He gives us a new heart. He changes us to be more like Jesus. To have a heart to love God, love others and live life to the fullest! Let all the Praise & Glory be to our great God! May you be blessed in the New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Sara's doing so well that we're going home for Christmas! Now we'll be back to Edmonton once a week for blood work & clinic. Thank you for your many prayers, we are so grateful!

And we're OUT!

Today Sara was discharged from the hospital! We have a weekend of relaxing & enjoying family time before appointments on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday! Those appointments are for blood work, transplant clinic, pre-admission clinic and Thursday will be a big day because Sara has her heart catherization & biopsy. We're having a great time being out for the first time as a family in 4 months! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, we're praying that the heart cath & biopsy go as planned and that her pulmonary pressures won't be high. After that, hopefully we'll be able to go home and start getting ready for Christmas!

Please keep praying for these friends, some will be home for Christmas, some will have to stay in the hospital and sadly one family's baby passed away so it will be a really tough Christmas. Thank you Lord that you are with us through all of the joys & sorrows life brings and that life is fragile & time is precious. Pray that they will be filled with hope & the love of Jesus - Hope, Muskaan, Joell, Harrison, Precious, Isabel, Isabel F, Lukas, Austin, Grayson, Jace, Sheldon, Alexis, Hilda, Melissa, Morgan, Marwa, Safa, Makenna, and Cohen.

Grandma's here!

We had a special visitor this weekend! Our time with Grandma couldn't have been better! We had great fun with her, and we're so happy it worked out so well to come here from BC.

Sara is doing really well- she's off C-Pap and onto low flow Oxygen (at a 1/2L!), all lines are off except her Pic line, she doesn't have a feeding tube as long as she can keep up with the fluids & calories she needs, and she's moved from the PICU to 4C ward!

We are super happy with how Sara's doing! Thanks so much for praying for her. Now that we're going to be starting the discharge training this week it's hard not to be anxious to get out of here! But we know it will come soon enough!

Darth Vader mask

Today started out early for Sara, with a x-ray at 4:45 am! The rest of the day was busy with removing the NG tube, putting in an NJ tube and placement adjustments & x-ray, echo, new dressings on her chest and for her central IV on her neck, and C-pap ventilator that takes up most of her face! But thankfully she likes the mask, and I'm sure it's easier for her to breathe with the help of forced air, hopefully her lung will open up now, as the left lung is still partially collapsed. She also missed her nap so that makes for an emotional day.

Tomoorrow they may pull out her central IV line, and maybe put a pic line in. Pray that she gets a good sleep and that she's not disturbed. She's been taking melatonan to help her get to sleep and it's been working great. Tomorrow we're going to make nap time a priority; she has so much more energy and is much more joyful when she does! We're really happy with how she's doing, she's still getting better everyday!

"May the force be with you"

high flow O2

Sara's making progress, back on feeds today and sleeping better. Her left lung is partially collapsed and she has fluid she needs to get rid of. She has a good cough so that helps clear her lungs. Hopefully she won't depend on the highflow oxygen to open up her lungs for too much longer. Her incisions are healing nicely, and she's not on pain meds unless she needs them. It's great to see her play dolls with Hailey and smile once in a while! She made some paper snowmen to decorate her room and she's been colouring too. Please pray that Sara can be weaned onto low flow oxygen soon. Thank you all.

Sara's extubated :)

Today was a great day, Sara is now off the ventilator, and breathing well! She's more awake, and answering questions with whispers or nods. It's so good to see her not sedated! We're so happy she's extubated, and this week if she's well enough they'll pull the chest drains, pacing wires, and LA line hopefully. Thanks for keeping up with us here, it's been a slow recovery, but uphill!

Heart transplant... an incredible gift!

We are so thrilled, amazed and overjoyed that our Sara has a new heart. It was beautiful to see the Echo (Ultrasound on her heart) today, Sara's new heart is beating normally -something I had never seen before! We are praising God for his goodness, and thanking him for the blessing that Sara's heart is! A blessing out of a tragic circumstance for the donor family. They don't say any details of where this heart came from, but we do know that it came from another precious child. We are praying for that family, and hope that they feel God's peace and comfort. May God bless them, for how their child has blessed us.

Sara's day was much better then her night, she was on a pacemaker last night, and off of it all of today. She has been moving around more and more, so they have increased her sedation. It's important that she doesn't move much so that her body can heal. Sara's kidneys and live have taken quite a hit, and it is a slow recovery right now, please pray for improvement. Her bleeding has slowed down thankfully!


"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Please pray for our friends: Hope, Joell, Grayson, Harrison, Isabel, Austin, Isabel F., Jace, Lukas, Muskan, Alexis, Cohen, Precious, Hilda, Melissa and Morgan.

Don't you love those PINK toes!

Short surgery

So everything is still going well but Sara is coming back from the OR to clean the extra blood out of her chest cavity and to see if there is anything that needed to be done about the bleeding. It was only an hour long. They found the spot where she was bleeding and it was a quick and easy fix. She is doing so well and everything that has happened so far is pretty normal stuff. But we are praying for continued recovery and that she does well enough to talk to her soon.Thanks for all our friends who are standing with us on this journey.

A tremendous team

So after hours of diligent work, a team of very tired health care staff were finally able to leave the hospital. Sara is doing well and her oxygen saturation is at 100%, the highest it's ever been. As I wached them take care of the last details before they all went home to sleep, I felt like there should have been a standing ovation for the amazing job they did. Instead a few hugs, and many thank you's is their reward. Thank you so much for your care and commitment to Sara and others like her.

just saw Sara

Just talked with the surgeons, Sara's new heart has been pumping since 4:30 this morning. They're working on controlling the bleeding because of the blood thinners she was on. We're happy she's finally out of surgery, thanks so much for praying!

Off to the OR

 Off to the operating room in 30 min. They will be taking out the Berlin Heart, and transplant will happen around midnight. We won't find out about how the surgery goes until the morning. Thank you everyone, for praying and encouraging us! We will update you soon!

A HEART for SARA!

Today we were shocked to find out there is a heart for Sara! The surgeons will be checking it out to see if it will work for her, and if it does she'll have a new heart tonight! We'll keep the blog updated, and post again if she does go into surgery! Please pray for Sara!

Happy 7th Birthday Hailey!

Hailey's 7th Birthday was a blast! It started out as a regular day, seeing Sara in the hospital. Then we went to Ronald McDonald House for the afternoon & supper, and surprised you with friends and a pizza party! Later we had cake with Sara at the hospital, and Hailey was completely spoiled!   :)

Hailey you are a beautiful girl, inside & out! You are so loving & compassionate to Sara, you're a great helper, and you have so much energy that you excite others around you! You love being at the hospital, and at Ronald McDonald house, and you make friends with everyone you meet! Thanks for being the best big sister to Sara, and for being the best little cowgirl in our family, we love you! You are such a blessing to us!

Feeling better!

Sara's infection is still an issue, but she's more & more herself everyday. Now that they know what strain of bacteria she has, they are changing her from a broad spectrum antibiotic to a couple that target the infection. She'll most likely be on antibiotics for a couple weeks. Thankfully it looks like the infection hasn't infected the Berlin Heart. Please keep praying for her to be healthy again, and that the IV she has in her right hand will stay as long as they need to be giving meds through it for this.

Blood Infection

Sara's IV pic line has an infection, so it was removed today. They found a common bacteria that's often found on the skin. I'm so glad they caught it quickly, and that it's not the flu or a cold, or something contagious. The Strep Bacteria was found on the line that when into her vein, and then in her blood. So she's on 2 antibiotics and looking and feeling better with no fever. She had a rough night and morning with all the test, swabs, x-ray, echo (ultrasound on her heart), many pokes, and a new IV put in her right hand. Because the IV is hooked up to give her meds, they'll have to keep drawing blood to see how she's doing. More pokes, OUCH!

Thank you so much for praying, Sara has been a little trouper through it all, and she'll hopefully be back to her goofy self soon!

FEVER!

Please pray for Sara. She has a high fever, and they've given her tylenol, and starting her on 2 antibiotics. When Hailey & I left this evening she was slow to eat her supper, and I felt her tempurature was high, at 37.1C/98.7F. So I asked the nurses to keep taking it to see if it was rising. I left at 7pm, at 7:30 it was at 40C/104F! Pray that they find out what she has, and how to treat it best. They're doing all sorts of bloodwork and other tests to figure it out.

This week she's been feeling well, but we were in isolation for a couple days after we heard a cough that turned out to be nothing. After finding out she didn't catch that cold, I'm so sad she's sick! There is a fever going around the ward, so we are hoping we don't end up being responsible for making more patients sick!

Pray that we don't get sick while we care for Sara. Pray that Sara will continue to eat. Her weight gain is constantly being monitored, and it has been a very slow gain as it is. Pray for wisdom for the doctors, for Sara to be well again, and for a good sleep for us all.

Thank you so much.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Thanks for praying for us, Sara is doing so well! We're getting to know some new families that are passing through and families that are here long term. Please pray for Joell, Isabel, Isabel F., Jace, Lukas, Muskan, Hope, Alexis, Cohen, Precious and Morgan. We're especially saddened to hear about the passing of a sweet little boy Drayton. He was in the PICU when Sara was back in August. Please pray for his family, they are wonderful people, going through a great loss.

"Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you" 1 Peter 5:7

 

Here we are, enjoying the snow! Also loving the times with friends that are in the hospital, and visitors from home, and Red Deer. We loved the River City Round up, Farm Fair, Heritage Ranch Rodeo, visit with Miss Rodeo Canada (miss Rodeo Airdrie), tobaganing, Oil Kings Hockey, saw the mascot of the CFR T-Bone, Barrel Racer Adele Hanson, and the Canadian Finals Rodeo!

 

We're looking forward to surprising Hailey with a Birthday Party tomorrow! She'll be SEVEN!