Mercy Hospital

Yesterday was a day full of answered prayers. Thank you to everyone for helping. I really believe that yesterday wouldn't have worked out the way it did if it wasn't for all of your thoughts and prayers.

Here is the story:

Mom, Sadie & I left for Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO yesterday around 6 in the morning. Our appointment was with a pediatric pulmonoligist (lung doctor) named Dr. Carver. He isn't a surgeon, but he could confirm Sadie's diagnosis and either agree or disagree with the suggestion of surgery.

When we got to the hospital I was instantly impressed. I'd never been to a children's hospital before. Yet again, a new experience. We parked on the Yellow Submarine floor if that tells you anything. =) Everything there is totally geared towards kids. If you want to eat at the cafeteria then you had better expect to eat under a mushroom top or inside of a train. We headed up to Dr. Carver's office to get checked in. When they called us back the nurses greeted Sadie at her level and then introduced themselves to us. Same thing with the doctor. When he walked in the room his attention went straight to her and then to Mom & I. That impressed me.

Dr. Carver confirmed that Sadie has asthma and a pulmonary sequartion. He suggested surgery. We asked a few questions and he said that we really needed to be talking to a surgeon. Mom asked if he could possibly refer us to a surgeon there. He said that he would, but it wouldn't be possible to see them today. We would probably have to come back in a month or so. He then left to look at her x-rays and scans, and to get us a referral. When he came back he said that he had great news!! He called his "favorite" pediatric surgeon and had him look at her scans. He said that he could see us right away...as in 5 minutes. Answered prayer!!!! Mom, Sadie & I ran over to the other side of the hospital, through security, around the mushrooms and trains and made it to the Pediatric Surgical Clinic. The surgeon that seen Sadie is Dr. Ostlie. Love Dr. Ostlie. When we checked in the nurses got Sadie right back. Dr. Ostlie walked in the room and went over to Sadie, got down on her level and introduced himself and played with her a little bit. Then he introduced himself to Mom & I. When I met with the surgeon in Wichita he sat down and told me that Sadie needed half of her lung cut out, this was a case that he had never seen before, and that she would have a 5 day hospital stay. He never really acknowledged Sadie during the appointment except when he examined her. Dr. Ostlie was different. He sat down with us and drew us a picture of the CT scan and how the surgery would go. He has seen cases like this before and averages about 12 a year. His approach is to try to do the surgery microscopically. If the tissue is outside on the lung then he can remove it that way. If the tissue is inside the lung then he will make a bigger incision and remove the part of the lung that is effected. Her hospital stay would range from 1-3 days depending on how the surgery goes. After the appointment I felt relief. A huge relief. He will be doing her surgery. I wouldn't trust anyone else with her. I really feel that God led me to him yesterday. Craig and I are both ready to get this behind us and have our little Sadie back with no worries.

Thank you again everyone for your prayers. Life has been hectic these last few days and will be even more hectic over the next month.

An Afternoon Worth or Worry and Tears

I met with the surgeon yesterday. Luckily my aunt volunteered to go with me. I didn't ask anyone to go because I thought that I could handle it on my own. I'm stubborn like that. You would think that I would have learned by now.

Dr. Knight, the surgeon, was very kind and explained everything very well. He said that (unlike we thought earlier) the tissue is intralober. It is inside the lung. Because it is inside her lung they will have to remove half of her right lung. That is the only way to get rid of the tissue. If we left the tissue alone it would continue to cause constant infection and eventually lung cancer. So we are doing to surgery. We really have no choice. Fortunaly her lung will "regenerate" iteself and continue to build new air sacs until age 7. She should have 100% air capacity and no lasting effects from the surgery. Except for a long scar on her right chest beneath her arm. There are risks with the surgery, as with any surgery. But I'm trying not to think about those. She will be in ICU for 2 days with a total hospital stay of 5 days. Dr. Knight averages about 1 of these surgeries a year. But Sadie's case is different. Something that they really haven't seen before. With a pulmonary sequestion there is usually an artery leading to it with a blood supply. This is blood coming from the heart to the tissue. Sadie's does not. Instead it has large vein leading from the tissue to the lower right chamber of the heart. It is putting blood back into the heart. It's not a major blood supply or anything that will be missed. But it is unusal. Dr. Knight and his partner Dr. Molik will be doing the surgery. Along with a ton of surgical residents, nurses and other people. They would like us to schedule the surgery in the next month or two. Before any more infections can set in. I do have a call into Logan hospital in OKC to see if I can get anyone there to look at her scans for a second opinion. If I have no luck there then I will move onto Mercy in KC. Unfortunately we are on a timeline. The quicker I can get a second opinion the better. Either we have to decide on when to have the surgery and how to rearrange a week of our lives this summer. I'll try to keep you all updated on any changes. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. Please continue them. We need all of the help that we can get. =)

Cody's First Communion

Cody was nervous for about a week before this big event. Constantly telling us that he had to get all the sins out that he could before he took his first communion. Believe me....he tried! =) Here's a pictures of Cody and Father Andy. He's such an awesome guy!!



Here's Craig and I.



And the little guy himself. So sweet!!!

MIss Me???

It's been a little while since I've updated our blog. I've been sick with a sinus infection, which then led to a tooth infection and root canal. Needless to say I have spent more time on the couch in the last two weeks than I have anywhere else. Things should be better in the next couple of days. I'll post pictures of Halie's First communion when I get a chance.

Sorry...Cody's First Communion...can you tell how awful I feel? lol....

Excitement For My Friend

My very dear, sweet and awesome friend is in an article in First magazine this month. Congrats Ashlei!!! She writes a blog called "Coupons Deals and Steal" http://coupondealsandsteals.blogspot.com/. Go check it out and become one of her followers. It's well worth your time. Congrats again Ash! Now onto the next publication. =)

Sadie's Hospital Visit

6:30 a.m. Yes, 6:30 a.m. This is the time this morning that we checked into Wesley Hospital to have a scheduled CT scan and bronchoscope done on Ms. Sadie. After being checked in we ventured to building 4 and went up to the Pediatric Sedation Unit on the 6th floor. She was pretty tired from getting up so early and was pretty laid back. The first IV that they tried to put in went well....until the nurse blew it. The next attempt was not as pleasant, but worked. IV in---check. The CT scan was scheduled for 8. We got there around 8:30 or so. The original plan was to sedate Sadie for both procedures. The radiology techs had a different idea. They wanted to try to have her lay very still on a table while she was put in and out of the CT machine. That lasted all of 10 seconds. Then came the sedative. She slept like a rock and had the scan like a pro! :) After her scan we went back up to her room on the 6th floor and waited for Dr. Riva to do the bronchoscope. Around 9:30 she came in and said that we would not be doing the bronchoscope. The CT scan showed that Sadie has a Pulmonary Serquestion. WHAT??? Pulmonary Sequestion. It is not hereditary. It just happens. It is tissue that formed outside of the lung. The tissue has blood vessels attached to it. Large blood vessels. This tissue is the cause of her constant infections. The bad news....it has to be removed. Surgery. The hardest part of the surgery is removing these large blood vessels. There is no option with the surgery. She has to have it. If we didn't do anything about this tissue it will continue to cause infection and could also cause cancer. We have two pediatric pulmonary surgeons that we are conferring with now. The next step is to have an office visit with them...consult...and decide when to have the surgery. Hopefully we can wait a little while until she gets older. She's doing fine now. A little sleepy, but all in all she's doing well. What a trooper she is. :)

Sadie's x-ray results

We heard back from Dr. Riva this morning. Sadie's chest x-ray came back with some good news. Her infection (pheumonia) seems to be completely gone. In the lower region on her right lung there appears to be an enlarged blood vessel. The doctor would like us to go ahead and schedule the CT scan. It should give her a better look at the blood vessel and determine what needs to be done about it. If we do the CT scan they will more than likely go ahead and do the bronchoscope at the same time. We will be knocked out for both procedures. Craig and I are still up in the air about what to do. We want as little risk to Sadie as possible. But we also want her better. Pray that we are able to come to the right decision for her.

What to do....

We went back to Dr. Riva yesterday for Sadie’s check up. We discussed our options based on the results of her chest x-ray. We had the x-ray done after our appointment, and should get the results today or tomorrow. If the chest x-ray comes back with the spot still there then we will be done a “sweat test”. For the sweat test we go to St. Francis, put a patch on her arm for a couple of hours to make it sweat, check the salt content in her sweat and that will determine whether or not she has cystic fibrosis. They are checking for it because of her frequent infections in her lungs. There are two other tests that Dr. Riva wants to perform, but Craig & I aren’t quite on board. She would like to do a CT scan and a bronchoscope. For both of these procedures Sadie would be put under. We are worried about the amount of radiation that she would receive from the CT scan and just the risks alone of being put out with the medication. If we do decide to have these procedures done and Dr. Riva finds that something didn’t form right in Sadie’s lung, then she would have to remove the imperfection. That’s a little scary too. So we have some decisions to think about and make. No fun…. I’ll keep you all posted when we get the results of her x-ray.