Update on Little man!
Submitted by Christina on Thu, 02/11/2010 - 3:32pm
The other night I woke up in the middle of the night and had an incredible feeling of Thankfulness that came over me. I think in the beginning I couldn't totally grasp the miracle that had taken place in our lives. The reason I feel that I couldn't completely grasp it was that I was so hurt with the turn of events. Our plan was that Lance would go in for the Fontan surgery in April, maybe stay there a week, and then we would be back home, and life would start getting back to normal like it did with his first surgery. We also had it in our minds that we were not looking at a transplant for Lance until he reached his twenties. However, what I have come to realize is, it is not our plan. It is in God's plan, and the way it ended up is the way it was supposed to.
During the long three months Lance was there we experienced so much. There were so many days that it felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I often wondered when we would finally be a normal family again, in the same house together. During the non-visitation hours we would try and sleep at the Mason House, and if the phone rang in the middle of the night our hearts sank and I literally felt like I was going to throw-up. When he was in CICU, there were strict hours of visitation. We could not spend the night so when the phone rang at 3am it wasn't any good news. I will never forget that feeling. I will never forget the feeling I felt every morning when I would call to see if I could go back and see him. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking of it. So many times they would say “not yet, in a couple more hours you can get back here”. Then I would ask to speak to his nurse, and the wait to talk to the nurse felt like forever. The minute the nurse would pick up the phone, I could tell by their tone what kind of day we were going to have. Those were some of the toughest days of our lives, but thankfully we had a lot of support and a lot of great nurses, doctors, and a lot of prayers.
I wasn’t really honest with people about what we went through on a daily basis, because it was such a rollercoaster. I think deep down I was afraid if people knew all the details of what Lance was going through they might give up on him. I didn't want anyone to give up on our little man.
The day after he got his new heart, I remember walking back, when the magical gates opened and seeing so many doctors standing around Lance. I walked in and saw the look on their face and knew something wasn't right. His blood pressure was dangerously low and they were doing everything to try to get it higher. I remember just crying in the corner and praying that he would pull through this. They finally found the right medication to bring it up, but they soon found out that his aorta was constricted and they scheduled another surgery to repair it. At this point I was a basket case and was wondering how much more he could go through? Thankfully, he is a trooper and did just fine!!
Looking back now, I feel so blessed and know the power of prayer got us to this point! I have also learned there are many things I have no control over and this is a tough one for me since I like to be in control. God's plan was for Lance to start living the life of a normal 6 year old and we didn't really know he wasn't. We had learned to accept him being tired and having headaches, but know he is living life the way he is supposed to be.
Thanks to everyone that has supported us along the way. We have received so much love and support and it means more than we can express.
***Lance update*** He was sick last week and had a high fever of 103.4 and missed 3 days of school. He went to Children's so they could find out what was going on. He had a virus of some sort and was put on antibiotics and is doing a lot better. He and Emory are home sick again today. Lance has another fever and we think Emory has strep throat. Say a prayer that they get better quickly. I am waiting for the transplant team to call me back and let me know their thoughts. Lance has a cath on the 16th and this will be his 8 month post transplant check-up.
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