Our Rainbow

  Mom is out of surgery. As I posted earlier, the plastic surgeon was unavailable this morning so they only did a wound “washout.” Dr. Bansal was pleased with how that went and said there were no signs of any infections or fluid. The “hole” looked much better than expected and seemed to show signs that it might be closing. Dr Bansal wants to do a CT scan today to further examine how the area is healing. 

  The plan is still to do the “muscle flap” surgery tomorrow. Whether they open her chest completely will depend on the results of a cat scan they’re doing now. We will know how invasive the surgery will be and an approximate time sometime this evening. 
   Please pray the cat scan results are positive and they do not have to open her chest completely. If they do that, it will set her recovery and PT back significantly. We will post another update later tonight.

   I have no doubt that the Lord made the plastic surgeon unavailable for this mornings surgery so that Dr Bansal could make this discovery. His plans are always so much better than ours. Praising Him through this storm and watching closely as he creates our rainbow. 

This picture was sent to me by Kara Kinchen, a sweet friend of the family. Our family is so blessed by the thousands of friends and family that are praying us through this storm. We are looking forward to the day we all get to sit back and admire the rainbow. 

Mom’s Miracle

This evening we are praising the Lord because nothing grew on Mom’s culture that was done on her chest abscess. Mom is infection free! Yet again, the Lord showed up and proved the doctors WRONG.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of Mom’s issues. As best I can explain it, Mom has a hole in the tissue of her chest under her skin that didn’t properly heal. Dr. Bansal believes surgery is now necessary to fix this issue. Without it, the risk of infection is too high and almost certainly life threatening. An infection of this kind, would also guarantee that Mom wouldn’t receive a transplant.

So...on Wednesday Dr. Bansal will open Mom’s chest and do a muscle graft and skin graft to close the hole. Basically, what he would do is stretch the muscle from her stomach into the hole and make an extra layer of protection to ensure the heart and pump don’t get infected. This idea is scary and overwhelming for Mom. She’s just gotten to the point where she’s gained a little more independence and having her chest opened again will set her recovery back some. Please pray for her to feel encouraged and that the Lord will give her the confidence to push through yet another major surgery.

We will never know why Mom has had so many complications, BUT we do know who is continuing to carry her through this journey. The light of Jesus has never been brighter in our life’s. His work is evident and bright. He is continuing to show the world what he is capable of through Mom. We are so thankful for all of you who have been our prayer warriors. You have played a crucial part in her recovery and we are blessed to have so many people caring and praying. When there was no hope, you believed with us... and when there was nothing left to do, you prayed with us. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. This journey is far from over, so please continue to join our family in praying and believing in Mom’s miracle.

Update on Mom’s Surgery

Mom’s surgery is complete and she is back on the 10th floor Surgical ICU recovering. Dr. Bansal told us that what he found was not good. He said puss had surrounded the LVAD and various parts of the machine in her chest. It was more widespread than anticipated. They took cultures and sent them to Infectious Disease to see exactly what we are dealing with. Dr. Bansal said it will be a miracle if it’s not an infection. At this time, he is not set on what our next steps are. The next 48-hours will tell us how serious the infection is and help him determine his next steps. In the meantime, mom will continue to recover and he will be consulting with his LVAD colleagues across the country.

Dr Bansal comforting Grannie 

Dr Bansal and Mom after surgery

Please pray that the lab work comes back negative for any type of infection. Please pray for wisdom for our team of physicians as they determine next steps. Finally, pray for strength for mom and our entire family. We’ve been facing this giant for almost eight months. God hasn’t brought us this far to let us down now. We continue to believe for a miracle and ask you to believe with us. We love you all so much!

Why? Why? Why?

As I write this, I’m driving home from New Orleans devastated over the news our family received today. Yesterday, Mom was admitted to the hospital with an abscess at the bottom of her chest scar. Since yesterday, it’s continued to get worse and worse. Dr Bansal came in this morning and in typical “Bansal” fashion gave us some pretty blunt and scary information. We basically have two options on how to handle this abscess... 1. Take out her VAD and put in a complete new one 2. Do a complete wash out, give antibiotics and get Mom listed for a heart.

You can imagine how devastating it was for our family to receive this news today. It completely knocked the breath out of me and I’m still just speechless. Angry, frustrated and speechless. Mom and our family have fought this battle for too long. We have cried and begged the Lord to heal Mom and just when we feel like we are safe, we get hit again. I have asked “Why” all day. Why do these awful things keep happening? Why can’t Mom catch a break? Why? Why? Why? I will probably never know the answer. For now, all we can do is keep praying and keep believing that Mom’s healing is coming. Keep begging God to end this nightmare and keep searching for that light at the end of the tunnel. Please keep praying for Mom and our family. Please specifically pray that this abscess is surface level and self contained. Please pray that no infection has spread to any of her equipment and please join us in begging the Lord for complete healing. 

As I drove home tonight full of heartache, this beautiful sunset was a sweet reminder of Jesus and what He has to offer our family during this difficult time. Tonight I’m refusing to give up hope. When all else is lost, we still have the sweet hope that Jesus gives us and tonight I’m so thankful for that. 


**Edited to add that on Monday Mom will be having surgery to do a complete wash out of her chest. There is no plan to replace her LVAD at this time.**