Please Pray for Jake
Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 09:51PM Jake said it was OK for me to share this prayer request with all of you.
As many of you know, our son, Jake, was born with multiple, major heart defects. He has had two open heart surgeries and many other procedures over the years and in all these things, God has been so merciful. Jake has been in some pretty difficult spots, but always God has intervened for him at just the right time.
Over the past few weeks, Jake has been going through some routine (well, routine for him) tests as a part of his regular recall appointment. We are seeing a new doctor, so he wanted to get a thorough baseline for him.
When the results from his holter monitor came in this week, it was discovered that Jake's heart rate is falling into the 20's when he is deeply asleep and he is having multiple pauses between 3-5 seconds in duration. This is not good. He went to see the cardiologist again on Thursday, who sent him to an electro-physiologist on Friday (the wonderful Doctor I went to in April for my ablation) who put him in the hospital Friday night for observation. He will be transferred to Children's Hospital in Chicago where he will undergo an MRI and then they will implant a pacemaker and defibrillator. The MRI has to be done before the pacemaker, because once that's implanted, there will be no more MRI's for Jake.
Every thing with Jake is extra risky and a little trickier because of the structural changes that have been made to his heart tissues, so we greatly desire your prayers for Jake over the next week or so.
I will most likely be away from my computer during this entire time, as I will be staying at the hospital with Jake. I may be able to get some updates to you through my dear friend, Dorothy.
Thank you, my dear readers, for the friendship you have extended to me (and my family) through this blog. I'm grateful for each and every one of you.
Reader Comments (28)
Kim
I can understand his trepidation about the MRI, having recently has one on my knee recently.
Mine only took about 1 hour and because I had to lie absolutely still, it was extreemly difficult to do. Not to mention the fact that the loud sounds the machine made became very monotonous.
I will be praying for Jake.
Tom
Good News!
This afternoon, Jake had an extensive MRI. He is very claustrophobic, so over two hours on the table wasn't easy for him, but he was able to do the whole thing. He dreaded that more than the heart cath/ EPstudy or the pacemaker procedure!
The good news is that they were able to get all the necessary information from the MRI. The images were excellent as were the results. They discovered that the baffles that were created when Jake had his first repair are in very good condition-no problems there. The right ventricle function is "low normal"--which is absolutely WONDERFUL for someone who has had the kind of repairs he has had. The pulmonary outflow obstruction is still present but in his case it is a good thing. His left ventricle has been doing a much easier task than it was designed to do. Instead of pumping to the body, it now pumps to the lungs. Sometimes this causes the left ventricles to get lazy and flabby, but in Jake's case, the outflow obstruction is forcing the left ventricle to work harder, so it is in better shape than it would be without that extra challenge. Because of that, the left ventricle is strong instead of flabby and provides support to the right ventricle's function. This is all good.
The information from the MRI has made a heart cath unecessary! They wouldn't really gain any new information, so we can skip that on Thursday. As far as the EP study that was scheduled on Thursday; we COULD go ahead and do that. It would give lots of information, but his electro-physiologist believes that we have enough information already to make a decision about plain pacemaker vs. pacemaker with defibrillator. She believes that, while a simple pacemaker may meet Jake's immediate needs, there is strong evidence based on historical data gathered from patients like him over time and the trends within his own case information that he will need a defibrillator eventually, so she recommends going ahead and doing it now. Therefore, we really don't need to have the EP study to make the decision. We are going to opt out of that since we really don't need it to make the decision and there are risks involved. Once he gets the pacemaker it will serve as a built in EP study! : D
It looks as though they will be able to do the Pacemaker/defib on Friday. He'll have to stay in the hospital for a minimum of 24 hours after that, so depending upon what time of day he will have the procedure and how he gets along, he could be home on Saturday but more likely on Sunday sometime.
We are absolutely delighted with this news and rejoicing in God's gracious provision for Jake, yet again. This experience has caused us to cast our cares upon Christ again and He has given us comfort and peace, as well as a very favorable outcome for the future!
We are so thankful for your prayers and ask you to continue to pray for Jake as he undergoes the procedure on Friday and as he adjusts to this in the days and weeks to come.
I'm happy that the news is so good and so thankful for God's answers to our prayers.
What a blessing to hear good news - and to know that there is something that can be done medically to help remedy the situation!
Hospitals can be so wearing to the spirit as well as the body-I'm also praying that you and Jake can find a place of quiet comfort within all the bustle of nurses and technicians and doctors! I hold onto Julian of Norwich's statement that "All shall be well and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."
Wednesday update:
Not much going on today or tomorrow. We might get the opportunity to see some of the MRI images this afternoon, so that will be cool. Sometime today we will also meet with the Pacemaker nurse, who will bring and example of the device they will be implanting to his room so we can see it and have all our questions answered.
Jake is feeling good--a little bored at this point. We are not big TV watchers and there's not much for an adult to do in a Children's hospital, but it's good to know that things are progressing toward getting this thing done so that he can go home and get back to his normal life again.
Thanks for your continuing prayers. That means so much to all of us! There are a lot of sick kids and worried families on this floor and throughout this hospital, so it would be good if you would pray for them, too!
Kim and Jake
Kim, we will be praying...
kim, read about your son on the highway. i will pray .
Well, yesterday we had good news; today we've had a small set back-or at least we think and hope it is small.
They did a special kind of echo on Jake this morning--a bubble echo. It is a test to see if there are any leaks or holes in the heart or in the area of his reconstructive surgery.
Jake does have what they think is a small leak somewhere in the area of his repair. It appeared in the bubble echo that may even be insignificant, however, they need to know what's going on with that before they do the pacemaker, so the heart cath is back on for tomorrow. They will do several angiograms (pictures with dye) to determine, if they can, where the leak is located and how large it is. If it is a certain size, it will have to be repaired. They are expecting that if it does need to be repaired after all, they will probably be able to put in a "plug" while they are in there doing the cath. They may also have to do a transesophageal echo (they thread a small echo transmitter down the throat and take pictures from behind the heart) Because of that, he will have to have an general anesthetic.
At this point, they don't think it will interfere with the plans for the pacemaker procedure on Friday. It is Jake's fondest wish to get all this stuff over with so he can get home and start "getting his life back."
Thanks so much for your continued prayers for Jake.
Putting our trust in the One who made Jake and has sovereignly ordained each one if his, and our, days. . .