Friday, November 22, 2013

Never a dull moment...

David again, Grace has had a great day today, not just medically, but socially as well.  Grace had three visitors come by the hospital today, the mother and sisiter-in-law of the VP of Kristi's division at work, Mrs. Sharron and Michelle, and a great friend who was the best man in our wedding, Ian Gruca.  Grace got a new stuffed animal and doll from them and their generosity poured out on to me as well, with some wonderful snacks, books, and a gift card to Au Bon Pain (one of the few food places in the hospital).  It was such a blessing for me to have visitors.  I praise God that most days are not too difficult and lonely for me, but there are certainly times when I feel the separation from the family.  Thankfully, the difficulty was made much less apparent today by being blessed with a visit from our friends.  Thanks, Mrs. Sharron, Michelle, and Ian!


In regards to Grace's day medically, she continues to greatly improve.  Today Grace had her pacing wires, chest tube, and right atrial pressure line removed from inside of her chest, which she handled like a champ.  The nurse today (this was this nurse's first time having Grace) gave her some sedation before the removal, but little did she know that Grace was just going to laugh at the sedation she received, so the nurse gave Grace a little more sedation, to which Grace continued to not be phased by, therefore, she went forward with the procedure and had to have another nurse come in to hold Grace still.  They have also continued to wean the amount of oxygen Grace is receiving, so she is now on only 2 liters.  The plan for the weekend is to lessen the amount of diuretics Grace is getting because she is too dried out right now, which is causing her kidney numbers to be too high, but also it doesn't give an accurate picture of how her heart will look without all of the diuretics.  So, hopefully Grace will do well with the changes over the weekend and then she will have an echo done on Monday to see how the gradient on her mitral valve looks.  Please continue praising God with us and praying for His will to be apparent to the doctors as they continue treating our little Gracie.


Tag…  I'm it-  I am one exhausted momma, so this is going to be a short and sweet post (if I'm actually capable of that :-) ).  Let's just say that there is never a dull moment in the lives of the Ross' as we continue to acquire stamps on our imaginary punch card…  Remember, I'm trying to get someone to buy into my idea of a punch card for the Cardiology Department at TCH because, not only does Grace visit them frequently, but Abigail and Andrew are now both followed by them.  My newest punch card petition is for ER visits.  Andrew has now earned his 3rd stamp for ER visits in the past year or so.  I got a call from my Mother in Love this afternoon while I was at work.  She calmly told me that Andrew was alright, but he hit his forehead on the TV and probably needed stitches, so she asked where I wanted her to take him.

On a side note, I haven't mentioned my Mother in Love too much lately, but she has been my wing woman through the craziness of this journey and has executed her job flawlessly (running car pools, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, home work with Abby, grocery shopping, and making sure that I don't forget anything).  Let's just say that I would be lost without her!!!

I could hear Andrew crying because he was scared in the background, so I asked to talk to him.  I tried to reassure him that he was going to be just fine and that I was going to meet him at the ER.  He asked me to pray with him (his sweetness and dependence on the Lord during his time of fear brought tears to my eyes), so once again I got to look like a looney toon, walking through the Medical Center (where I work) to my car, praying out loud with tears in my eyes. I knew that he was going to be fine (they are just stitches, not heart surgery :-), I just hated that I couldn't be there sooner to comfort him and the whole stitches/staple thing is usually David's job because I'm weak, so it made me miss my man a whole lot.  I prayed the whole way to the hospital that the laceration wouldn't be that bad, that Andrew would feel God's peace and comfort all around him, and that God would give him  (AND ME) supernatural strength to endure the many stitches that he would likely need.  The answer to those prayers were 2 out of 3!  I'll take it!!!  It WAS that bad…

This is 9 stitches later, but if you are interested in the before picture, you can scroll to the very bottom of this post.  I want to be sensitive to those of you that don't like to look at bloody pictures :-).

God said "yes" to the two requests that matter most…  I know that Andrew felt God's peace and comfort because he was his sweet self when I arrived to the ER and not upset about what he knew was to come.  God also provided him with supernatural strength, in that even the Dr that sewed him up said that he was honestly the toughest patient she has ever had.  They were blown away by how peaceful he was (after getting the numbing shot injected directly into and all around the wound that is :-) .  I must not have done too bad myself because when I was putting Andrew to bed tonight, we were reflecting on how God answered our prayers and I told him how proud I am of him for being so tough and he said "you were tough too Mommy!  I'm proud of you!"


 Now for the bad news…  Andrew was suppose to have his 5th birthday party this Tuesday evening (on his actual birthday) at a bounce house type place ( it has obstacle courses, boxing with giant gloves, huge basket ball and net, etc) and the Dr said that he could not do any bouncing (because it always includes kids running into each other and lots of falling down) or anything else that would put him at risk for busting his sutures.  That means that I have to find an alternate birthday party solution ASAP and try to convince the bounce house place not to keep our deposit….  So, the craziness continues, but the good news is that God is still on His throne and His mercies are new every morning!  Just a friendly reminder, not to scroll any further if you don't want to see Andrew's gash.

WE LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU, SWEET VILLAGE!!!  Please keep the prayer coming :-)

GRACIE STRONG (in God's strength)!!!




This picture really doesn't even do it justice because the blood doesn't allow you to see just how deep the gash really was...



2 comments:

Tricia Keierleber said...

Praising God for good news on Grace's front, (David- we too know Au Bon Pain from our time at Memorial Hermann...we missed it when we moved to TCH! lol). Glad you got to have visitors today!:)

Andrew...OH MY! THAT BOY! lol So glad y'all had peace even though it was SO bad!

OK, God, no more excitement!! lol A heart patient is way more than enough excitement!

I know it seems trivial in the light of Grace's situation, but I'm praying Andrew's birthday stuff goes perfectly! I really don't think it is trivial at all. This is huge in Andrew's world and it is understandable for you to feel bad for him!

Kathy A. said...

Andrew, you are taking after your dad! A visit from the Rosses in the summer usually meant some kind of injury to David, sometimes requiring a trip to the ER.

Remember Tim the Toolman from Home Improvement? He had a mug with his name on it in the ER! Hope there are NO MORE trips for you!

Praying for dearest Grace,
Aunt Kathy