The Ross Family: What a difference a year makes...

Well this has been another eventful week, both good and bad… Monday evening, Andrew started to feel a bit warm, then spiked a fever, he has continued to have a cough for weeks and his oxygen saturations were in the low 90’s. Our threshold is pretty low after all that we went through with him 2.5 months ago with pneumonia, so I had David take him to the Dr. They sent him for a chest X-ray and labs, sure enough…. pneumonia AGAIN (but a different location this time)!!! We took him in for a rocephin shot (a strong antibiotic that is suppose to work quickly). This shot didn’t help Andrew at all last time when he had pneumonia, so we were praying that it would work this time and we could stay out of the hospital. Thankfully, the rocephin shot, an oral antibiotic, and breathing treatments have kept him out of the hospital this time (praising the Lord big time for that), now we are just interested in figuring out why he would have pneumonia twice in two and a half months. Will you please join us in praying that there isn’t a serious underlying cause for the recurrent pneumonia, but something that can be treated easily?

Now the good news… Halloween a year ago was the worst day of my life (thats a pretty big statement with all that we’ve been through). Grace’s heart had a complication arise after we returned home from her third open heart surgery in Boston. Grace was being watched on the cardiac step down unit at our home hospital when she went downhill fast, they called the Rapid Response Team, had to emergently intubate her and send her to the ICU. David and I felt that everyone of the medical staff at our home hospital questioned why we opted to take Grace to Boston, except for our amazing cardiologist who has always been our biggest and best advocate. David and I fought the temptation to feel judged and question if we had not heard God correctly and made a fleshly decision for Grace’s care, as we found ourselves constantly defending our decision to the medical team that was taking care of Grace. It felt as though everyone had given up hope on the survival of our little girl except our cardiologist (remember, the chief of surgery told us that Grace was about to be a “checkmate”)… until Halloween day when our cardiologist was suppose to have a big meeting with the chief of surgery to figure out what our options were for Grace (was it safe enough and realistic to send her back to Boston, were they willing to try any intervention here and if so what, or did they think we were out of options). I left David and Grace at the hospital to go home to take the big kids trick or treating and wait for our cardiologist to call with the outcome of their meeting. I clutched my phone for dear life, anxiously waiting for it to ring with our cardiologist's name on it. It felt like it took forever for the phone to ring with the right name on the caller id, and as we were about to walk out the door to trick or treat the call came. I could tell immediately in our cardiologist's tone of voice that for the first time, she too had lost hope for Grace, the only thing that they could offer was to undo everything Boston had done in two surgeries, which would just be buying us time. What I was hearing didn’t seem real because it felt like we were out of options that offered any sort of long term survival (the main reason we went to Boston to begin with). By this time, a group of us were already trick or treating and I was following behind trying to hold myself together as my wobbly knees were the only thing keeping me from crumbling to the ground in despair. I called David and told him that I needed him to come quickly because I just needed him to hold me and help keep the kids from feeling the magnitude of the situation (I knew I could only sort of hold it together for so long). He rushed to my side, and in the mean time I begged God to reassure me that we heard him correctly and that He hadn’t given up on Grace. I ran into a friend that God somehow always brings around when I need someone to hold me up or stand in the gap for me. This friend appeared in front of me and I just about collapsed in her arms and explained what was happening. God used her to speak into my heart when she said “God has not said that this is over and until He does we will fight for life!” She prayed over me and told me that another mutual friend and super special family from Family Camp would be praying without ceasing for us. It was that moment that I felt an ounce of relief and hope as I was reminded that God was still in control, not the medical professionals. I love and appreciate medical professionals, but they are NOT God! David joined me shortly after that and as I refocused my heart and mind back on God, He gave me another beautiful reminder that He had this and that in His strength we would get through this. This is the beautiful scenery that He provided me with that was like water to my soul at that moment. Most of you know the end of the story, but the next day I received a life giving phone call from the VP of my division (whom I absolutely adore as she and her family will forever be a special part of our family at work) who reassured me that they were prepared to help get Grace back to Boston, if that is what was going to save her life. They more than held up on that promise and just days later Grace and David were medically flown back to Boston where she had two more open heart surgeries and spent two and a half months.

Fast forward a year and by God’s grace alone, we got to trick or treat as a whole family and Grace is alive and well, not to mention she LOVED trick or treating! We aren’t huge Halloween fans by any means, but there was something so amazing about getting to celebrate God’s goodness and provision as it shined brightly in our hearts on a day that is so often dark and scary. I just want to remind you that no matter what you are going through, GOD IS BIGGER!

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES!!!

Our trick or treating crew...

Our little Rag Doll, Minnie Mouse, and Spider Man...

I have no idea what these crazy Daddies are suppose to be, so let's call it a hodge podge...

Grace LOVED trick or treating!!!

The most precious little besties! Remember Abigail has the hardest time deciding what to dress up as because she's never been a dress up, make believe kind of girl. Since her first idea of being someone with Down Syndrome wasn't a realistic option (but I do love her heart), her next idea was to be whatever her best friend, Ju Ju, was going to be...