Our Trip to MUSC

We had a long day yesterday down to Charleston and back. The surgeon was kind and went over things thoroughly. He is 95% sure he can repair my valve. However the unknown factor is how much scar tissue he'll find from my 1st surgery that will hinder a repair.

He went over my replacement options in some more detail. For the tissue valve they would use a calf valve. It averages 5-10 years before needing to be replaced. Then my 3rd surgery would carry more risk. He said they don't have many patients that get 3 or more surgeries so they don't have as exact statistics. He said the 5-10 years is an average and depends on my body. Some will only last 2 years and he's had some last almost 20. One good thing was that he also said that pregnancy wouldn't speed up how quickly it wore out.

With a mechanical valve I wouldn't need any more surgeries. I would be on an oral blood thinner for live. I could possibly get pregnant but would have to switch over to a daily injection before I tried to get pregnant and throughout the pregnancy. It also carries some fetal risk. He said that 1-2% of the people on blood thinners die each year from complications. If I fell and skinned my knee while playing soccer with my son, not such a big deal. If I fell and hit my head it could cause fatal bleeding into my brain. So no horses, bicycles, contact sports (not that I play any!), etc.

So now I have more info to help me make this decision that I hate having to make. Yet, it has to be decided before I go to surgery. Our big prayer is for REPAIR!!!! That being said, I'll have my surgery in January. They will contact me the beginning of next week to set up the date. He wanted to give me some time to think of more questions. I will be 1 week in the hospital, 2 weeks at home doing nothing, 4 weeks getting back to doing stuff then 6 months until I really feel normal. He said by 8 weeks post-op I'll feel 90% back to normal but that last 10% takes up to 6 months.

So please continue to pray. I've already told my hubby he'll have to blog for me while I'm in the hospital. :) Gotta keep everyone up to date.

Time to Meet the Surgeon

Tomorrow afternoon I meet with the surgeon for consultation. I'm so anxious and excited to meet with him. I picked him out after hours of research online and even though we have to drive to Charleston, I know it's worth it. I should find out when I'll have surgery and I'll get more info on my valve choices.

If you haven't checked out MckMama's Raffle-Way, now's the time. Only a few days left.

I'm holding my breath & crossing my fingers in hopes of winning. :)

Seasons of Life

Two nights ago I was in the car waiting for my mom to come out of a store. I turned on the radio and In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley was on. His broadcast was on "Encouragement Through the Seasons of Life." Here's the gist of it.... Often times we go through different, changing seasons of life. Through these seasons many of us turn to the Word for encouragement and look for just the right verse to minister to us. However, there is a verse that can sustain us through every season of life.

Lamentations 3:22-23 "The LORD'S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "

Great is Your faithfulness!!! Through everything. Everyday. Every season. Every battle. Anything and everything that life brings us. Great is His faithfulness.

Christmas Spirit Award

I received this award from Kelly at Our Family Ramblings last week.

Of course with receiving awards, there are some rules that come along with it. For this particular one, the rules are very simple.
They are....You must be a true Christmas lover to receive this award.
The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with Christmas.
You must link back to the person who gave you the award.
You must list 5 things that you love about Christmas. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space! :o)
Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 45; it's up to you. But, you must pass it on to at least one person in order to keep the Christmas cheer going!
Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving them a comment on their blog.

5 things I love about Christmas:

1) That we celebrate Jesus and His birthday.

2) That it's my daughter's birthday.

3) Decorating the tree with sentimental ornaments.

4) Christmas parades with the kids. I enjoy the local ones that are small with horses and lots of candy. :)

5) Gifts! Giving & Receiving!

6) I also like that my son thinks Santa is Noah. We have a Noah picture book and he has a long , white beard. The last 2 years I've been at the hospital for Christmas (once with somebody in labor & once in labor myself!) so we haven't done much of the Santa thing. Hopefully I won't be in the hospital again this Christmas! :)

I tag my friend Jessica for this award. So don't forget to check out her answers in a couple days.

Turn Back Time Thursday

I thought this was a neat idea from Lisa at My Journey Through Infertility. So here are a few pictures from way back of me and Jessica aka Florida Girl. I think we were about 15 at the time.

Jessica always wore the prettiest hats....well, back then they were pretty. Not sure I'd hang out with her now if she was wearing that. :)

Hmm...I definitely could have used a little style advice. Can you see today's 15 year olds wearing an outfit like that? I don't think so!

Wordless Wednesday

I'm not sure if a video counts as wordless. This is a photo montage from Decaf's birth and the couple of days after. My hubby made it, another of his many talents. The heading is Falling Photographs but it's not actually the title, just the style he used. He had to resize it big time to fit on the blog but it still looks good. Be sure your volume is on and pause my playlist at the bottom of this page first. (And I won't be too offended by those who don't watch the whole thing. I understand it's just not as sentimental when it's someone else's kid.)

Decisions To Make

I met with my cardiologist again today but didn't get too much news. He consulted a local surgeon and he agrees I need surgery soon. I have also researched hospitals and surgeons and I talked to him about getting a specific one. He's fine with that and will be contacting the surgeon, sending test results, and then scheduling the surgery. He kind of chuckled when I mentioned that I had a hospital and surgeon picked out. Hubby reminded me that most of the doctors patients are probably over 60 and don't get online and do too much research on their own. :) So now I wait to hear back this week on a surgery date. What exactly does "soon" mean to a doctor?

He said that the #1 choice is to do a repair of the mitral valve. If they have to replace it then I need to decide between tissue (pig or cow) valve or mechanical (metal). With a mechanical valve replacement I should not need future surgeries. I would have to take anticoagulation medicine daily for life. Because of this I could NOT ever be pregnant while on this medication. If I choose a tissue valve replacement I can most like have another pregnancy, but those valves wear out and need to be replaced every 10-15 years. So these are the choices I have to weigh now. It's quite overwhelming. Obviously, the best thing would be a repair. That is something they just can't know until they go in for surgery and actually see my valve. If they can't repair it I have to know ahead of time which replacement I want.

On a much lighter note here's some pictures of the kiddos for our Christmas cards. Out of a hundred pictures I think we got about 5 where Decaf didn't have her thumb in her mouth. A big thanks to Stan for the pictures. His comfort zone is more along the lines of the Georgia Dome and not trying to pose a 1 & 3 year old. And please overlook my lousy cropping. :)

And check out Focus on the Family's contest. You might win an iPod. :)