Day 5 -- April 14, 2009

Well here is the next issue of the daily drama known as “Katie’s Story”.

Today was a busy day. This morning started off with the obligatory early morning trip to the sink to continue the perpetual scrub and rinse, scrub and rinse. Upon donning our stylish, rakish, and debonair hospital aprons we made the trek down to Katie’s cubical. She looked so good, all things considering. She has been removed from the high frequency ventilator and placed on a conventional ventilator. This makes her look like she is breathing normally at about 30 breaths per minute. She has been removed entirely from the nitrous oxide. She is currently on 21% oxygen, which as I have learned is the same amount as what we are all breathing right now. They have taken the “shades” off of her eyes, allowing us to see her beautiful brown eyes.
She is very observant, and quite readily follows you when you move. She is obviously a bit drowsy due to the morphine drip to help her stay comfortable. Once while we were in the room the Nurse needed to change some of the bed linens. While she was working, she made the comment that this job would have been much easier if she had another set of hands; all the while giving Beth a sneaky little smile. Beth jumped on the opportunity to help pick up Katie. Beth was able to gently slide one hand under her little bottom and the other under her head and shoulders and pick her up a couple of inches. This small moment of ever so gingerly elevating Katie above her bassinet brought immense joy to Beth. She exited the ICN prancing like a school girl on Christmas morning that had eaten 5 candy bars. You could not have given her a gold bar and made her any happier.

This precious moment was priceless.We spoke with the doctor this morning and he said that she was as good as she could be without the surgery. Her prognosis looked really good, according to him.We were asked to allow another family use the little room that we had been “living” in since Thursday night. We were prepared for that eventuality, and did not begrudge relinquishing this little oasis. As the Lord has taken care of our every need thus far, we were prepared to take our share of the burden. As a matter of fact, we came prepared to sleep in the car in the parking deck if need be. However, as God’s grace is sufficient, we were called about an hour after turning over our little room, and officially offered the Parker Reese House in Hillsborough.

Since Katie is so stable we decided to go and find the house, and become familiar with the route. 20.4 miles and about 24 minutes later we found it. The house is located in the middle of a dairy farm turned haven for CDH families. It is a beautiful three bedroom, two bath brick home. This place is such a blessing! We are the fifth family to use this in its current role. There are photos of the families who have been here before us. Each room has several photos of the children this place has benefited. We are anxious to add our little Katie to the collection of scarred angels.

Nanna Joan and Papa Bennie packed up and brought Michael to the house this evening. We have enjoyed our time with him tonight. Since he was in a new place and we hadn’t seen him in a while, we let him stay up a little later tonight than normal. This house has a child’s room with all the amenities including farm murals on the walls, and toys.

Due to some signature problems and the faxing of forms between Durham and Charlotte I was unable to do the direct donation of blood today for Katie’s Surgery. The next opening that I could donate would be Friday. The Doctor thinks she will only need one unit anyway, so my contribution as well as the contributions of other thoughtful family members and friends is presently unneeded, at least for my Katie.

We were informed that her surgery is scheduled for 1:45 tomorrow (today now….I have really got to get these updates in before midnight). The surgeon said that the procedure would take two to four hours. We appreciate all of the well wishes, and prayers that have been offered toward heaven for our baby, however we ask that what ever you are doing tomorrow at 1:45 that you put it down and ask the Lord to guide the surgeon’s hands, to make them swift and accurate. We ask also that the Great physician apply a healing touch, which only he can provide. We will pray without ceasing for the duration of the procedure.We are now going to head back to spend the evening with our daughter. We will also be with her early in the morning, and up until they take her to prepare for the surgery.

Your replies have been a huge blessing. Thanks for all of your prayers. Keep them both coming!