Another heart stent today

Yesterday night, after a wonderful tubeless day, our nurse came in to inform us that after Jacob's echo our surgeons met and decided it would be best for Jacob to have the stent procedure done soon. So they scheduled us for this morning.

It came as a shock to us since we were told originally we would have more time before it needed to be done. But after lots of questions and worrying it came down to the fact that the surgeon knows best and we need to trust that it is all for the good of Jacob's future.

The hardest thing in the world is to walk your baby down to surgery and have to hand him over to some stranger. This time it was as if Jacob knew what was happening, as the nurse took him into the operating room he was looking back at me and mom with such sad eyes. It broke my heart...again. As a mom you just want to protect your children from pain and its such a terrible feeling not to be able to shield them from it and to sit there and watch or let it happen. So many times I just want to scoop him up and RUN out of the hospital, but of course we don't because we also know it is for his own good and ultimately means his life. But still... it's hard, so hard.

Anyways, the heart cath went well, but we are still in ICU as I type. And we will have to stay here overnight. :( He is pale and his blood count is down (not low, but lower than they would like), so they just want to monitor him closely. He didn't eat much since he has been out of surgery, but the doctors are not concerned since he is still drugged up a bit and his throat is sore from the breathing tube they had in.

Hopefully this will be his last procedure before the big surgery at 6 months. The surgeon put a different kind of stent that has more metal in it, in hopes of it lasting longer in Jacob's heart. But still it will need close monitoring because there is no way of telling when the arch will narrow again and if it happens before 4 months, we will need an additional surgery. We just need to hope and pray for the best.

I want to say thank you to Brother Steve Hearst for coming today and supporting us as we waited for Jacob's stent to be complete. Your kindness is appreciated more than you know. :) We are so thankful to have such a loving brother and friend by our side.

SOMEDAY we will be home. I miss you all terribly. We called in for the special talk Sunday because we couldn't make it to the kingdom hall and it was so nice to hear all the voices of our friends back home. I love you all!