Aug 16, 2014 | Natalie's Life
Hi everyone,
We got some very good news this morning. As we’ve shared, we had thought that we may have to go to Boston for Natalie’s transplant. The reason for this was because the surgeon in Minneapolis, Dr. St. Louis, is leaving in October to develop a transplant program at the children’s hospital in Kansas City. If he leaves, there is nobody here who could do a transplant as complex as Natalie’s.
After speaking with Dr. St. Louis this morning, he has agreed to continue to see Natalie through and perform her transplant, even if that means traveling from Kansas City to come back to Minneapolis to do it. So, that means we can remain in Minneapolis closer to home, and where we have family. We are very grateful to Dr. St. Louis for agreeing to this, and to God for getting Natalie to this point. It is nothing short of miraculous that she is doing as well as she is, compared to where she was a week and a half ago, when they weren’t sure if she’d make it through that evening. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for her, and continue to do so.
Heidi and I are going to take a much needed break this evening and go see the Vikings final home pre-season game. We’ll post some pictures and give a report sometime soon.
Here’s a pic of Natalie with her present from last week’s game.
Aug 15, 2014 | Natalie's Life
Hi everyone,
It’s been quite a while, so I thought I’d get on & do an update. Many of you follow us in that crazy Facebook land, but some steer clear of there, so here we go.
Natalie is finally stable after quite a scary bout with pneumonia & a lung infection. She is still heavily sedated and on a paralytic, but she’s much better than she was. She’s finally doing well enough that I felt comfortable coming back home and getting back to work. (A huge thank you to MDU, by the way, for all of their support and understanding through all of this). I’ll head back tonight to spend the weekend.
We’re meeting with the doctors tomorrow to discuss when we can get Natalie back on the transplant list. The surgeon in Minneapolis doesn’t seem to think he should perform the surgery unless she’s off of the breathing tube, and we need to find out why. They’ve spoken with Boston (the doctors there, not the entire city, that would take a while), and they would be fine with doing the transplant there. We certainly would prefer to stay in Minneapolis, but we’ll obviously go to Boston if need be. We’re concerned with waiting to re-list her, as she may miss an opportunity for the right heart, and there is always the chance she could get sick again, and that chance goes up the longer we wait. So, we’ll have a lot to think about and pray about this weekend.
We also need to say a huge thank you to Barb, Heidi’s mom, for staying out in Minneapolis. She’s been out there for quite a while now, and has put her home life on hold as well to be with us. It’s reassuring for me to know that Heidi isn’t alone while all of this is going on, as I have to try to balance work & being out there.
On a lighter note, Heidi’s dad and I were able to attend the Vikings game last Friday. I’ll put a couple pics below. Also, Heidi and I will be catching the other Vikings home pre-season game tomorrow night. It’s nice to be able to watch the next Super Bowl champs play in person in their new temporary home. Outdoor football is awesome. Cassel, Jennings, and Patterson looked really good, as did the defense. Bridgewater made some rookie mistakes, but he still looked solid. Ponder looked like, well, Ponder…unfortunately.
We had really good seats. This pic was taken right from our seat.
Aug 5, 2014 | Natalie's Life
Hello everyone,
As hard days have turned into hard weeks, we continue to ask you to pray for Natalie. She has been intubated and on the ventilator now for almost three weeks. During this time we have struggled to keep her fluid balance stable where she can have decreased fluid and in turn a decreased workload for her heart and lungs. It’s been a very trying time for all of us. Brad has been here most of the time as well as my mom and dad. We sure miss our little girls big blue eyes and all her pretty teeth when she smiles.
I am not sure what all to say here today, but please continue to pray for her. She needs God healing right now.
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