This is what the LORD says: "...I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." [Jeremiah 29:10-12, NIV]
This verse has been a verse of great encouragement to Kel and I in our seven years of marriage...but like never before was it put to the test - as it was yesterday! Do you believe that He knows the plans He has for your life? The plans He has to give you hope and a future? Because here is the Truth...Christ is the Hope and Future that is promised to us that know Him in this verse! And in Christ - our Solid Rock, Refuge, Hope, Future, Peace, Strength, and Freedom - lies the plans of Full and Abundant Life! For there is Power in His Blood...and as Carter sang that very song to us tonight on the way home from visiting Jackson today, I was reminded that we will find Him and His plans, as we seek Him with all our hearts! And know that as we are washed clean and set free by His Blood, we receive the Promise of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us into Truth, Hope and a Glorious Future! All we have to do is live strong, by Living Weak...
Day 5: The Plan...
Yesterday [December 4], we met for an hour with Dr. Joanne Snyder of Jackson's surgical team to discuss "the plan". And I can I just tell you how Awesome our God is for bring Joanne into our lives! Joanne has been a rock of faith, encouragement, support and wisdom ever since we met her on our orientation tour three weeks ago.
The guiding phrase throughout our journey has been "prepare for the worst, but remain hopeful for the best!" [Thank you Dr. Speer for your incredible wisdom and insight!]...but I am not sure you can ever be prepared to hear the words that your son - your own flesh and blood - may not make it through the next week of his life. But - that was the task at hand for Joanne yesterday. And truly, I don't believe there is a way to remain standing through a conversation of this type with out our Lord and Savior. When we may want to question "why me?" or "this is not fair!" our faith compels us to lean into His Strength, Presence and Provision and know that He has gone before us and is by our side! And so we leaned into this conversation, as tears streamed down our face, and stood firm in the Promises of our Heavenly Father!
I will never forget Joanne's response to my question of "on a scale of one to five - five being the worst, most evasive, intense heart surgery possible - where does Jackson's surgery fall?"...Joanne's response: "We remain hopeful, and he is doing really well right now...but this surgery scares me! It is definitely a five, and the most evasive and intense of all our pediatric heart surgeries!"
How does one stomach that...by the Grace of God!!!!
And so here is the plan...on Tuesday morning [December 8th] at 7:30am the surgery begins. It starts with general anesthesia, then placing Jackson on a ventilator and starting central lines and inserting two chest tubes. Then the actual surgery begins by cutting open his chest to access the heart, and placing him on a heart-lung machine. Then the clock starts to tick - as the goal is to get him off the heart-lung machine as soon as possible. Dr. Merrell [lead Pediatric Cardio/Vascular Surgeon] will begin immediately re-creating his heart to be a one ventricle system. He will form a new aorta by fashioning together Jackson's current, underdeveloped aorta with his pulmonary artery. A small shunt (tube) will be placed to connect the lung artery to the aorta. Then the team will remove the atrial septum to create just one atrium, and the PDA...and if you have no idea what I am talking about - don't worry...you are still sane! Just be sure to check out the diagram below...
All that to say - our little "big man" is going to have an intense morning of surgery, and needs all the prayer he can get! We all know the worse case scenario - that Jackson is no longer here on earth with us...but we all know that Our God is the Great Physician and is in complete control! We know Who gave this incredible team of doctors and surgeons their skill, knowledge, wisdom and insight to perform such a surgery - and He is the only one worthy of our Praise and Worship!
God is with us, and has Jackson in the palm of His Hands! And please know that we have not stopped praying for a complete, divine healing! We still believe that God can develop a left ventricle - where there seems to be no ventricle, and stop/cancel this surgery in a heart beat - literally!! If it is God's perfect and divine Will for Jackson NOT to have the Norwood Surgery...we Trust that He will move the mountain! And if it is His perfect and pleasing Will for Jackson to undergo the Norwood surgery - we Trust that He will move the mountain!
Recovery for Jackson will also be intense and long [a month or more]. He will most likely come back with an open chest, due to the swelling of his heart from the surgery. He will have multiple chest tubes and central IV lines - and may still require the heart-lung machine after surgery to sustain his blood oxygen levels. But GOD knows the plans He has for Jackson! Plans to give him and us a Hope and Future! And our Hope is in the Lord...Amen?
We NEED you right now! I know that your prayers have sustained us thus far - but pick it up ya'll! Many have written, sent cards, emails, txt and messages asking how they can help...the best thing right now is to pray! Pray for Healing! Pray for Strength! Pray for Wisdom and Peace that goes beyond understanding! Pray for Unity, Clarity, and Discernment as we face the hardest decisions of our lives! Pray for Rest as we are prepare for the worse...but are hopeful for the best possible outcome - which by the way "seems" to be that Jackson could be home by Christmas! What an awesome gift that would be under our tree this year, to have Christmas at home - the five of us!
Oh Lord - hear our prayers and heal your gift right now! You are the Light of Life and we love you Lord not just for what you do, but for who you are! We know that your are more than capable of healing Jackson in a heart beat - for you are a God of Grace, Mercy, Great Healing and Awesome Miracles...and with great faith we ask, seek and knock for your will to be done in Jackson's life! We Praise You for the incredible team of doctors and surgeons you have assembled and know that they are your hands and feet!
There's power! There's power! There's wondering working power! In the blood...of the Lamb! [Hope you can hear Carter singing this...sweet music, isn't it?]
All Eyes on Jesus!
This verse has been a verse of great encouragement to Kel and I in our seven years of marriage...but like never before was it put to the test - as it was yesterday! Do you believe that He knows the plans He has for your life? The plans He has to give you hope and a future? Because here is the Truth...Christ is the Hope and Future that is promised to us that know Him in this verse! And in Christ - our Solid Rock, Refuge, Hope, Future, Peace, Strength, and Freedom - lies the plans of Full and Abundant Life! For there is Power in His Blood...and as Carter sang that very song to us tonight on the way home from visiting Jackson today, I was reminded that we will find Him and His plans, as we seek Him with all our hearts! And know that as we are washed clean and set free by His Blood, we receive the Promise of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us into Truth, Hope and a Glorious Future! All we have to do is live strong, by Living Weak...
Day 5: The Plan...
Yesterday [December 4], we met for an hour with Dr. Joanne Snyder of Jackson's surgical team to discuss "the plan". And I can I just tell you how Awesome our God is for bring Joanne into our lives! Joanne has been a rock of faith, encouragement, support and wisdom ever since we met her on our orientation tour three weeks ago.
The guiding phrase throughout our journey has been "prepare for the worst, but remain hopeful for the best!" [Thank you Dr. Speer for your incredible wisdom and insight!]...but I am not sure you can ever be prepared to hear the words that your son - your own flesh and blood - may not make it through the next week of his life. But - that was the task at hand for Joanne yesterday. And truly, I don't believe there is a way to remain standing through a conversation of this type with out our Lord and Savior. When we may want to question "why me?" or "this is not fair!" our faith compels us to lean into His Strength, Presence and Provision and know that He has gone before us and is by our side! And so we leaned into this conversation, as tears streamed down our face, and stood firm in the Promises of our Heavenly Father!
I will never forget Joanne's response to my question of "on a scale of one to five - five being the worst, most evasive, intense heart surgery possible - where does Jackson's surgery fall?"...Joanne's response: "We remain hopeful, and he is doing really well right now...but this surgery scares me! It is definitely a five, and the most evasive and intense of all our pediatric heart surgeries!"
How does one stomach that...by the Grace of God!!!!
And so here is the plan...on Tuesday morning [December 8th] at 7:30am the surgery begins. It starts with general anesthesia, then placing Jackson on a ventilator and starting central lines and inserting two chest tubes. Then the actual surgery begins by cutting open his chest to access the heart, and placing him on a heart-lung machine. Then the clock starts to tick - as the goal is to get him off the heart-lung machine as soon as possible. Dr. Merrell [lead Pediatric Cardio/Vascular Surgeon] will begin immediately re-creating his heart to be a one ventricle system. He will form a new aorta by fashioning together Jackson's current, underdeveloped aorta with his pulmonary artery. A small shunt (tube) will be placed to connect the lung artery to the aorta. Then the team will remove the atrial septum to create just one atrium, and the PDA...and if you have no idea what I am talking about - don't worry...you are still sane! Just be sure to check out the diagram below...
All that to say - our little "big man" is going to have an intense morning of surgery, and needs all the prayer he can get! We all know the worse case scenario - that Jackson is no longer here on earth with us...but we all know that Our God is the Great Physician and is in complete control! We know Who gave this incredible team of doctors and surgeons their skill, knowledge, wisdom and insight to perform such a surgery - and He is the only one worthy of our Praise and Worship!
God is with us, and has Jackson in the palm of His Hands! And please know that we have not stopped praying for a complete, divine healing! We still believe that God can develop a left ventricle - where there seems to be no ventricle, and stop/cancel this surgery in a heart beat - literally!! If it is God's perfect and divine Will for Jackson NOT to have the Norwood Surgery...we Trust that He will move the mountain! And if it is His perfect and pleasing Will for Jackson to undergo the Norwood surgery - we Trust that He will move the mountain!
Recovery for Jackson will also be intense and long [a month or more]. He will most likely come back with an open chest, due to the swelling of his heart from the surgery. He will have multiple chest tubes and central IV lines - and may still require the heart-lung machine after surgery to sustain his blood oxygen levels. But GOD knows the plans He has for Jackson! Plans to give him and us a Hope and Future! And our Hope is in the Lord...Amen?
We NEED you right now! I know that your prayers have sustained us thus far - but pick it up ya'll! Many have written, sent cards, emails, txt and messages asking how they can help...the best thing right now is to pray! Pray for Healing! Pray for Strength! Pray for Wisdom and Peace that goes beyond understanding! Pray for Unity, Clarity, and Discernment as we face the hardest decisions of our lives! Pray for Rest as we are prepare for the worse...but are hopeful for the best possible outcome - which by the way "seems" to be that Jackson could be home by Christmas! What an awesome gift that would be under our tree this year, to have Christmas at home - the five of us!
Oh Lord - hear our prayers and heal your gift right now! You are the Light of Life and we love you Lord not just for what you do, but for who you are! We know that your are more than capable of healing Jackson in a heart beat - for you are a God of Grace, Mercy, Great Healing and Awesome Miracles...and with great faith we ask, seek and knock for your will to be done in Jackson's life! We Praise You for the incredible team of doctors and surgeons you have assembled and know that they are your hands and feet!
There's power! There's power! There's wondering working power! In the blood...of the Lamb! [Hope you can hear Carter singing this...sweet music, isn't it?]
All Eyes on Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment