Getting Rid Of Some Tubes

Mark and I visited Victoria at 9am this morning and were excited to see that the CICU doctor was about to take out her breathing tube. He said that when Victoria starts totally breathing on her own there may be more drainage through her chest tubes, so those will be left in a little while longer. He hopes to have those out by the end of the day, however.

Best case scenario, Victoria will be in a room sometime tomorrow. That room will have a bed in it for Mark and me and also a shower, from what we have been told. If this is really the case, this will be a huge blessing for Victoria, and also for us. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need to worry about housing from here on out.

We will update you at the end of the day to let you know how Victoria takes to all the changes that will be made throughout the day.

May 15, 2008
  4 COMMENTS

Special Friends

We have been so blessed with such special friends and family. We’ve gotten to see a few people while being here at UAB that I happened to take pictures with while we were here. Hope you enjoy them!

Our precious pastor, Ed Litton, has been such a wonderful support to us. It’s a pleasure and privilege serving with him. He’s a great pastor and friend and I’m so thankful for him!

Marie Harbison has been such a great prayer warrior for us. She serves on staff at a church in Birmingham and was so sweet to come see us and bring us a goodie bag.
Derwin Anderson is a great friend from my days of singing in Wings Of Morning. We were so excited to see him and he finally got to meet Mark! Thanks for the barbecue!
Lindsay Grant was in our wedding and came over to see us when we first got into town. We had a great time visiting with her. Lindsay and I still laugh at the fact that she exposed me to N-SINC’s song “Dirty Pop” back in the day! Thanks for lunch on Sunday! It was a great Mother’s Day gift.
Chris and Joy Lockwood and their precious little baby, Ella came to see us today on their way to Nashville! I got Ella to laugh and Joy said she doesn’t laugh for anyone except her and Chris. That made me feel special!
We’ve had visitors from Hunter Street Baptist Church, North Highlands Baptist Church, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist in Dothan, Hilldale Baptist Church, Liberty Park Baptist Church, and of course, First Baptist North Mobile. You have shown us so much love. I told Pastor Ed today that even though we haven’t been at home, we have never felt alone. We have felt God’s presence and so much love from the family of God.
PS – We want to especially thank the following people who sat with us during Victoria’s entire surgery, offering comfort and love to us during a stressful time:
Our parents, Allison Rich and Dr. Mike Cook
We had many other visits from people during our stay here, but there is no way to list them all without possibly forgetting someone. I wish I had thought to get pictures with everyone that came by to post on the blog.
We are just thankful for you all!
PSS – A special thank you to Cardiology Associates of Mobile. You were there for our daughter during such a critical time and we will never forget it! We love you guys and look forward to seeing you when we get home.
  0 COMMENTS

The Surgeon – Part II

Today at the 5pm visiting session with Victoria, we were able to talk with the surgeon, Dr. Knott-Craig. We had such an amazing conversation with him. He told us that there are no leaks where the patches are attached in her heart. He said that there may usually be little holes in-between the edge of the patches and the wall of the heart, but in Victoria’s case … there are none. He said it was a solid attachment. That is amazing! He was very excited at the results of Victoria’s surgery. He even seemed giddy about it.


He did say that there looks to be very small leakage with the valves he re-built. As she grows, he believes the leakage will decrease. He seems to think that she will not need medication beyond a 3-6 month period for this leakage. How awesome! God is good!


Mark asked Dr. Knott-Craig about the actual size of Victoria’s heart. He put his two thumbs together and said, “about this big.” It’s amazing that he did such intricate work on a heart so small. Dr. Knott-Craig probably could not imagine the multitude of prayers that were lifted for him, although we told him there were hundreds. God truly did something wonderful through him. We stood, again, in amazement as he described what a success this surgery was and how happy he was with the results.

We know that God used this brilliant surgeon as His instrument to bring healing to our little Victoria. May all the glory go to such an awesome God!

May 14, 2008
  2 COMMENTS

Squirmy Worm

This morning at 9am we were able to visit Victoria for about 20 minutes. It was wonderful to see her squirming around in her tightly bound blanket. The nurse said that they wrapped her up earlier to keep her from pulling on any tubes or wires. She even opened her eyes just a little bit while we were there. After a few minutes of her squirming, the nurse gave her something to help her relax.

The nurse, John, told us that Victoria did well overnight. She does have some fluid in one of her lungs that they plan to work on getting out today. This is due to her being in a horizontal position for so long. They can do some patting on her back to break that up so it will be easier to get out. They can also expand her lungs some with her ventilator to help break up any of that thick fluid. So, it looks like over the next day they will keep the ventilator in to help with this.

Since they had her wrapped up today covering some of the yucky tubes, we thought we’d take a photo of her so you could see her cute little face.
  6 COMMENTS

Follow Heather