Yesterday, Brian and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary!
I am so thankful that we have Gianna home with us on this special day.
To reflect back on the last 16 years and to see where God has us now just humbles us and encourages us to keep seeking GOD’S plans for our own lives and not settle for our own desires and dreams. To keep seeking GOD’S dreams.
We keep saying this to each other:
“how easy it would have been to miss the miracles we’ve seen”….to miss HER
(yeah, I know we sound like a broken record by now)
ahhhh….BUT again, we are humbled and in awe of His goodness to us. WE WILL KEEP PRAISING HIM!
And, GOD IS NOT DONE!!!
We received an amazing ANNIVERSARY GIFT!
We went yesterday for the first of 2 full cardiac Evaluations on Gianna’s precious little heart.
And, when the doctor first brought us in, looking at her surgical past, her echo that was done in China and her China records, he prepared us for what the echo would indicate.
He wondered if we knew what was ahead of us.
I think I surprised him when I said we absolutely did and gave him the full list of “what ifs” that we were well aware that our daughter would in fact be facing. Guess he had no idea the work God had done in our hearts this past year to prepare us for our amazing daughter.
He went on to confirm what we had said, but described further the possibilities of her heart anatomy.
He said, given all information thus far, Gianna most likely has a single ventricle OR she may very well have “Heterotaxy” which is when your heart is upside down. The latter being a new theory to us and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t make me gasp a little or a lot.
However, God covered us with a peace that transcends all understanding as we listened to the list of possibilities.
THEN….Gianna went in for her echo…of which she did not like AT. ALL.
Thankfully, with the help of candy and iphone video magic we got her calm long enough for the tech to get the info she needed, which seemed to take forever.
So, we come back into the room and awaited the doctor’s news.
This was it, this is what we had waited 9 months…..Gianna’s little heart was no longer going to be such a mystery. We were now going to be hearing a plan to help heal her broken heart. I was both excited and sobered.
Then it happened, Brian and I heard the precious statement that just about brought us to our knees in a puddle of tears right there in front of the doctor.
His words: Gianna has TWO VENTRICLES!!!!
WHAT????
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, and miracles that cannot be counted (Job 5:9)
Did you see what I just typed!!???
All indicators (China records, echos, surgical notes, EKG’s) pointed to the fact that Gianna had ONE ventricle.
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| ECHO REPORT FROM CHINA |
and NOW we discovered she has TWO!!!
GOD IS HEALING HER HEART!
She has a variation of Tetrology of Fallot now and not single ventricle!
THIS IS INDEED A MIRACLE that GOD HAS DONE!!
Ok, so what does this mean?
Well, it means we have been given the gift of hoping for “more hope” for our daughter!
There are still two plans or possibilities.
Depending on more tests and the size of Gianna’s second chamber. “Plan A” is to take out the Glenn valve that was put there by the China doctors 2 years ago that was needed to save her life at the time, which was another miracle in her life! And then they would attempt do a FULL REPAIR as opposed to a FONTAN surgery (“plan B”).
Now, what is the difference:
A FONTAN is not a full repair. It is a surgical heart procedure that helps the defective heart for what could be decades to pump blood in the right places. This then is followed up with much medical supervision and there is the possibility and the need for further surgeries and even perhaps a transplant in the future.
The Fontan has saved MANY children’s lives and is an AMAZING medical advancement for heart patients (it is only about a 35-40 year old procedure).
So, before all this latest development, we were so thankful for this FONTAN possibility given the circumstances of Gianna’s heart (that we knew of) and we were ready for this news.
After all, God had prepared us over the past 9 months and miraculously took all fears away.
However we never stopped praying that He would be healing her heart and working unbelievable miracles of restoration in her tiny little chest!
THEN HE BLESSED US WITH “THIS” NEWS, a REAL LIFE MIRACLE:
She may be able to get a full bi-ventricular repair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TEARS of JOY and awe.
Now, a full repair would mean that Gianna will go on to live a normal life with completely repaired heart and have a normal life expectancy.
This is the best possible scenario for a heart patient and we had absolutely no reason to think this was a possibility for our Gianna.
God is in the business of working miracles, and we are in shock and awe (why should we be, right?)
Oh US OF LITTLE FAITH!
HE HEALS THE BROKEN HEARTED AND BINDS UP THIER WOUNDS (psalm 147:3)
….that He would be giving us this possibility of more hope!
WE HAVE SEEN GOD’S POWER in this little girl’s life.
Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, Who alone works wonders. (Psalm 72:18)
Now, Gianna still has a series of more tests to do and more possible issues that were suspected in her abdomen (not related to her heart) that we are addressing and will know more and update more next week when we have confirmed news…
… and she also has another Full Cardiac Evaluation at CHOP in two weeks.
But, our MAIN PRAYER REQUEST:
that her second chamber would be large enough to support a full bi-ventricle repair! PLEASE PRAY WITH US for GOD to continue to FULLY repair her heart!!!!
HE IS ABLE!! HE IS ABLE! HE IS ABLE!!!!
Whatever the outcome, regardless of what the tests show, regardless of what surgical procedure she will need and have to get in her future. WE WILL PRAISE GOD!
Gianna IS a miracle, God’s handprints have been all over her life from before she was born. And it is a miracle that she is in our family.
We are so thankful to get to be the ones to see GOD’S hand displayed so miraculously in her life and to be the one who get to walk her through this journey and to get to love her forever.
WE ARE JUST SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED!
