Surgery Day

UPDATE #4 4:12 p.m. We have been sitting with Chloe for over two hours now. She is not awake yet and is still on the breathing tube. Her color is good and she does not look swollen at all. Of course, she has many tubes coming from her all doing different things, but we know what these are doing for her. And to make it even better, Chloe's nurse in the ICU is Jeff's cousin. How comforting and reassuring that is! Her doctors are pleased with her numbers and are carefully monitoring her. They plan for the breathing tube to come out some time this evening, so that will be the next step in her recovery. We will continue to update on her progress, along with any specific prayer requests that come up. For now, we thank God this day has gone so well. We can't wait for Chloe to be able to read all the loving and supporting comments and emails! THANK YOU!

UPDATE #3 11:53 a.m. God provided an amazing surgeon for Chloe. We just received an update from him about Chloe's surgery. He told us that her valve is quite deformed and at first he wasn't even sure he could repair it. After stitching for a while, he realized that wasn't going to work. After pondering it, he got an idea, something he hadn't tried before (he's been a surgeon for 30 years!). So he took his previous stitching out, re-did his repair, and was pleased with the results. Of course, the valve is not perfect, and we knew that, but it is good enough for now. It might, and most likely will, have problems later but for now, it is an answer to prayer. And we are so unbelievably grateful. We will update again after we get to see Chloe. Your prayers are helping us through!

UPDATE #2 11:25 a.m. Praise God! The surgeon has repaired her valve and is happy with the outcome. No replacement valve! Right now they are closing her chest. They left her chest open while they watched her repaired valve work using the Echo. Since they were satisfied with how it looked, they will now close her chest and bring her up to ICU. We will meet with the surgeon in about half an hour and then see Chloe after the nurses get her settled in ICU, in maybe two hours. Thank you, thank you for your prayers. Thank you God, for a successful surgery. More updates later...


UPDATE #1 10:45 a.m.We received an update from someone on the nedical team caring for Chloe. She is on bypass, her chest is open and the surgeon is looking at her valve. We are a little concerned because we were under the impression that he felt confident he could repair the valve rather than replace it. Without going into too much detail right now, valve repair is a much better alternative to replacement. MUCH. But we were told there is some skepticism about being able to do a good repair. Please, please pray that a repair is possible. We know God is in control, we know Chloe is in God's hands. We know if the valve gets replaced, that is God's will. But we boldly ask that God will enable her valve to be repaired and that God will give us His perfect peace no matter what the outcome.


It is 9:30 Tuesday morning. Chloe's dad and mom are sitting in the ICU waiting room. Two hours ago we watched a team of doctors and nurses wheel Chloe away for surgery. We have not received any updates yet, but we were told it would be a couple of hours before we heard anything. So we wait. We pray, we drink our coffee, we talk, laugh and cry. We are comforted by the prayers we know are being said for Chloe all morning, we are comforted by God's word, and we are comforted by the comments and emails left for Chloe. We even had the privilege to pray with a single mom whose son is having heart surgery today. She was here all by herself, sending her son off to surgery with no friends or family to walk her through this. We asked if she wanted to pray with us, so she sat with us and we prayed for Chloe and her son. We are so blessed by the love and support of friends and family and were happy to be able to share that with her. So far, no news is supposed to mean good news. We will update whenever we hear something.

Another "God is here" moment - yesterday we were able to get a room at the Ronald McDonald house. It is 2 blocks away from the hospital. They do not take reservations because they never know when a child will be discharged and a family will leave. We called Monday morning and they still had no room. In the afternoon, we were speaking with the cardiology department social worker about lodging, and she said she would call and check again for us. A few minutes later she came out of her office and said, "Guess what! A room JUST opened up and I grabbed it for you." I (Chloe's mom) said to Chloe, "Wow! Isn't that amazing!" And Chloe said, "No, Mom. That's God." Indeed, it is!


Chloe at the Rondald McDonald house early this morning. Good morning Sunshine!






Just minutes before Chloe was wheeled away for surgery. Look at her sweet smile, even with mom crying by her side! What an amazingly brave girl.