Nathan & Tricia Update

from Nathan's blog ...

Monday, January 7, 2008

The Time Has Come

Tricia made the decision this morning to go ahead with the C Section as early as possible. Her CO2 levels continue to rise, and her discomfort and lack of sleep is becoming almost unbearable. I'm amazed that she lasted this long, and we are not surprised that it has come so soon.

The doctors have told us that the surgery will take place either this afternoon or tomorrow, probably tomorrow. She will be Anesthetized, Intubated and Ventilated and then operated on. The C Section will take no more than a few minutes. She will be kept under for a few hours to allow her body to become accustom to the ventilator.

If her body does not accept the ventilation, she will be in serious trouble. If her body does accept, she will hopefully be weened off the ventilator until she can breathe appropriately on her own. (this will be important as we look ahead to the double lung transplant)

There are obviously many risks involved. Several things we can pray for:

> Peace for Tricia and I about this decision. We are at peace now, and have been with every decision so far, and God has blessed each and every one.

> Peace for our family. Our parents will be here with us, as well as my grandparents and maybe a few others, but many of Tricia's family either can't be here or will not be here in time for the surgery. In some ways, it's easier to be in the situation than reading/hearing about it from a distance.

> CO2 levels to remain stable or drop. Every ultrasound has shown the baby to be perfectly healthy, which means nothing has affected her so far. That could change at any time.

> The doctors and staff have been incredibly supportive. This is not a delicate operation, but it does involve a lot of risks and there will be a massive amount of people involved. Everything needs to work exactly as planned.

> Without a miraculous recovery, Tricia's Lung Function will never become well enough for her to be placed on the Double Lung Transplant list. The pulmonary docs have told us that, if everything goes well, it will be a minimum of 2-3 months until she will be well enough for a transplant.

> That God will continue to make Himself known, especially to those on the staff here who does not know Him in a personal way. God has aleays used Tricia's Journey to do extraordinary things, and we have seen God do amazing things already with our story in the past few weeks and months. The stories that have been coming in are concrete proof to us that we have been in the center of God's will throughout this entire process. We want the entire world to know that.

Our family and friends, and the prayers of the thousands who have heard of us have been what God is using to sustain us and give us courage and strength. No matter what happens, we are eternally thankful for all that He has done.

Nate