Consultation scheduled

FINALLY, I have news.....I know many of you probably thought things had been happening in the meantime based on our previous expectations. The waiting has been frustrating and I'm not accustomed to blogging every day when it seemed I would just be wasting your time with nothingness. I apologize if that appeared to imply that you had been forgotten.

I'll get right to the nuts and bolts and skip over all the phone tag and the trip to acquire the physical CD of my MRI and echocardiogram.

Tomorrow Tim, my mom, and I will drive to IU Med Center in Indy to meet with a Dr. Irmina Gradus-Pizlo concerning my situation. We will meet her at 1:00pm. She will receive my hand delivered MRI and echo results at that time. Please pray for:

1)- Safe travel

2)- Wisdom as to what questions for us to ask

* specifically: How urgent is my situation?

How soon will they do what?

Why should I choose this over open-heart surgery?

What limitations should I have physically as I wait? if I wait? (I assume no work-outs, but what about walks & casual biking with kids)

Should I be driving?

Do they have any idea what the pain was that caused my passing out?

3)- Clarity for her (Dr Pizlo) as she looks at the results of all the testing and gives me directions

4)- Scheduling a procedure?

5)- Healthy children that are a joy to those they are staying with

I believe this meeting is a direct answer to the prayers that you all have been praying. For some reason, it took until today for IU Med Center to receive my info from my cardiologist's office (and that was just the faxed stuff). This baffles my logical mind since we live in 2008 when I can communicate with you all in split seconds if necessary. I have been calling daily to get answers from someone about how urgent this situation is and what kind of time frame I should be expecting. Today, after getting the name of Dr Pizlo, the expected recipient of my faxed info, I looked her up online. I then shot her an email and within an hour had a reply. It was so encouraging! We emailed back and forth a couple times with basic questions, and by 4:30pm I had an appointment tomorrow. Thanks specifically to my MOTTTs group that joined with me this morning in prayer that my faxed info would not be laying on someone's desk all day. Like we discussed, God is totally aware of all that I need.....even if it is just peace to get through the weekend.

Before closing, I will clarify that previously I said there were two options for fixing this ASD. One is open-heart surgery. This has a 35 year track record - good; a longer recovery on bedrest =risk of blood clots - not so good; possibly a shorter time on coomadin (a blood thinner which has serious side effects of its own)- so-so; a surgery that would likely be done in Elkhart - fairly irrelevent to the decision process.

The other option is non-surgical (I think they call it cardiothoracic - will know more tomorrow). It has only a 2-3 year history, however, IU Med Center is fairly reknown for research on this - good; It does not involve opening the heart, but rather uses a catheter from the groin to insert a "plug" into the hole; probably good; This has a quicker recovery- good; but likely a longer time on coomadin as cells have to grow over the "plug", because this is a 6 month process before it's completely "healed"- not so good. When compared they both balance out to about equal.

Based on my testing, my cardiologist and those he has counselled feel the non-surgical route would be best for my body. This is what I will be learning about tomorrow. It doesn't mean that I don't have a choice, only that I have been recommended this option. We are keeping an open mind.

I can't express how your encouragement is helping us. I will update you tomorrow with answers from that consultation. Thank you once again.

Here's a link for a picture and more about Dr Pizlo if that helps you pray.
http://medicine.iupui.edu/krannert/faculty/viewCardFaculty.asp?facID=2914