Surgery is set!!!

Emmie's surgery is set for Monday, November 28th. 

  We talked to the surgeon, Dr. Coleman, this week. The test results are in, and they were able to get all the information they needed from those tests. Here's what they found: both kidneys are working evenly and the rennin is coming from both kidneys. However, they do believe that most of the rennin on the left side is coming from the upper pole, which is the deformed portion that is being fed by the tiny string-like artery.

Dr. Coleman and her surgical partner, Dr. Eliason, set down with a pediatric urologist, Dr. Park, to discuss the findings of the tests. Dr. Park is recommending that we remove the upper pole of her left kidney. It is functioning, just not very well, it's deformed, they are not sure it's all there, it's getting very little blood flow and it's secreting lots of rennin. They also feel like the lower left is functioning very well and getting great blood flow, so they do not think anything else needs to be done to her left side. 

So her surgery will take 6 to 10 hours. They will do the aortic patch and the reconstruction of the renal arteries on the right side, then remove the upper pole of the left kidney. If you need a refresher on what they are doing see my previous blog post where I explained in detail with pictures what was happening. 

We now have a 3rd surgeon involved in Emmie's case, Dr Park, who will remove the portion of kidney that needs to be taken out, and Dr. Coleman & Dr. Eliason will do the rest of the surgery. While the doctors are quite confident in the prognosis for Emmie, they do not believe she will come off of all her meds. They do think they can get her down to 2 meds though, and we would be very happy with that! She now takes 6 meds, and at one point in her life she was on 9. So 2 sounds great. However, we also know the Great Physician can completely heal her body, and how awesome would it be to see her medication free!

We ask that you continue to pray for us and Emmie as surgery approaches. It's nice to have a date and be able to plan, but it's also stressful and the anxiety tends to build as we get closer. We ask that you pray for these 3 surgeons. That God will be their guide for steady hands and minds during this long surgery. Please continue to pray for our other children, especially Elise. She's too young to really understand. I am hopeful that she will "get it" when she gets to visit her sister in the hospital. There are lots of details to work out for kids, pets, jobs, finances. Just pray for all those things to work out smoothly.

Lots of people have asked how they can help, or if they can get Emmie something. As far as help, we are working on things that we will need. God has already been so good to us in providing just what we need when we need it, but I know things will come up. For Emmie, if you are interested in getting her a gift, let me know. I can give you ideas. We have also put together an amazon wish list of things she likes, and can do while she isn't allowed to move around much! She will be in the hospital for 2 weeks and out of school for 6 weeks. Once back at school, she will not be allowed to go to gym class or recess for several months. So, lots of down time for her! I can email the wish list to anyone interested, but please do not feel obligated in any way. 

Thank you for reading, and thank you for praying us through this difficult journey!!!

I've been co-leading a GodFit group at our church since August. A wonderful group of ladies, working through a study on getting our bodies ready for service. It's all about being spiritually fit, mentally fit and physically fit to serve. When I agreed to help lead this study, I had no idea any of this with Emmie was going to happen. But the week we were at MOTT for testing, I was reading week 4 of the devotion series, and it was titled "Simplicity: faith without worry or distraction". My first thought, was ya right! I'm totally distracted and worried! This isn't good timing! But God knew what was ahead for me when I started reading this book. His timing is always perfect and he knew I'd be setting in a hospital room with my daughter when I was reading it. So, rather than skip it, which I almost did, I read it. Two of the verses in that weeks study really spoke to me.....

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Here's a little blast from the past for you. Emmie the morning of her very first surgery. February 4, 2010. 12.5 months old. Also, the day Elise was born! That's another "God's timing is always perfect" story I'll have to blog about later!

And here she is almost 3 weeks later. The first time she got to leave her hospital room. The first time I got to do something somewhat normal with her in 3 weeks, which was simply a ride around the halls of the hospital in that little red car she loved so much! With cords and monitors in the engine compartment, we strolled the halls, and she was so happy!!