Monday's Memory 2

(Joshua - 1 week old)

There is always waiting involved when dealing with medical stuff. I HATE THE WAITING!!! The waiting is the hardest part. The day of the appointment with the cardiologist finally came. Mike, Joshua and I went to the Children’s Heart Clinic together. Tests were run…they did an EKG, a x-ray, and an echocardiogram. We were left sitting in a room for probably 10 minutes or so and then the cardiologist came in with a model of a heart. My heart sank. We knew that couldn’t be good news. He explained that Joshua had Mitral Valve Stenosis. The mitral valve is on the left side of the heart between the left atrium and left ventricle. Stenosis meaning abnormal narrowing. (As a mother, a large part of you feels such relief at the news that something is wrong with your child because you knew it all along…not that you want anything to be wrong with them but because there was something wrong, now they can get help. It’s hard to explain. Answers are always good!) Surgery would need to be done to give him a new valve. We would start him on some meds to help with the heart failure symptoms and run a 24-hour test called a holter monitor to watch his heart function especially during an episode. They hooked him all up and we went home. We were to journal his activity while on the monitor. We delivered it to the office after the 24 hours was over and waited again for results. We dropped it off on Thursday I believe and Friday evening we had a message to call them. The cardiologist said we are seeing something on the test that concerns us; we need you to bring Joshua to Children’s Hospital tomorrow to be admitted for more testing. Saturday, we got Joshua a priesthood blessing and then arrived at children’s hospital. We were met by the cardiologist who began to describe what they saw and what they needed to do. They were concerned that we might be dealing with something like cardiomyopathy , where the actual heart muscle is weakened and can’t pump properly. I still have the paper towel that she drew pictures on to help explain what they were seeing on the holter monitor test.



We did nothing but wait that weekend. He was hooked up to monitors. His oxygen level was dropping quite low every time he nursed so on Monday, the first test they did was a swallow test and confirmed that he was aspirating every time he ate. Tuesday they put him to sleep and took him in for a catheterization. They confirmed the mitral valve stenosis and found that his heart muscle function was good. There were no other problems. They decided he was in bad shape and would do the surgery the following day so they kept him asleep and intibated. When they talked to us about surgery the only thing I remember them saying is “if he goes into one of these episodes that he has been having during the surgery, we will loose him. There will be nothing we can do.” They said it 4 or 5 times like we weren’t understanding how serious this was. We were at COMPLETE peace. The calm we were blessed with through the entire ordeal is indescribable with my own words. Remember, we've only been married 3 years, just moved far away from all of our family, in a place we don't know with people we don't know. It is exactly my favorite scripture in Mosiah 24 “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage.” It’s only been in the last few years that I understood the second part to that; “and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

I love that scripture and try to remember frequently that because he has done this for me; because he visits us in our afflictions; I need to stand as a witness of him, my Savior Jesus Christ AND submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. That can be a hard thing to do…but we try…because we need those blessings. It is impossible to get through it without his help and strength.


(Joshua - 8 months old; 1 month before surgery)