Sunday, May 16, 2010

Fasting and Prayer for Mighty to Save Monday!

Just a quick note to ask all of you dedicated prayer warriors to consider fasting and praying for Chrissie tomorrow, May 17, on "Mighty to Save Monday"!  (Love that suggestion, Carrie, and thanks also for the sweet card and book!)  Oh, and I apologize for referring to tomorrow as APRIL in an earlier post...major sign of sleep deprivation! :-) 

Chrissie made it through the day without any more significant lung bleeding, thanks to the oscillator settings and our mighty God.  Chrissie has been paralyzed all day (on a Vec drip) and will continue to be paralyzed until her heart catheterization Monday afternoon.  Please pray that Chrissie's lungs won't start bleeding again.

Chrissie will have her heart cath sometime in the afternoon more than likely.  Dr. Porisch wants/needs Dr. Kupferschmid to be in the cath lab with her, and Dr. K will be doing surgery on a different child first thing in the morning, so Chrissie will be after that surgery.  Dr. Porisch was thinking sometime between 11AM-1PM.  I'm thinking it will be toward the latter part of that time frame, most likely in the afternoon.

The heart catheterization will be a really big deal, which is why I'm grateful for all of you who are willing to fast and pray (or just pray, He hears all prayers lifted).  Dr. Porisch is arranging for a variety of "brains" (cardiologists and other heart cath personnel, as well as Dr. K) to be present during the heart catheterization so that they can help come up with ideas, guidance, information, decision-making, etc.  Dr. Porisch will be the one actually performing the cath, but many brains will be helping her make decisions throughout the procedure.   A heart cath is a procedure is where Dr. Porisch will insert a small camera catheter into an artery and/or vein/vessel through Chrissie's groin, and then the camera catheter will go all the way up into Chrissie's heart and pulmonary system.  Dr. Porisch's main objective with the cath is to break up the clot that has formed in Chrissie's pulmonary artery right valve, which has completely blocked the blood flow from the heart to the right lung.  (The clot is huge; atleast 10 mm in diameter and probably about the same length as well.  The clot, the cath, and the breaking up of the clot is all extremely risky.  This particular cath will be extraordinarily complicated due to Chrissie's anatomy (which consists of some natural parts that Chrissie was born with as well as a cadaver part and several man-made parts) and unique situation.  (She is by far a "normal" case, as always.)  Dr. Porisch is hoping that she'll be able to insert a wire into the clot to break it up and use a vacuum/suction tool to try to quickly vacuum all of the pieces of the clot into the catheter so that the smaller broken clot pieces don't go to other areas and cause obstruction.  There are just so many obstacles and so many challenges and so many risks that it would be impossible to explain them all, but, trust me, Chrissie needs much prayer, and, even more so, Dr. Porisch and the team.  (Also, Chrissie will need to have many other issues addressed during future heart caths, but due to limited amounts of time available to do work during a heart catheterization, these will most likely not be addressed during Monday's cath.)  Dr. Porisch believes this cath will be a very long procedure due the complexity of the situation.

Dr. Porisch sat down with Matt and I for almost 2 hours this afternoon to explain everything and show us the results of the CT Angiogram.  She drew diagrams and explained everything with great detail.  We are so blessed to have her as Chrissie's cardiologist.  (Dr. Porisch wasn't on call this weekend, and I was so hoping she wouldn't have to leave her family this weekend, yet she came to the hospital both Saturday and Sunday to check on Chrissie and meet with us.)  Anyway, we walked away from our meeting with a much greater understanding of everything.  The cardiovascular operating team and Dr. Kupferschmid will be ready to perform another open-heart surgery if anything occurs during the cath that would require surgery to fix it.  It's all so very risky, so please pray for Dr. Porisch and the team.  I simply cannot imagine the weight that Dr. P must feel right now.  (If you read this, Dr. P, please know that we absolutely trust you and if God chooses something different than our prayers, we trust His sovereignty and do not want you to feel responsible for the outcome.  It's all in God's hands.  This we know and trust.) 

So, here are the specific prayer requests for Mighty to Save Monday:
  • That Chrissie's lungs will not start bleeding again.
  • That Dr. Porisch will be able to successfully break up the entire clot, vacuum all of the pieces out, and not incur any complications.
  • That God would guide Dr. Porisch's every move, guide the catheter and tools to EXACTLY where they need to go, and that He would give wisdom to all those involved as the extra "brains" working alongside Dr. Porisch in the cath lab.
  • Wouldn't it be MIGHTY if God would perform a miracle and break up the clot on His own?!?  Can't help but ask for this because then Dr. Porisch could do other necessary things during the heart cath instead!
  • That anything that needs to be discovered about Chrissie would show up boldly in the cath lab and that Dr. Porisch would be able to fix them without any complications.
Oh, and a special announcement:  DRUM ROLL please...Mighty To Save Miracle:  The CT scan of Chrissie's head was "normal".  To God be all the glory!  It is only His mighty to save Hand who could possibly protect Chrissie's brain from all of the traumas she's been through, particularly the two times that her heart completely stopped (and one of those times was an entire hour!).  Our God is MIGHTY TO SAVE!

To God be all the glory.  He is MIGHTY TO SAVE.  Keep praying...


13 comments:

Megan said...

Oh, Lorraine! I have been praying and waiting for your update and just couldn't go to bed tonight without knowing what I needed to be praying about. What incredibly awesome results for the brain CT! God is so amazing.

We will be praying tomorrow - and tonight.

Praying that you get some much needed rest tonight and that Chrissie rests comfortably with no bleeding and good oxygen tonight.

Brandee said...

I will be praying & fasting for Chrissie, Dr Porisch & Dr K tomorrow. Praying for God to guide their hands to remove the clot, while praising God for the miracles HE has already shown through Chrissie.
(((hugs)))

Brandee

Debi said...

Praying on mlghty to save Monday and believing God for His glory revealed.
Love and hugs and prayers
Debi

Carrie and Rowan said...

Lorraine,
I am honored to fast on "Mighty to Save Monday!" And so glad God whispered that title in my ear. You have written those very words "He is Mighty to Save" repeatedly in your blog, so I knew it would be perfect. And when we all believe it, recieve it and speak it...woderous things can happen!

Psalm 35:13
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.

Ezra 8:23
So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.

Rowan goes down for another surgery at 8 am tomorrow as well, but nothing as serious as the nature that Chrissie's will entail, so my day will be spent humbling myself before the Lord, submitting myself fully to his Word, fasting from all food and negativity, on her precious behalf, In His Precious and Holy name, I pray. By His stripes we are healed!
I pray you both have a restful and uneventful night, so you are peaceful and rejuvenated for tommorrows procedure.
Carrie

Shannon said...

I have been trying to keep my eyes open and refreshing this blog to get an update! It would be an honor to fast for Chrissie tomorrow. Praise God for the CT scan.
Standing beside you at the foot of the cross,
Shannon

Megan said...

I'm praying for Chrissie and your family... may Mighty to Save Monday be a day that Chrissie makes leaps forward in her recovery and the Lord shows His awesome work through Dr. Porisch and her team!

Megan

reamesdm said...

Praying and fasting for your sweet Chrissie!!

Blessings,
Michelle

Anonymous said...

Praying, praying, praying!!!

Anonymous said...

Lorraine, I am praying that God lays his MIGHTY healing hand on this baby today.He has come through for us before, and I'm praying for a total healing today. God be with this baby and her wonderful family today. Love and Prayers from KY!!!

Lisa said...

Father God we lift Chrissie up to you. We ask for healing, we ask for guidence and knowledge for the doctors. We ask that you BIND satan away from everyone involved and from Chrissie. We ask for you devine protection and peace beyond understanding! Lord you are so powerful you are mighty to save! you are the King of Kings!!

"Are These Kids All Yours?" said...

WOW- Our GOD is MIGHTY TO SAVE!!! Sang that in church yesterday- LOVE THIS REMINDER to us. Fasting & praying today! For everything to be covered in God's AMAZINGNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karen in PA said...

Lorraine,

Praying and trusting God today!
Knowing that HE alone will continue the miracles that He has been so gracious to provide!

As far as the CT scan. I'm not surprised at all. I prayed that if there was a stroke or any damage that God would completely heal it, and totally WOW those in the hospital. I felt a "peace" and "knowing" in my heart like never before. I just knew that she was clear!! And that He had already answered the prayers of His warriors before they were even prayed!
I continue to have that peace in my heart that He's going to totally heal this little one, and I can already picture the huge smile on her face as she's walking out of the hospital. I can't wait to see that photo posted!!

Continue to fight little princess warrior. God has some BIG plans for your life!

Anonymous said...

Thank you Jesus for your mighty saving power - please protect and heal Chrissie this morning. Give the surgeons wisdom and skill to remove this clot. Amen.

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