Heart Journey Update

This coming week I am scheduled to have another heart ablation. Originally it was supposed to be on February 9, but was rescheduled. But like everything, it was all God’s perfect timing because Dan is now allowed to be in the room with me after the procedure, which will make the recovery time MUCH easier hopefully!

Heart ablations are a more common (in my book) heart procedure that can address irregular heartbeats and a-fib. In my case, it is to treat extra beats (PVCs), where every 5th beat, my heart beats out of rhythm. Most of the time I don’t feel them because my body has adjusted, but depending what I am doing, I can feel them significantly. I’ll admit, it’s time. So basically the surgeon will go in and zap the areas of my heart that are misfiring, creating scar tissue. The tricky part is that my heart is beating out of rhythm in 32 spots, but they can’t zap them all because the heart can only function with only so much scar tissue. They plan to try and get about 6 areas, in hopes that it gets the “main” misfirings, and so we just pray those areas become very evident as they map out the track on Tuesday.

For most, ablations go quite well and often just consist of either going home the same day or the next morning. Of course for Kristin, I’m a bit of a trickier case due to my heart history. In fact, when my nurse called to give me my pre-procedure instructions, she informed me that they moved the other case of the day so that my surgeon could have the entire day. He will need every hour he can get I’m told! I am not surprised, considering my last ablation took 8 hours! We are hoping this occurs with no hiccups and that the 8 hours of laying flat after the procedure, scream by. For me too, it is a bit painful, so we pray the pain is minimal as well.

Even more so though, pray for our daughter. Trauma is very real in her life and we have seen it manifest itself in numerous ways this past week. Our hearts ache and literally cry for her, as we plead with God to take away the anxiety of the past and worries of the future. It has been a long road, yet we know we don’t walk alone. The more we’ve been open about the trauma she’s been through, the more resources and tools we’ve been given to help her cope with the struggles of mommy being gone and the association my heart failure has on her life. I’m the one with the diagnosis, but my family and those around us  carry the weight of it as well. We know we serve a God who is MUCH bigger than any earthly circumstance, so we pray that He will work mightily in her life to grow her faith, confidence, bravery, security, and trust. We have more questions than answers at this point, and the tears are numerous from all of us, but we believe God is faithful and will see us through this. So if you get a chance, please pray that Mazy will feel safe, secure, and loved beyond measure.

God has paved the way, so we are eager to continue in those footsteps, and eager to put yet another procedure behind us! Thank you for walking this journey with us. We couldn’t be more thankful for your prayers, love, and support as we navigate this journey God has given us!