The surgery went really well yesterday and now our daughter is the owner of a slightly bigger pacemaker with two wires: one that goes into her atrium and one that threads down into her ventricle. It has a built-in defibrillator that will give a shock to restart her heart if it is ever necessary. After putting in the new pacemaker they took advantage of Little being under anesthesia and ran tests to better determine the overall health of her heart. All the results show that it is weaker now than it was when they did the last catheterization a month ago.

While all those things are true, today was actually a good day. It was my birthday and Little made a point of telling everyone who walked into our room. The funny thing was that extra people walked in the room today because the people who found out went and told others on the cardio myopathy team and they made sure to come by and wish me a happy birthday. It was actually very special and I smiled quite a lot for being in the position we’re in. (The smile only disappeared when Little would decide to tell folks how old I am now!)

The “Pacemaker Duo ” as I like to call them (two young gals who manage Little’s device), came in this morning and brought me a birthday brownie. My sweet friend Holly had a cake delivered to our room… a gorgeous and huge cake! My brother came by. My husband and children called and sang to me. My mom sang. And my timeline on Facebook was filled with kind messages representing relationships from all the seasons of my life; beautiful reminders of how He has loved and cared for me all my years. Really, I don’t know how one could ask for a better birthday in the hospital!

And Little had a good day. The pacers seem to be working well together and now we are in the situation where we are trying to find medication that works well with her body and pacers.

Tomorrow will not be as fun. Jeremy will join me for the day and we will be meeting with several members of the transplant team. Her name is not officially on the transplant list but the team wants to go ahead and start the evaluation process so that when we find ourselves in that situation things can move ahead more quickly. It seems we are not in “if we get there” mode but “when we get there.” It could prove to be a long and emotional day. Prayers would be appreciated … and not just prayers for the emotional aspect but also prayers for wisdom as we hear the facts and have to begin to process and make decisions together. Just because a transplant is an option doesn’t mean we can take for granted that it’s the right option. We want to honor God in all we do and say, which now includes the topic of heart transplant… and who is prepared for that? It’s not like you think ahead and say, “Maybe one day this will be where I am and this is what would honor Jesus. ” Right?

So that’s the latest. We are still in the ICU but will hopefully move to “the floor” later today.