Atlanta trip for Cardiologist and Post-op visit

Tuesday Morning Aaron and I were dreading the 11 hour drive that was in front of us the next day. We were so tired from work, home school, therapies, doctors...life that we actually began to think we should take money from savings and purchase tickets to fly to Atlanta. Well, God's timing is ALWAYS perfect...

Just minutes before we pressed the "purchase" button, Angel Flight called...

We had a flight!

A sweet man named Winn Baker had volunteered his time and his plane to take us to Atlanta for Lilah's appointments.

Wednesday morning arrived and I got up way too early. Nervous, scared, anxious, overcome with emotions, my brain woke me up at 3 am. I tried to go back to sleep. I wrapped myself up in the Prayer Shawl that SCC had given us. I was just too anxious. So, I got up and made my coffee and started doing laundry and talking to God. Before I knew it, I hadn't even gone for my run and it was getting close to time to wake the kids. I put my clothes on, tied my laces and ran before the sun. I just gave it all to God, and asked Him to help me to trust Him with today...as all days.

I came home, jumped in the shower, and hurried to get the kids dressed.

My sweet friend, Melanie C, offered to watch Alex, Sammie, and Eli for us while we were in Atlanta. THANK YOU, Melanie!!

Once we had the kids settled at Melanie's, we made our way through the Gulfstream traffic to Signature airport where we met Mr. Baker. He escorted us to his plane and Lilah and I made ourselves comfortable in the back while Aaron rode up front with Mr. Baker.

I, of all people, forgot my camera, so the images and video you see are taken from my phone.

Me and Lilah at take-off!

We went through a few rain storms, several clouds, some bumps, and the most beautiful rainbows.

Two rainbows! That is a promise from God (remember that verse in the Bible?!)

The left side of the plane was dark with the rainbows and the right side....

Beautiful!

God sure does paint us some gorgeous pictures, doesn't He?!!

Once we landed, we took a taxi to Sibley Heart Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Scottish Rite)

The first test they did was the ECG. (Electrocardiogram) Lilah cried when they placed the electrodes on her chest, but began smiling when they blew bubbles. Her favorite!

We spent almost an hour trying to find the "strips" from Lilah's surgery where the arrhythmia's were present. The nurse practitioner couldn't find the strips, so they decided to go ahead and do the ECHO cardiogram. This is an ultrasound of the heart. They look at each chamber's function and watch how her heart works.
Lilah's PDA(Patent Ductus Arteriosis) has closed. YAY! But, now she has an PFO(Patent Foram Ovale) She has a small hole in the atrial septum of her heart. 15% of us walk arounfd with this and have no idea. We also learned that they believe Lilah has PVCs (premature ventricular contractions) when she is at rest. Basically, when Lilah goes to sleep her heart beats differently than it would when she is awake. But otherwise, a "normal" functioning heart.

This is the theory. To confirm this, Lilah had a 24 hour heart monitor attached to her before we left Atlanta. The results of this will be determined once we send the monitor back, via UPS, tomorrow morning. The Cardiologist, Dr. Sutherland(SWEET man!!) will then go over all of it and let us know what his final outcome is.

Then we had about a 35 minute break. Our friends, Jennifer and Jason Reyes, picked us up and we ate a very quick bite at Chic Fil A before heading to Lilah's post-op appointment. Thank you Jenn and Jason for coming to meet us and spending a very quick trip with us! Miss you guys!

Next we went to Dr. Greenberg's office. He was very pleased with Lilah's positioning of her eye. He wants to see her back in January. I am to continue the patching....5 hours a day.He filled out the forms for her PSI(pre-school intervention) evaluation and we discussed what "legally blind" would be like in a "classroom" setting for her.

I remember when those words would sting me so bad, but you know...time has taught me, along with her other delays and needs, that some sight is better than no sight.

We called for the taxi and headed back to the airport to meet Mr. Baker.

Taking off...

and a little cat nap...
Mr. Baker flying the plane with Aaron next to him
We made it home JUST in time to go to SCC where we praised Jesus for His faithfulness and we helped our church family write scripture on the floors of the new elementary wing before the completion of construction...

Romans 15:13

Luke 7:22

Proverbs 3:5

The BEST part of Wednesday, was during the ECHO... CHOA(Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) is AMAZING! Seriously, Savannah could learn a LOT from them. During her ECHO, Lilah looked at the lights from the drop ceiling above. I went over and over the colors with her. Then, God spoke through my girl....watch this video and hear what happened...

That's right...

Lilah SAID, "purple, blue, orange, red, bubbles" and more...

Jesus spoke that day...and I heard Him in my baby girl, my miracle, my Lilah!