Brea and I are home from Little Rock! We were at the hospital bright and early this morning (7:30 am) and were on the road by 9:45 am headed home. Brea's blood pressure remains high and the doctor raised her dosage of Captopril (BP medicine) to 15 mls three times per day. She considered adding a beta blocker but decided to give the higher dose a try first. She also lowered her steroids a bit and that may help her blood pressure too. Overall Brea is doing great. She does have the "moon face" that we were told about from the steroids but we think it is adorable! I have to say that the staff at ACH continues to amaze me. The echo tech sang to Brea while she did her test and even let Brea "help" her. Brea knows exactly where she is when we get inside the hospital. She starts to cry and says "bye-bye" to everyone in hopes that we are leaving as soon as we get there. I can't imagine what must go through her little mind when she realizes where she is. It is truly heart breaking.
Our trip to Little Rock wasn't nearly as smooth as the trip home. I ran into some pretty bad thunderstorms and somewhere along the way made a wrong turn or missed my exit. By the time I realized that I had made a mistake I had added two hours to my trip. I knew I was in big trouble when I saw the "Welcome to Texas" sign but luckily the staff at the Texas welcome center was very helpful in getting me back on the right track. Needless to say, Brea was not amused with the additional travel time and made her concerns known! Thank God for Dora and Barney who helped distract my weary traveler.
Please continue to pray for Brea and her blood pressure issues. Please pray that she will remain healthy and that her little body will continue to accept her new heart. I'd also like to ask you to pray for two other heart patients that we came to know (the families) while we were at ACH. The first is little Jalisa. She continues to wait for a heart (since December). The other is Penny (you may remember me talking about her). I had the opportunity to visit with her and her mother today in the waiting area. She was there for a check up also but she is having a tough time with the steroids.
On a final note...I've come to the conclusion that laughter is the best medicine and that God does have a sense of humor. The other night Brea was up from 2:00 am until 5:00 am. Needless to say, she wanted to play but I wanted to sleep. Our dog decided that since we were up he should go out for a potty break. As I opened the back door for him to go out I saw that there was a critter on our patio helping himself to the cat's food. The dog and I saw him at the same time. The dog chased after the opossum and I chased after the dog with baby in tow! My fear was that he would catch the opossum and I would end up at the emergency vet's office in the middle of the night with a wounded Pomeranian. With my luck, the baby would have slept through the vet visit and would be wide awake when we got back home. Brea thought it was absolutely hysterical and I'm quite sure we woke up the neighbors on both sides with me calling the dog and Brea laughing. I think that God gave me that "Kodak" moment because He thought I needed a good laugh. I am constantly amazed that He provides our every need even when that need is simply laughter.
Goodnight from home...where I'll be watching for opossums before letting the dog out in the future. :0)
