Update on the transplant

Hey Everyone~

I know many of you prayed for us today as we went to the pre-evaluation for a lung transplant at UAB. Dr. Young started the CF clinic here in Birmingham and he is also on the transplant team. We were very impressed with him and felt very comfortable with his care. He felt the need to be on the transplant list was very crucial. He mentioned that for reason's not known, CF women tend to decline quicker then CF men and he was concerned that my descent was beginning. He would like to continue on with my full evaluation as soon as possible in hopes to finally get on the list. There are lots of other details we talked about and with my right lung having collapsed twice already it has very quickly left me with the only option to do a double lung transplant.

To be fully honest it has been an emotional battle for me today. Satan would love to plague me with all the what-if, my spirit is willing but my flesh is soooo weak. I feel like my prayer for a while now has been, "God I believe.......but please help my unbelief." I know God is in control and thanks to the blessing of my husband, he was able to help me continue to count my blessings today.

1) God moved us to Cullman because he KNEW the future and KNEW we needed to be an hour away from a transplant clinic. Since we only live 45 min. from Birmingham we can continue to live at home!

2) Dr. Young has worked with many CF patients and transplants and I like him. (That's hard to do if you know anything about my history with doctors.) :-)

3) We were given a beautiful baby girl despite my sick body. (Which Dr. Young was very impressed by........God still does miracles)

4) We have wonderful family and friends who love us and have been the best support and strength to us!

I feel tired and weak from the past several months and to think about beginning this new journey is over whelming at times but I know we will just take one day at a time and God will give us strength for each day. Thanks again for your prayers and love!

Love~ Em

HOME!

PRAISE GOD!

We got to come home today! The air leak is pretty well closed up but the doctors wanted me to continue the chest tube another week just to make sure it has fully healed. Thankfully I did not have to go home with the IV's. Though we were very excited to go home, I don't think the nurses were quite as excited to see Faith leave. =) She had lots of people to say good-bye too. =)

Thanks again for all the support! We just ask that you would continue to pray that my lung would stay strong and we would not have a repeat of this again. Let us know how you and your families are doing. We love ya!

Love~ Em

Hospital update

Well, today marks our 2 weeks in the hospital and we truly have turned my room into our little apartment. I'm sure Faith thinks we have moved into a house full of beeps, noises, people coming and going and our wonderful stroller rides around the halls. She has made quite a name for her self though and between the nurses, doctors, dietetion, x-ray, lab and respertory she gets lots odietitianon. Its not easy being a princess but someone has to do it. :-)

Mom is slowly getting better. I was taken off the suction last week and my lung went down a little again. It has not fully re-inflated again but at least it is staying the same without the suction. The doctors have talked about going home on the tube but if I do it won't be for a couple of days still. The air leak is getting better but it is just a slow process. Thankfully we were able to change our evaluation for the transplant till next week.
It's not always easy trying to understand God's ways or why he chooses to do curtain things but in times of need it can also be a time to see the strong hand of God move not always to move the mountain but to hold his hand in a way you never have before. We always want to be close to God but we don't want to go through the refining fire to become more like him. We truly have been blessed by friends and family during this time and our little Faith reminds us that God loves to give his children good gifts. Thanks for your prayers!

Love~ Em

P.S- Thought you would enjoy these pictures of Faith strolling down the hospital halls.......of course in style!

Pictures of Faith

Hello Everyone~

Sorry its taken me so long to get some pictures out again. We are in the hospital again and so I am not doing much of anything at this point. My right lung collapsed again and it's been a long week with a chest tube. Again we are so thankful for the support and prayers that go out for us and even though I hope to get better my base line is not very high anymore. We will visit the lung transplant team the end of this month and hope to begin that journey soon.
Well, we love you all and hope you enjoy these pictures of our "tatters". (For those of you who don't know her nick name..........sack of tatters) =) She is smiling,talking, sleeping through the night (praise the Lord!) and just the joy of our lives! Love to hear how you all doing and if we can be praying for you.


Love~ Emily, Jason, & Faith