Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Plodding along...
Today a middle-aged mom pushing a stroller blew right past me. I was steadily plodding along during my afternoon walk. How did I react to that? I mean, it was just a month ago that I was conquering 14ers in the Colorado Rockies like it was my job. I wasn’t shamed. I was overjoyed to be walking at all. See, six days ago there was a significant period of time where my heart wasn’t pumping blood to my body and my lungs weren’t oxygenating the blood. My rib cage was separated and my heart was laid open. And today I walked over a mile and a half. I am thankful to God, and to His people who prayed.
I should say, today a middle-aged mom pushing a stroller blew right past us. See, my dad was right by my side matching my slow and deliberate pace. Many have been right by my side in this time. Clearly my parents and Esther have showered their love on me through their presence and willingness to serve. They carried a great burden as they prayed me through the day of operation. It is those of you who have sent a card, called me from Kentucky, or set aside an entire day to pray. Thank you so much for walking beside me.
It is my sternum and incision that are steadily healing now, the heart valve is fixed. That means I can’t pick anything up over ten pounds or sit in the front of a car for several weeks. I’m taking care of myself these days; there is a point where being dependent on the care of others becomes quite old. Pain and discomfort are my companions in this time, but so too are hope and purpose as I look ahead.
Isaiah 40:28-31 are as living water to an ailing heart.
I should say, today a middle-aged mom pushing a stroller blew right past us. See, my dad was right by my side matching my slow and deliberate pace. Many have been right by my side in this time. Clearly my parents and Esther have showered their love on me through their presence and willingness to serve. They carried a great burden as they prayed me through the day of operation. It is those of you who have sent a card, called me from Kentucky, or set aside an entire day to pray. Thank you so much for walking beside me.
It is my sternum and incision that are steadily healing now, the heart valve is fixed. That means I can’t pick anything up over ten pounds or sit in the front of a car for several weeks. I’m taking care of myself these days; there is a point where being dependent on the care of others becomes quite old. Pain and discomfort are my companions in this time, but so too are hope and purpose as I look ahead.
Isaiah 40:28-31 are as living water to an ailing heart.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Heart Surgery...what?!?
Here's the email that my mom sent out to family...she pretty much covers the bases:
This past week, we spent 3 days moving from building to building, test to
test, dr. to dr. at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He has a rather rare
congenital heart defect, called Ebstein's Anomaly. (It means his tricuspid
valve--right side atrium to ventricle--is malformed.) This almost always causes
surgery at some point in the person's life. Some require it as infants and
some not until adulthood as it is never discovered until symptoms begin to
surface. Paul has never had symptoms and remains symptom free inspite of
summiting a number of 14er's this summer in Colorado. However, we have
known about the condition since his senior year of high school when he was
diagnosed after an echo screening as a part of a sports physical. He was
rescreened this spring and the condition of the heart has changed (increased
enlargement of the right side with 3+ regurgitation for you medical folks).
His original diagnosis was confirmed at Mayo and they encouraged Paul to get
surgery. The research is showing a good outcome with early intervention
rather than waiting until symptoms show as then the heart can be irreversibly
damaged.
All that to say Paul has decided to go forward with the surgery and it is
scheduled for Aug 25, back up at Mayo. You may be asking right now, why
not have it done in Indianapolis? Our cardiologist here (Indiana Heart
Center), said that they really don't do many tricuspid valve
repairs/replacements here and felt that we needed to go where the research is
being done and they have a department of adult congenital heart defects.
Mayo leads in heart centers who have treated his anomaly.
We were VERY impressed with the Mayo system. We were treated very
well and as Paul noted that for every test, he actually got in ahead of his
scheduled time, except for 1 and for that one they explained why and it was only
20 minutes late--imagine a busy dr.! His surgeon is the department chair of
cardiovascular surgery at Mayo and has published extensively! He has
email/phone access to the surgeon, the cardiologist, and the cardiologist's
congenital heart defect nurse! His cardiologist will also be a part of the
surgical team as one of her specialties is echocardiography and she will do all
of that during the surgery.
We will travel up there on Tuesday, meet with the surgeon's physician's
asst. that afternoon. He will have surgery on Wednesday. They hope and
feel quite certain they can repair the valve, but of course, there is an outside
chance of the valve needing to be replaced. The normal hospital stay is 5-7 days
and then he will be discharged to home. He will have about a 6 week recovery.
As with so much in life, there are miracles in this whole process that I
won't take time to relate here, but because of His leading in all of this so
far, we feel confident that this is the best thing for Paul so that he has a
better chance of a normal quality of life 10, 20, 30,40, etc., years from
now. As the drs. pointed out, it is a tough call to take an asymptomatic
patient, do an invasive surgery that does have risks, in the hopes that a better
quality of life will be available. But they are confident in their surgery
methodology. The risks of open heart surgery have been reduced greatly in the
past years. The cardiologist said that even doing surgery on asymptomatic
patients they experience feeling better, more energy after the surgery.
So in the next days and weeks ahead, we covet your prayers for Paul, the
drs, and other health caretakers.
This past week, we spent 3 days moving from building to building, test to
test, dr. to dr. at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He has a rather rare
congenital heart defect, called Ebstein's Anomaly. (It means his tricuspid
valve--right side atrium to ventricle--is malformed.) This almost always causes
surgery at some point in the person's life. Some require it as infants and
some not until adulthood as it is never discovered until symptoms begin to
surface. Paul has never had symptoms and remains symptom free inspite of
summiting a number of 14er's this summer in Colorado. However, we have
known about the condition since his senior year of high school when he was
diagnosed after an echo screening as a part of a sports physical. He was
rescreened this spring and the condition of the heart has changed (increased
enlargement of the right side with 3+ regurgitation for you medical folks).
His original diagnosis was confirmed at Mayo and they encouraged Paul to get
surgery. The research is showing a good outcome with early intervention
rather than waiting until symptoms show as then the heart can be irreversibly
damaged.
All that to say Paul has decided to go forward with the surgery and it is
scheduled for Aug 25, back up at Mayo. You may be asking right now, why
not have it done in Indianapolis? Our cardiologist here (Indiana Heart
Center), said that they really don't do many tricuspid valve
repairs/replacements here and felt that we needed to go where the research is
being done and they have a department of adult congenital heart defects.
Mayo leads in heart centers who have treated his anomaly.
We were VERY impressed with the Mayo system. We were treated very
well and as Paul noted that for every test, he actually got in ahead of his
scheduled time, except for 1 and for that one they explained why and it was only
20 minutes late--imagine a busy dr.! His surgeon is the department chair of
cardiovascular surgery at Mayo and has published extensively! He has
email/phone access to the surgeon, the cardiologist, and the cardiologist's
congenital heart defect nurse! His cardiologist will also be a part of the
surgical team as one of her specialties is echocardiography and she will do all
of that during the surgery.
We will travel up there on Tuesday, meet with the surgeon's physician's
asst. that afternoon. He will have surgery on Wednesday. They hope and
feel quite certain they can repair the valve, but of course, there is an outside
chance of the valve needing to be replaced. The normal hospital stay is 5-7 days
and then he will be discharged to home. He will have about a 6 week recovery.
As with so much in life, there are miracles in this whole process that I
won't take time to relate here, but because of His leading in all of this so
far, we feel confident that this is the best thing for Paul so that he has a
better chance of a normal quality of life 10, 20, 30,40, etc., years from
now. As the drs. pointed out, it is a tough call to take an asymptomatic
patient, do an invasive surgery that does have risks, in the hopes that a better
quality of life will be available. But they are confident in their surgery
methodology. The risks of open heart surgery have been reduced greatly in the
past years. The cardiologist said that even doing surgery on asymptomatic
patients they experience feeling better, more energy after the surgery.
So in the next days and weeks ahead, we covet your prayers for Paul, the
drs, and other health caretakers.
# posted by pk : 2:26 PM
Comments:
I have just been diagnosed with TR and have a similar situation. My tricupid valve is damaged after a bout with bacterial endo-carditis.
This was in 1975. I have been leading a very active life since then, hike, ride a road bicycle several times a week (about 150 miles per week)I rode a 66 mile metric century last fall. In November 06 started getting minor symtoms, like being a little tired before hiking.
Anyway, I find Paul's faith and his attitude towards his health very inspiring.
Post a Comment
This was in 1975. I have been leading a very active life since then, hike, ride a road bicycle several times a week (about 150 miles per week)I rode a 66 mile metric century last fall. In November 06 started getting minor symtoms, like being a little tired before hiking.
Anyway, I find Paul's faith and his attitude towards his health very inspiring.
# posted by 
: 3/28/2007 11:04 AM
: 3/28/2007 11:04 AMThursday, August 05, 2004
The Final Climb
Alright, this is it. My last post from lovely Colorado, the state that has been oh so good to me this summer. I will forever look back on this summer with fond memories. I had the opportunity to make a new memory this week that I won't want to forget. This Tuesday - which happened to be the day after my birthday - Chris Williams and I headed up to the mountains for what will be my last climb this summer. It was his first! We set out to summit Mt. Bierstadt via the much more difficult (Class 3) East Ridge Route. I climbed Mt. Bierstadt a couple weeks ago on my own, but my love for Class 3 terrain drew me back to a different side of this mountain. Chris showed a lot of determination and guts in not only summiting his first ever 14er, but doing it with style on a tough route. Go Chris!
From the summit looking back at the "path" that we took up the mountain.
Intern & pastor, hiking partners, friends.
Final Climb...literally and figuratively. As great as the summer has been, it makes it that much harder to leave behind the people and places that made it great. I'm going to miss everything about Summit Church: the new friends, the thriving Wednesday night small group, leading the sign team, the Sunday worship experiences, and of course Chris & Craig. This next shot captures quite a few things. This is Summit from behind the pulpit. Priscilla and Craig Coe are on the far left. They moved out here about half-way through the summer and immediately added so much! (Sidenote: they took me to see the Bourne Supremacy on my birthday...obviously great people!) It was also the Sunday that my good friend Melissa Ruder visited us, along with another friend Ricara Gray. They're seated next to Craig. Seated in the far back right are John and Diane. Here's how awesome this couple is: they took me to eat at the Star of India last night! Amazing food and even better company. You can see Chris in the far back right by the sound board; that is significant because I was Summit's 'sound guy' for most of the summer.
This next shot captures the entrance to my place of employment this summer: Zio's. This is where I logged 40 hours and learned a lot about bringing Christ to a secular environment. At my shift this morning I found myself looking around at each of my fellow workers that I have developed relationships these past few months, and just being stinking sad that I have to go. The added bonus in this picture is that the beautiful young lady is my good friend Julia Hurlow who took the time to connect with me a couple weekends ago.
How's Esther??? Good! She too is wrapping up her last week with Christian Adventures here in Colorado and is leading a road-biking trip along the Oregon coast next week (yeah, life is rough). I'll get to see her again in a couple weeks in Indiana...you can bet I'm pumped!
Other end of the summer highlights?
- Picking up Burt Webb and his son Mason at the airport and shuttling them up into the mountains for their expedition on the Continental Divide Trail. I loved talking with Burt and hearing all about his Uganda experiences this summer, as well as sleeping out under the stars with them for a night.
- An hour with Dwight Robertson this morning that could only be described as God-anointed. In such a short time I felt like he shared his life and himself with me in such a way that was truly inspiring, challenging, encouraging, and so much more. I still need to take some more time to process through our time together.
- My best friend Mark Schmerse getting engaged to Jess Dvorak. I have loved sharing in the the joy and celebration of all that is to come in their lives.
I hope you see in this look back over the summer my sense that God has been extremely faithful. He is alive and active in Aurora, and around the world. He leads us in this journey of grace that is usually exciting, sometimes downright scary, and always meaningful. God Bless!
From the summit looking back at the "path" that we took up the mountain.
Intern & pastor, hiking partners, friends.
Final Climb...literally and figuratively. As great as the summer has been, it makes it that much harder to leave behind the people and places that made it great. I'm going to miss everything about Summit Church: the new friends, the thriving Wednesday night small group, leading the sign team, the Sunday worship experiences, and of course Chris & Craig. This next shot captures quite a few things. This is Summit from behind the pulpit. Priscilla and Craig Coe are on the far left. They moved out here about half-way through the summer and immediately added so much! (Sidenote: they took me to see the Bourne Supremacy on my birthday...obviously great people!) It was also the Sunday that my good friend Melissa Ruder visited us, along with another friend Ricara Gray. They're seated next to Craig. Seated in the far back right are John and Diane. Here's how awesome this couple is: they took me to eat at the Star of India last night! Amazing food and even better company. You can see Chris in the far back right by the sound board; that is significant because I was Summit's 'sound guy' for most of the summer.
This next shot captures the entrance to my place of employment this summer: Zio's. This is where I logged 40 hours and learned a lot about bringing Christ to a secular environment. At my shift this morning I found myself looking around at each of my fellow workers that I have developed relationships these past few months, and just being stinking sad that I have to go. The added bonus in this picture is that the beautiful young lady is my good friend Julia Hurlow who took the time to connect with me a couple weekends ago.
How's Esther??? Good! She too is wrapping up her last week with Christian Adventures here in Colorado and is leading a road-biking trip along the Oregon coast next week (yeah, life is rough). I'll get to see her again in a couple weeks in Indiana...you can bet I'm pumped!
Other end of the summer highlights?
- Picking up Burt Webb and his son Mason at the airport and shuttling them up into the mountains for their expedition on the Continental Divide Trail. I loved talking with Burt and hearing all about his Uganda experiences this summer, as well as sleeping out under the stars with them for a night.
- An hour with Dwight Robertson this morning that could only be described as God-anointed. In such a short time I felt like he shared his life and himself with me in such a way that was truly inspiring, challenging, encouraging, and so much more. I still need to take some more time to process through our time together.
- My best friend Mark Schmerse getting engaged to Jess Dvorak. I have loved sharing in the the joy and celebration of all that is to come in their lives.
I hope you see in this look back over the summer my sense that God has been extremely faithful. He is alive and active in Aurora, and around the world. He leads us in this journey of grace that is usually exciting, sometimes downright scary, and always meaningful. God Bless!
