Heart Surgery and Testing Postponed

If you happened to read the last few sentences of the last post then you already know what I am going to say. But there is more. So, yes Burke's heart testing and surgery is postponed until October 14, 2008 and the review with the surgeons and cardiologists will be on the 15th and tentative surgery on the 16th! Now, the reasoning behind the madness. Testing was supposed to be on the 16th of this month. Now, that would've been in two weeks and they postponed it because he just got his tongue clipped and tubes put in his ears. We got the approval from our cardiologist here in Boise to go ahead with the ear surgery and everything, but then she called down to Primary Children's and talked with his cardiologists down there and they thought it would be best to push surgery back until Burke is all well and good.

I am trying to decide what to write because now, it is almost a week later that I am finishing writing this post and my opinions have changed drastically since I first found out that testing has been postponed. My first reaction to it was a big fat WHY? Why in the world would they postpone testing when my child is currently on oxygen and only has 74% oxygen levels? He is also getting increasingly more tired out from playing and he huffs and puffs more. The blue tint to his hands, feet, finger nails, and lips is more frequent also. Last week my opinion was that he needs the surgery when it was scheduled for which was Sept. 18th. But, I am realizing that things happen for a specific reason. I might resist to an idea at first, but once I realize that it is in the Lord's hands then I can go along with the circumstances a lot easier.

I was also so mad at the doctors. I was mad that my cardiologist called to check with Primary's when she didn't have to but just wanted to tell them what was going to happen, and I was also mad that Primary's decided to postpone because they thought he needed more time to recover from going under general anesthetic when he got ear tubes and his tongue clipped. They want him to be at "optimum health" Primary's said. So, after I got the call from Dr. Walker our cardiologist here in Boise, I called down to Primary's and asked to speak with Dr. Jou our cardiologist there. This man is the nicest most excellent doctor we know of. He has been on Burke's case since Burke was born. Yep, he was there the night Burke and Ty flew into Salt Lake. And honestly, he cares so much for Burke we are so blessed to have such a great team of doctors on our side, all pulling for Burke. So, I talked with Dr. Jou and asked his straight out why do they want to postpone? I was so frustrated and an emotional wreck over the whole idea of wanting to push surgery out, when the surgery he had on his ears was going to take away Burke's sicknesses, not make him down or sick for very long after the surgery.

So, Dr. Jou explained to me that they want him to be a "optimum health" and they feel that they should postpone it because of the surgery that was done on his ears and tongue. Now, we talked for a long time after that but I won't get into all the details of it, but it is what it is. Now, I don't know weather or not the cardiologists down at Primary's don't understand what goes on in a surgery where someone gets ears tubes or what, because it seemed like they thought he would still be sick after the surgery. I can understand if they think that just by Burke going under general anesthesia would automatically make him a little under the weather, that makes more sense to me. But it seemed like they thought he would still have an ear infection or something, when in reality they suck out the infection when the doctor puts the tubes in. So, Burke will no longer have ear infections, which is a wonderful thing!!

So, it was a little hard to determine exactly why it has been postponed, but I look at it a week later, and I completely understand why they postponed his testing. Burke got sick with a cold a couple of days ago. They won't do surgery on a sick child. I cannot believe he got sick again. But hopefully it is not an ear infection (that would NOT be good). We go for a post op check up to the Ped. ENT next week to check his ear tubes. But anyways, I have also been thinking that the main reason they keep postponing the surgery is because they need him to get bigger. Bottom line, they would love him to fat and chunky for surgery because it is easier for the surgeons and easy to recover for Burke. So, all along I have been trying to feed this kid and he just doesn't eat great. Because of many factors but the two main ones were his keeps getting ear infections, and he cannot suck or eat normal food very well because he is tongue-tied. So, now that the main to factors are FINALLY taken care of we are hoping and praying that he can now gain the weight he needs to prepare for the surgery he needs so badly. I have so much more hindsight now that just one week ago. I was basically down about the idea of postponing surgery one month longer, but now I am excited for what can possibly happen in that time.

The Lord knows exactly what He is doing. I just need to be better at listening and being more in line with the Lord's will rather than thinking my plan for Burke is the right way to go. Because surely if it was up to me, we would not have to deal with this oxygen anymore. But, I am learning patience. I am learning that I have way more to learn. But the Lord keeps putting his trust in me and keep relying on me to take care of a special spirit who has come to this earth for a distinct purpose and plan. I know that for a fact and the Spirit has told that to me in my heart, I feel it and I feel it now. Burke is so special and sweet and I am grateful for everything that we can learn from our trials. I couldn't have imagined to know what I know right now, just one week ago when I thought the doctors didn't know what they were doing when they postponed testing. And you know what, maybe there wasn't a perfect reason why it was postponed, one that makes no sense to you an me, but in the Lord's plan it made perfect reason to Him to postpone it for one more month. Maybe it gives the doctors that much more time to figure out Burke's complicated heart. Because I am learning more and more that his heart is far from normal. Far from text book and far from being easy to fix. Tyler has said that he is excited for more testing and more time. More time to get Burke to grow. And more testing to know exactly what should be done with his heart. And they have brought on another surgeon Dr. Hawkins (the same doctor who performed heart surgery on Seth Boyce). He is the Senior Surgeon and he is now on the case, which rarely, if ever has happened. Usually, one surgeon can handle the case, but not with Burke's heart. He has a team of doctors both here in Boise and mainly in Utah all working together on Burke's heart to figure out what needs to be done so Burke can have a nearly normal working heart. We are grateful for all the doctors and everyone involved in Burke's case to see that his heart gets fixed. We are grateful to The Lord who is merciful in allowing us to keep Burke with us for this long. We are grateful for the good things in Burke's heart like how strong it is. And for how well his body is handling and adapting to having low oxygen levels, and we are grateful for his sweet spirit. We love you Burke, you're a trooper!