Weekend Adventure and Truth Tomorrow

Pierson is sound asleep right now so I thought I would forgo folding the laundry and update the blog.

P is doing great. We have even made outings! We actually made a big outing this weekend. We are praising God that Pierson was well enough to go on a weekend trip to San Antonio. We had this trip planned for months and were prepared for the fact that we might miss it – but P was doing great. We checked with our cardiologist and our cardiac surgeon to make sure we were good to go and they both said to go for it, but be smart. No problem – we can do that.

Jeff and P getting the dolphins' attention

Feeding time with P, Jeff, his cousin Josh and his son Eli

The trip wasn’t just any weekend trip to San Antonio, it was a "last hurrah" for some of Jeff’s cousins/some of our dearest friends who are moving to France next month. 5 of us families/couples rented a house in San Antonio for the weekend and planned to spend the time together: eating, exploring, fellowshipping, playing. And that’s exactly what we did. Pierson pretty much did the same thing he would have been doing at home with one exception: We made an early morning excursion to SeaWorld. We got there at 9am when the park opened and it was a perfect 84 degrees. We didn’t want to get Pierson hot at all so we knew it would be brief, but God really provided a cool morning for us to take P out in to. Pierson’s favorite part was feeding the dolphins. It was pure joy to watch this kid who just one week ago was eating breakfast in a hospital bed after heart surgery laughing and feeding the dolphins fish. It was just, a blessing.  What a faithful God we serve. After that we saw Shamu and the Cannery Show then retreated to the indoor penguin exhibit before heading home. It was brief but it was just right. Pierson pretty much spent the rest of the day sleeping until dinner time which was great.

The rest of the time Pierson spent playing with his friends around the house. We couldn’t take him swimming because of his incisions but that was ok, no one else went swimming either.

Bath time is still a struggle for us. Friday night the guys went grocery shopping while the girls took care of getting the kids bathed and to bed. Our friend Sarah helped me out with P’s bath. Luckily she’s a PA and not frazzled at all by a screaming child. He still screams bloody murder. He doesn’t want you to touch his incisions – even though they’re fine. As a matter of fact the middle of the incision on his back is pretty much healed… not even a scab! The sides still have a bit to go but they’re coming along very well too.

So today, we are resting, doing laundry and getting ready for Pierson’s cardiology appointment tomorrow. It’s a long appointment: EKG, echocardiogram, talking to Dr. Laird and finding out how Pierson is doing after the surgery. We will find out if any scar tissue has formed on P’s aorta and see how well his aorta is doing after taking off the additional unhealthy portions. Moment of truth here: I’m kind of scared/nervous. Ok, not kind of, I just am scared and nervous. We think the surgery was successful and that Pierson is doing fantastic. We have defiantly not lacked for prayers for his recovery. We have no reason to believe that this echo will be anything short of perfect. It’s just that this is the moment of truth. Real proof on how it went. I think part of it is that the last time we were there we got a diagnosis and our whole world turned upside down. We are praying that tomorrow we get to hear Dr. Laird say "Everything looks great!" – we didn’t get to hear that last time. We are thankful for Dr. Laird and his staff. Dr. Adams could not have referred us to a nicer guy and better cardiologist. Please be in prayer for our appointment tomorrow. Pray that everything does in fact look great. Pray that Pierson remains a great patient and he behaves and is cooperative and still during the EKG and Echo.

Pierson has just done so great! I was giving an update to my coworkers the other day and thanking them for their prayers. I will tell you the same thing I told them. We could write off Pierson’s rapid and wonderful recovery to kids just "snapping back" quickly but that’s not giving credit where it’s due. We know the truth. God has heard the cries of his people calling out for healing and life for Pierson. It is God’s hands and His doing that Pierson was well enough to feed the dolphins this weekend. It’s God’s doing that sometimes we have to remind him not to jump off the couch because he just had heart surgery and still has stitches. God is good to us and has not forgotten us. Pierson was made with God’s hands, heart defect and all. He is His child and He loves him. He has not forsaken us just because Pierson did not have a "perfect" heart. He is the same God we had a month ago and will be the same God tomorrow.

I will update tomorrow and let everyone know about how P’s appointment went!

The 3 oldest kiddos on the trip posing