Follow-up Visit

Will had a follow-up appointment with his cardiologist in Kalamazoo yesterday. She is very pleased with how well Will is doing following his surgery last week. But, she will be monitoring him closely. So far, he has proved to be a bit of a challenging case. His case has presented as anything but "normal". So, the boy is writing his own book. Will's case has been so unusual that the cardiologist will be presenting it at a medical conference soon. When Will had his angioplasty last week, they were shocked at how severe the coarctation was. His EKG prior to surgery did not indicate at all that it was that severe. So, the doctors will have to rely more on signs and symptoms rather than test results to monitor him. Will has also started going to the "feed clinic" in Kalamazoo. Here, they will be doing occupational and physical therapy to teach him how to eat by mouth and swallow. Since he is still fed by g-tube, this is a whole new world for him. He did get a few tastes of cereal yesterday and seemed to like it. Part of his digestion issues could have been caused by reduced blood flow to that area. So, we are hoping that Will's recent angioplasty will also help his digestion issues by increasing the blood flow to that area.

Thanks for your continued prayers. This has been a very long road and the trip is far from over. We are enjoying the scenery along the way and learning to trust in God's unfailing love in a way that we never could have imagined.

Home!

Will had a rough night after surgery Wednesday night. Nana was a trooper and stayed with him all night. Because of his rough night, the doctors elected to keep him at the hospital a little longer than we originally anticipated so they could monitor him. But, by Wednesday afternoon, he was doing well and was released to go home. So, the Arny family is once again all home and back to "normal" (let us know when you figure out what that is!). Thanks for all your prayers! While they were not able to open up Will's aorta as much as was hoped, it should be enough to give him some time to grow and build up his strength before another procedure is needed.

All Done!

Will's surgeries are all done now! The narrowing of the aorta was worse than they anticipated, but the heart surgeon was able to open it up fairly well with the balloon procedure. They evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure by monitoring the blood pressure in the extremities and there was very good improvement. So, now they will continue to monitor Will over the next 6 to 12 months to see if any additional procedures will be needed.

Nana and CJ will be spending the night at the hospital to be close to Will. And then tomorrow morning, if all is good, they should all be heading back home.

Thank you so much for all the prayers! Your prayers have been such a comfort and encouragement to the Arny Family!

One Down

The lung procedure is complete. The pulmonologist was very happy with what she saw. Will does have a lung condition that will be treated similar to asthma. But, this condition is not related to the heart. So, now we wait for the results of the heart procedure.

Bid Day for a Lil' Man

Today is the day for our lil' man. Thanks so much for your continued prayers. Please pray that the heart procedure is successful and the lung scope will provide some answers. The power of all the prayers has been so evident over the last few days. Thank you, thank you!

Ready to Go!

Will sailed through all his tests today. He was his normal charming, flirtatious self and is set for his procedures tomorrow. Part of the lung procedure will include doing a biopsy of the fluid in his lungs to see if they can figure out where it is coming from. Then the balloon procedure will be done on his heart. In total, both procedures should take about 4 hours. Everything is still scheduled for 1pm. Pray people!

It's the Final Countdown....

Today, Will heads off to U of M. He checks in tomorrow morning at 9am for testing, labs and all the other essential pre-surgery stuff. Then on Wednesday, May 11, at 1pm he is scheduled for two procedures. The first is a scope of his lungs. They will be checking for any deformities or anything else that could be causing the breathing issues Will has. Then, he will have his heart procedure. This will be an angioplasty procedure where they go in through his leg and use a balloon to try to open up the part of the aorta that has narrowed again. If this does not work, another open heart surgery will be scheduled at a later date. So, you know what ya gotta do here - PRAY that the angioplasty is a huge success! Our God is BIG so get busy and get prayin'!