Up & Around

Dad is doing much better today... He is up and around for walks a few time today. Almost all the wires and tubes and such are unhooked now so he is a bit less restricted, but he is very tired and has been sleeping most of the day. We are still on track as far as I know for him to head home on Monday.

Thank you all for your prayers and concerns the past few days... They are greatly appreciated! 

Good Things...

Seems from all signs that dad is doing well today. He is sitting up and has been moved out of ICU!  He has a significant amount of pain, but is breathing strongly on his own and is more alert today.  The nurses said he had a good night and that he is progressing well.  We anticipate he will be leaving the hospital on Monday to begin his recovery.  He won’t be able to drive for three weeks and cannot work for eight so the recovery process is going to take him a while. Thank you all so very much for your prayers.

 

Austin

 

Out!

He is out of surgery! The triple turned into a quad bypass when they were in there. He is headed to the icu now and will be there for two hours until we can see him. He will spend the night in the icu and will be transferred to a regular room tomorrow. He should be walking tomorrow morning. The doctors said everything went great and everything went as planned.

Thanks for your prayers! Ill keep you posted.

Half Way Home

The doctors just called and have indicated we are half way done and everything is looking great! Thanks for your prayers.

Surgery Started...

The surgery should be starting any time. They just took dad to the operating room a few minutes ago. He was in good spirits and much stronger today.

Surgery...

Good news... The artery in dad's neck will not need surgery to repair!  He is expected to be taken at 0600 for surgery that will begin at 0730 ish. It should take about four hours to complete. Please keep my dad, family and the doctors in your prayers.

Update...

Hello Friends,

A short update... My dad had an ultra sound this morning on the arteries in his neck. The results of that are not in yet but the end result will be the same. He will have surgery tomorrow morning around 8:00. The surgery will take four hours to complete.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I will post this evening once we have more information.

Dad Update

Dear Friends,

As some of you may already know my father had some health complications earlier today… After spending the day at two different care facilities and seeing a small army of different doctors it has been determined that he has three blockages in his heart ranging from slight to about 97% blocked. The problem is aggravated by the fact that he has an abnormality in his heart that prevents them from doing (effectively) the typical procedure (a stent). As a result of these complications and the blockages his only real option is a bypass surgery.

At one point in the day it looked like the surgery would take place tomorrow morning, but this has been postponed due to the fact that the surgeon, in review of my dad, determined there may be an issue in his carotid artery (neck). The only way to tell if in fact his thoughts are right is to get an ultrasound of it. The results of this ultrasound won’t change the course of action but it may add to the steps the doctor needs to take. So at 59 my dad is faced with a fairly invasive surgery on Thursday morning where the doctors will bypass three blockages in his heart.

At this point my family would love your prayers for his safety and wisdom for the doctors. We believe that God is sovereign and that even in this moment is in control of the finer details of life. None of this has caught Him by surprise… but it has naturally caught us a bit off guard. We would love your prayers for peace and wisdom as we care for him in the next few days and the recovery process.

Thank you to all who called and/or emailed asking for status updates…You are all dear friends and we appreciate the love you have for us. I wish I could have responded to each of you, but time did not prevent. I will post more information on the blog (www.thehendersonsite.som) as I have it.

Austin

It's A Girl!

Today was a special day for our family. We had two appointments today and God was gracious in both accounts. We will begin with the news of the headline.. It's A GIRL! We are of course so excited by this news! Daddy and Caleb have been convinced it was a girl for quite some time. In fact, as we sat around the dinner table last night Caleb stood in his chair and boldly proclaimed: "MOM, It is a baby SISTER!!" We all got a kick out of this today when we explained to Caleb with great enthusiasm that he was going to have a little sister and he responded with "Mommy, I told you that last night." Nicole is of course seeing dancing ballerinas dressed in pink, pretty bows and even painted fingernails already! Daddy is already thinking through how we will pay for all of these "accessories." In truth we are excited beyond words and are thankful that the report of our little girl's health was good. I suppose this is partly because it is our second time around and we realize how delicate this little life is.

The second appointment was with Caleb's eye doctor. He was scheduled today (nice timing) for a checkup visit. We are so thankful to report that everything checked out wonderfully. The doctor says that he has no signs of complications and that his vision is right on with where it should be for a child of his age! How amazing of a journey this is that we are on with Caleb. We are so thankful that God continues to provide health for Caleb in spite of the fact that he has a mass in his brain. We believe that God has a great plan for Caleb's life and are able to experience peace as we walk through these circumstances with this confidence.

It has also been a wonderful joy to walk through this with so many of our very close friends. We are so thankful to hear the joy in your voices today as you celebrated with us. We are reminded tonight of how blessed we are to live life with friends that mourn with us when we mourn and celebrate with us when we celebrate! Thank you for your love and care for us. We love you all!