Why This Blog Exists

Hello Friends and Family,

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement in this season. They are so appreciated! Since there will be some who read this post who have little or no background information, I am going to do a brief re-cap.

July 2004- At a routine Dr. appointment Jayme's heart murmur was discovered. Since it was such a severe murmur and had developed or at least progressed so suddenly, it concerned the doctor and he was sent to the E.R. for more testing.

E.R. referred him to a Vanderbilt cardiologist. The cardiologist diagnosed him with Mitral Valve Prolapse. Mitral valve prolapse is a common heart disorder. It occurs when the valve between your heart's left upper chamber (left atrium) and the left lower chamber (left ventricle) doesn't close properly. When the left ventricle contracts, the valve's leaflets bulge (prolapse) upward or back into the atrium . Mitral valve prolapse sometimes leads to blood leaking backward into the left atrium, a condition called mitral valve regurgitation. 

Mitral valve prolapse affects slightly more than 2 percent of adults in the United States.

In most people, mitral valve prolapse is harmless and doesn't require treatment or changes in lifestyle. In some people with mitral valve prolapse, however, the progression of the disease requires treatment. (Mayo Clinic)

Unfortunately, Jayme is of the minority whose lifestyle is affected by the disease. The doctor gave us cause for concern and cautioned us to keep an eye on its progress.

April 2008 - After an appointment with our family practitioner, Jayme was advised to once again follow up with his cardiologist and schedule an EKG (electrocardiogram). We were at this point, weeks from the arrival of our first child, our daughter, Evangeline. 

The EKG was read and the cardiologist was again concerned at the progression of the prolapse and referred us to Vanderbilt to have a TEE (transesophageal echocardiogram) performed.

September 2008 - Appointment for TEE. Diagnosis of Severe Mitral Regurgitation. When the mitral valve doesn't function properly, blood can't move through your heart or to the rest of your body as efficiently. The condition can leave you fatigued and short of breath. Left unchecked, severe mitral regurgitation can lead to heart failure or serious heart rhythm irregularities (arrhythmias). 

September 2008 - Appointment with thoracic surgeon, Dr. Michael Petracek at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Dr. Petracek called Jayme's murmur "impressive". Not such a good thing when you "impress" the doctors with the abnormality of your heartbeat :) Dr. Petracek advised not waiting more than a few more months before scheduling surgery. He said at that time that Jayme's side effects were minimal but that the heart was beginning to enlarge due to all of the extra work it was doing. He felt confident that it could be a valve repair instead of a replacement and scheduled Jayme for an MRI to confirm the theory. 

The MRI was performed and Dr. Petracek still feels confident in a repair. 

We have delayed surgery for this long for two reasons. The primary reason being that we ache to see a miracle of God. We believe that God is able to perform a miraculous healing on Jayme's heart. And though we have not seen it yet, we still believe that our prayers have been answered and that Jayme will be healed before the surgery but if not, then we trust that God's ways are higher than ours and we are O.K. with that! It will not be because God never heard us or because He was unable to heal Jayme, or because He failed us but simply because there are things that He knows in His sovereignty that we do not. And His ways and purposes so often surpass even our greatest understanding. We love and trust Him regardless of circumstance. 

The second reason we have prolonged the surgery is for lack of finances. We have insurance and that will cover the majority of the cost of the procedure, but what we have not been able to afford is for Jayme to be out of work for approximately 3 months. Since having our daughter I have stayed home with her so we are learning to live on one income and in the face of these times economically, we have struggled. Therefore the idea of having no income for months was simply not an option for us. 

After much prayer we have decided to move forward despite the financial opposition. After all is said and done, we will be left with approximately $30,000 of expenses to cover our part of the medical costs and to cover the loss of income we will face during Jayme's recovery period. 

Prayers are what we ask for from you above all but if you feel led to help us in any way financially that you can, there is a Donate button on the homepage of the blog. We love and appreciate you more than you know!