Good evening from Tennessee. (No Not Kansas). Ken is still in Baltimore waiting "patiently" and I am back taking care of the home front for a while. I flew out Saturday evening and pretty sure I cried 90% of the way home. Ken is doing well. I recruited allies there to help keep an eye on him and I think he has already caught on. God has been so good to bring people into our lives there that have just taken us under their wings.
There are no words to describe how good it was to attend church yesterday and worship God with those who have been "shoulder to shoulder" with us even before January 2nd. Some in our Sunday school class called Ken on a cell phone and passed it around. It was GREAT!! It wasn't to bad either that I was able to hold that ever changing grandson of ours. Fuller cheeks just give you more room to kiss (some were from his Pops). If you want to see pictures of him you can go to www.maggie-and-family.blogspot.com.
I am putting away Christmas decorations and trying to get the house ready for that day when Ken comes home with a NEW HEART. Going back to work today was strange but Ken and I talked at least 3 or 4 times and then another couple of times this evening. I felt like he was close by anyway.
We continue to get e-mails, cards or phone calls daily from someone telling us they are praying. It is amazing!! The Monday after we arrived in Baltimore my mom and dad came out for a few days. She compiled a list of states "we knew" where people were praying for us. That list was:
Tennessee, Texas, California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland and even Porto Rico.
WOW!!! How Blessed We Are to have so many people going before the Father on our behalf. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As always please continue to pray for the family of the one who will give the gift of life and for that person who will soon face eternity -- PRAY God will welcome him home.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
UPDATE AFTER DR.'S APPOINTMENT
Yesterday afternoon (1-24-08) was the second outpatient visit with the doctor. Everything is still pretty much the same. Still WAITING. Ken's health is hanging in there. They took him off the blood thinning medication and plan to put him in the cardiac rehab three times a week just to keep him in an active state. The healthier and stronger he is at the time of transplant will only be in his favor. We were out walking the streets on Wednesday when Ken received a call from a recent heart transplant recipient. It was a very encouraging call that helped us find some hope in all of this waiting. He told Ken that whatever his expectations were for feeling better he should at least triple that expectation. WOW!!! That is just like God - giving us more than we are expecting.
We have had to make some hard decisions since this all started and we have had to make another one. I am going to be going home tomorrow evening and leaving Ken here in Baltimore. We have done everything we know to do for getting him immediate help and as always it is all in God's hands. After transplant there will be an extended stay so right now we believe I need to go work for a while and take care of the home front. We have such amazing family and friends taking care of what they can now - PRAISE GOD - but there are always those things you just have to take care of yourself. Please pray for me especially at this time. I know this is what God is telling me to do but I still have such a heaviness in my heart leaving him here. As always in a waiting period you just don't know when the next phase will come so we covet your prays as well in my getting back here in a timely manner when the "Call" comes.
The journey still continues and we could never express adequately how much your prayers, cards, e-mails and calls mean to us. Thank you for hanging in there with us as we WAIT and WATCH God continue His work in our lives.
We have had to make some hard decisions since this all started and we have had to make another one. I am going to be going home tomorrow evening and leaving Ken here in Baltimore. We have done everything we know to do for getting him immediate help and as always it is all in God's hands. After transplant there will be an extended stay so right now we believe I need to go work for a while and take care of the home front. We have such amazing family and friends taking care of what they can now - PRAISE GOD - but there are always those things you just have to take care of yourself. Please pray for me especially at this time. I know this is what God is telling me to do but I still have such a heaviness in my heart leaving him here. As always in a waiting period you just don't know when the next phase will come so we covet your prays as well in my getting back here in a timely manner when the "Call" comes.
The journey still continues and we could never express adequately how much your prayers, cards, e-mails and calls mean to us. Thank you for hanging in there with us as we WAIT and WATCH God continue His work in our lives.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hotel to Hospital -- Hospital to Hotel
This was my five block walk at least once a day to the hospital. I usually walked in the morning and then would catch a shuttle from the hospital back to the hotel in the evening. I could tell you it was uphill both ways but perhaps it just felt like it at times. I am so glad I came with comfortable shoes.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A FEW SIGHTS OF THIS JOURNEY
This was our mode of transportation from Nashville, TN to Baltimore, MD on the evening of January 4th.
You guessed it - Ken flew first class (he got to lay down the whole trip) and I had to ride in the back by myself. I could see him but it was loud and I could not really talk to him. I was glad the nurse at Baptist handed me a couple of blankets for the trip - it was so COLD. I thought it rather amusing that the pilot asked me if I had flown before - even if you have it is nothing like this experience!!THE JOURNEY CONTINUES IN BALTIMORE
It is so hard to believe it is already the 22nd of of January and we have been here in Baltimore since the 4th. As you know things have changed since we were first sent here. Miracles have been taking place from the very start. Ken's body has returned to functioning as normal as it can (I heard that). It is so easy to forget how complex our bodies really are. We take so many things for granted -blood circulation for one - it is a miracle his kidneys are functioning on their own.
As nice as it is having someone else clean your room and make the bed everyday it was WONDERFUL to get out of the hotel. A social worker at the hospital helped us locate an apartment. We are one block from the hospital, one block from the doctor's office, and a shuttle runs a couple of times a week to the store -miracle!! We rented a car including the "navigator" - miracle (can't even begin to tell you) -for a couple of days in order to gather up items we needed. WE ARE SO BLESSED - we are as comfortable as can be for this period of time.
We had the first out patient visit with two of the doctors, the transplant coordinator, and the financial worker (telling us what our insurance would cover -miracle) last Thursday. We went in with a list of questions and never got to ask one of them because they had answered them all before they ever asked if we had any questions. Our first item on the list was how realistic is it to think Ken could receive a transplant in the time frame they told us. They were already receiving calls about every other day for offers of a donation, there had just not been one suitable for transplant yet. They were pleased with Ken's continued recovery so it is just a matter of staying well and trying to be as strong as possible when the time does come. MIRACLE!!
We have off and on in our marriage carried around the notion of living right in the middle of downtown in a big city. Well this is our opportunity -- we are getting to see what it is like for Hannah out in Portland with no car. Back home my neighbor and I had walked in the early mornings until it got to where it was so dark and chilly. The weather conditions don't matter much when you are without a car. If you are going to go you just get out there and GO. That is our means of exercising everyday - walking the streets.
Ken and I both know we are here in this place at this time because God placed us here. Sometimes it is still hard to wait -- we have tried to figure out why this all has to take place so far away from home, family, friends and everything that is in our comfort zone --perhaps we would not see the miracles and his provision so easily. He has provided us with personal contacts that put us both on the receiving end as well as the giving end. He provides ALL that we need.
Thank you again for your continuing prayers and the outpouring of love we have received - we are truly thankful.
As nice as it is having someone else clean your room and make the bed everyday it was WONDERFUL to get out of the hotel. A social worker at the hospital helped us locate an apartment. We are one block from the hospital, one block from the doctor's office, and a shuttle runs a couple of times a week to the store -miracle!! We rented a car including the "navigator" - miracle (can't even begin to tell you) -for a couple of days in order to gather up items we needed. WE ARE SO BLESSED - we are as comfortable as can be for this period of time.
We had the first out patient visit with two of the doctors, the transplant coordinator, and the financial worker (telling us what our insurance would cover -miracle) last Thursday. We went in with a list of questions and never got to ask one of them because they had answered them all before they ever asked if we had any questions. Our first item on the list was how realistic is it to think Ken could receive a transplant in the time frame they told us. They were already receiving calls about every other day for offers of a donation, there had just not been one suitable for transplant yet. They were pleased with Ken's continued recovery so it is just a matter of staying well and trying to be as strong as possible when the time does come. MIRACLE!!
We have off and on in our marriage carried around the notion of living right in the middle of downtown in a big city. Well this is our opportunity -- we are getting to see what it is like for Hannah out in Portland with no car. Back home my neighbor and I had walked in the early mornings until it got to where it was so dark and chilly. The weather conditions don't matter much when you are without a car. If you are going to go you just get out there and GO. That is our means of exercising everyday - walking the streets.
Ken and I both know we are here in this place at this time because God placed us here. Sometimes it is still hard to wait -- we have tried to figure out why this all has to take place so far away from home, family, friends and everything that is in our comfort zone --perhaps we would not see the miracles and his provision so easily. He has provided us with personal contacts that put us both on the receiving end as well as the giving end. He provides ALL that we need.
Thank you again for your continuing prayers and the outpouring of love we have received - we are truly thankful.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
THE TIN MAN IS WAITING TO SEE THE WIZARD
Welcome to the the journal of Ken's journey for a Heart....
First of all THANK YOU ALL for your prayers and support. God is SOOOOO good!!! Although things seem to change on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, we can definitely see God at work in this process.
This journey is a true miracle. We are here in Baltimore, Maryland waiting for a heart. When we were flown here on Friday night (1-4-08) we thought he was coming to get an L-VAD (ventricular assist device); however, things have changed just a bit. The doctors here would like to try and hold off on that procedure in order to see if a heart becomes available for transplant. They feel there is an 80% chance one could become available within the next 2-4 weeks. So far it is unclear what caused his system to crash so hard that Wednesday morning at home. They may not be able to come up with a medical reason, but we believe it is God's plan and there is a purpose for our being here in this place at this time. As you know, that is all easier said than living it a times. It has definitely been challenging thus far.
Ken, as you know, is very shy around those he doesn't know - HA HA!! He doesn't want anyone to ever know how sick he really is so he has entertained everyone with his "charming" personality and no one has entered his room without seeing the pictures of our grandson Jack. It hasn't taken the nurses long to spoil Ken, I think some have even offered to take him home.
Tomorrow the doctors will be discharging him to the greater city of Baltimore. Right now they say everything is working (especially his kidneys) and they want to see how everything works when he is in a more active routine. It could be they just wanted the CCU to return to a more "normal" routine. We are going to stay at the hotel and resume (as much as possible) normal activity. He will have to go into the clinic once a week to have blood work done and make sure that everything is still in working order.
Sometimes we are willing to settle for what is "artificial" when God wants to give us the REAL thing. Just as we are struggling with our own reality, we realize another family will soon be struggling with their own if Ken is to receive a heart. Please pray for the family who will be giving the gift of life at such a great loss for them.
We are truly humbled by the outpouring of love and support from our "FAMILY" - and what a big family we have! Again, God is SOOOOO good and working miracles even when we are not fully aware of them all. We are definitely having to practice patience and to trust in our God who knows all.
First of all THANK YOU ALL for your prayers and support. God is SOOOOO good!!! Although things seem to change on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, we can definitely see God at work in this process.
This journey is a true miracle. We are here in Baltimore, Maryland waiting for a heart. When we were flown here on Friday night (1-4-08) we thought he was coming to get an L-VAD (ventricular assist device); however, things have changed just a bit. The doctors here would like to try and hold off on that procedure in order to see if a heart becomes available for transplant. They feel there is an 80% chance one could become available within the next 2-4 weeks. So far it is unclear what caused his system to crash so hard that Wednesday morning at home. They may not be able to come up with a medical reason, but we believe it is God's plan and there is a purpose for our being here in this place at this time. As you know, that is all easier said than living it a times. It has definitely been challenging thus far.
Ken, as you know, is very shy around those he doesn't know - HA HA!! He doesn't want anyone to ever know how sick he really is so he has entertained everyone with his "charming" personality and no one has entered his room without seeing the pictures of our grandson Jack. It hasn't taken the nurses long to spoil Ken, I think some have even offered to take him home.
Tomorrow the doctors will be discharging him to the greater city of Baltimore. Right now they say everything is working (especially his kidneys) and they want to see how everything works when he is in a more active routine. It could be they just wanted the CCU to return to a more "normal" routine. We are going to stay at the hotel and resume (as much as possible) normal activity. He will have to go into the clinic once a week to have blood work done and make sure that everything is still in working order.
Sometimes we are willing to settle for what is "artificial" when God wants to give us the REAL thing. Just as we are struggling with our own reality, we realize another family will soon be struggling with their own if Ken is to receive a heart. Please pray for the family who will be giving the gift of life at such a great loss for them.
We are truly humbled by the outpouring of love and support from our "FAMILY" - and what a big family we have! Again, God is SOOOOO good and working miracles even when we are not fully aware of them all. We are definitely having to practice patience and to trust in our God who knows all.
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