Eva Update #6

So we have found ourselves back in the hospital once again. In an odd way, this place is becoming a home away from home. Everyone is so friendly and supportive, but since everyone here has a sick kid, it can get pretty depressing. I now understand why there are clowns in the world.

For those with short attention spans, Eva is fine and we're stuck here until Thursday morning to make sure she takes the new drug okay. We got placed in a single room that has wifi, so we basically watch a monitor while getting work done on our laptops. Should be an exhilarating couple of days.

For those who want all the gritty details ... We arrived at 8am on Monday packed and ready for 3 days of hospital. Our cardiologist told us to see her first and then she would walk us over to our hospital room. We waited until 10am until we finally saw the doctor. While it was a long wait (we ran out of diapers!), it was our best visit with her yet. She fully explained the WPW condition to us including worse case scenarios. It was good to know that no matter how "bad" she might look during one of these SVT (rapid heart beat) episodes she's not gonna die :) Her body and her heart can handle all of this ... we're just lucky enough to have actually caught it and diagnosed it at such a young age. The concern is that the meds she has been taking aren't effective since she keeps having SVT episodes about every 10 days. This new drug (flecainide) is supposed to be much more effective, but can be a little more rough on the body. If Eva was going to have an adverse reaction, she would have it within 3 days, which is why we have to stay here while they monitor her. We are also being placed under the care of a new doctor who specializes in electrical issues related to the heart. Apparently he's a world renowned doctor, so we're lucky to have his support.

Once she left, we sat for another hour waiting for the hospital room. Still with a dirty diaper, but Eva was as happy as could be. She hasn't had a crying fit the entire day, which is pretty crazy for her! She has been smiling and giggling and kicking. She is learning to roll over, so she keeps squirming and making loud noises. She has been really fun to watch.

By 11am they finally checked us into a room. The resident doctor is the same one who has been on call during each of our visits. He's from Israel and as Jewish as can be. For some reason he has taken a liking to Corrie and I ... I think it's because I'm a pastor and she's an attorney. He'll often stick around just to talk about faith. He's going to bring in a cross that he laid on top of the tomb where Jesus was supposedly buried. Should be fun to see.

All this to say, we feel Eva is being very well taken care of.

The only bad news is that we probably won't get discharged until Thursday morning. This will make for one long week. We can't have any visitors, but some friends from our church (Flood) have organized people to bring us lunch and dinner for the next several days. Both of our jobs have been very understanding. Corrie will work from her laptop all week. I'm going to make all my regular appointments, but will spend most of my time here as well.

Through this we have learned that community is essential for survival. We could not make it through all this without your love and support and the incredible encouragement and blessing of our church. Hopefully this new drug will do what it should do and we won't find ourselves back here again. They still say that her condition isn't any worse than anyone else ... we just happen to be good at catching the SVT. 80% of kids grow out of it in the year ... hopefully that will be Eva. If not, it still isn't life threatening and most likely not life altering ... just something we'll have to track as she grows up.

Hopefully you can all breathe a big sigh of relief. I know we have.

Love,

Adam, Corrie & Eva

ps. Thanks Uncle Sam! I love my new mobile!!