Sunday Morning David Update

David and I are both overwhelmed with gratitude. When I spoke with him on the phone last night he said how much he desired to be able to say thank you to EVERYONE who is helping us, whether it be by supportive comments, prayers, good wishes, visits, meals, help around our home, colleagues filling the gap for him at work, the support of my colleagues and administrators and professors, offers to be available to help in a variety of ways, and every other way in which we are being blessed and upheld.

Sometimes in life in general it is easy to be cynical with what we hear on the news or other things we may see. For us right now it is impossible to be cynical. We are being prayed for and thought of and wished well from nearby and all around the world. There are well wishes sent as comments to this blog from people nearby and far away - not only across the US but as far away as Norway, Australia, and Singapore. They are coming from people we interact with everyday and from people we have not seen in years and from people we (or I) have not met or from my two friends that I've "met" virtually but have never seen. It feels like the whole world is rallying behind us in so many ways, well-wishes, prayers and practical help (food, laundry, shopping, transportation, etc.). This is the kind of stuff that should be on the news - not just all the sad stories of violence and cruelty.

THANK YOU!

We did see the cardiologist yesterday. He let us know that he wants David to go to UCSF for further testing. We are pleased with how thorough Dr. Pohwani is being. He told us (as best I can re-express it) that there is something else going on with David's heart that the hole does not explain and that he is not able to figure out - something about "communication" from the left atrium to the left ventricle (?), that there may be another defect between the atria that he has been unable to detect, that something is "wrong" (I have no idea what that means) with the blood in the right ventrical. I'm sure I, as a non-medical person, have just made a mess of what he said, but that is what remains in my mind of that conversation.

So, once we are able to get the appointment we are off to the Bay Area. Then all the pictures will be sent to the cardiac surgeon in Sacramento in order that decisions can be made about surgery.
Dr. Pohwani continues to tell us how lucky we are. He repeated yesterday that another stroke would be fatal but that the Coumadin would keep that from happening. He also said that, although a stroke is not a good thing to have and takes time to recover from that David was very lucky to have had this stroke, that at this point it is possible to correct what is wrong with his heart. Had he not had the stroke the right side of his heart would have continued to grow and cause a "big problem" later (also not sure what he means by "big problem" - and didn't ask; this one's big enough for me!). He said that if the right side of David's heart had continued to grow undetected this would be irreperable. Because of his stroke it was caught in time to fix it.

So even the difficult things (like his stroke) are things to be thankful for!!