Tuesday Morning Update (UPDATED)

I am posting from work today - my first day back. I was gapping out a bit in my teaching (for instance saying terms correctly but spelling them wrong - I just said to them, "Do as I say, not as I do!"), but it was good to be here and I think will help get to that "new normal" that we need to reach.

As well as the (angiogram) CT scan of the arteries around his heart today he will be having a heart catheterization tomorrow.

He saw his cardiologist this morning, and from what David told me I feel really good about this doctor. He was not the one who was supposed to have done the first test on his heart, but now that he has he has said to David, "I'm ON this one. I wasn't going to be, but since I did the first test I'm going to see it through." He expressed that he was "quite concerned" (and when I write that I mean it in a good way - that he is taking this very seriously and determined to get to the bottom of it). Apparently whatever is going on with David's heart is quite unusual and they just don't have a clear idea of what is happening, so he is just going to keep running tests until they do. We continue to be so thankful for the persistence of the doctors who have been working with David in trying to determine what is happening. (An update to this is that a friend who is a nurse came by this morning and said this was the cardiologist her husband had, and she said that he is really good and will pursue this all the way, so that encourages us even more.)

The cardiologist said that if heart surgery needs to be done it will happen in a couple of months and that David needs to regain strength before going through surgery.

Because of the hole in his heart the doctor asked him if he had ever been diagnosed with a heart murmur. David has not, and this doctor said he did not hear a murmur either and thought that was strange.

David rested very well last night. The headache is coming better and better under control, and he has learned some tricks from the PT and nurses about how to adjust his position in bed (e.g. to slip his right foot under his left leg in order to move it), so he is able to make himself more comfortable on his own, which is a tremendous blessing to him.

We appreciate your continued prayers so much. Right now our major focus is the desire that these tests will point to something conclusive and that whatever the case is that there will be able to be appropriate medical intervention that will fully correct it. On a less serious note, I would like to request prayer that I will have strength and wellness. I woke up this morning with a pretty bad sore throat - would really like that to go away so I can do what I need to do for my family and so that I don't pass anything on to David.