Prayers Answered!

Ryan made it out of the procedure safely!

Everything went smoothly and Ryan is recovering.

What an amazing answer to prayer!!!!!

Thank you for rallying with us and praying on our behalf!

More later...

Keep praying

Thanks for everyones prayers it means so much to us.
We landed in boston Sunday night. Monday we spent 12 hours straight at the hospital where Ryan had blood tests, EKG, echocardiogram, stress test and MRI. Today Ryan was taken in for the procedure about noon boston time. Currently Ryan is under general anesthesia. The nurse just notified me that everything is going well so far. They are just about to start putting in the valve. Laura and I will update the blog as much ad we can with details.
Love, Kendra

PRAYERS!

Ryan just went in for the procedure.

There was a bit of a delay while Kendra and Ryan waited to speak with the doctor for the final consent.

We covet your prayers!!!!

The procedure should last 3-4 hours.

We will update as we know more...

I (Laura) am writing for Kendra right now but she will try to update later...

An Answer to Prayer!

Everyone's prayers have truly been answered! Our insurance company has approved Ryan for the procedure to replace his valve in Boston after our third appeal. The meeting in front of the board went well and we had some wonderful physicians that helped advocate for Ryan. This means no open heart surgery, for now! Although this is still a serious procedure with it's own inherent risks, it is much less invasive for Ryan (just going through the groin vessels to reach the heart).

Ryan and I will be flying out together on Sunday August 2nd, on Monday the 3rd Ryan will get all of his preliminary studies (CT scans, treadmill testing, echocardiogram etc.), then on Tuesday the 4th if all goes well he will undergo the procedure. They will replace the valve and possibly try to open up the occluded vessel in his heart (the right coronary artery). We are told he should only have to stay one night in the hospital if there are no other complications. Then we will stay one extra day in Boston just in case, returning home on the 6th.

The procedure is now our major prayer request. There are rare serious complications that could occur. The most worrisome being the valve itself migrating which would require immediate open heart surgery to retrieve it, a serious arrhythmia (irregular heart rhythm), problems with blood flow to the heart during the procedure (especially with his current blocked artery), injury to the surrounding structures etc.

So we ask for your continued prayers for Ryan's ultimate safety during the procedure, guidance for the doctors involved, and that the procedure will truly buy us a good deal of time before we may need to consider another valve replacement and make Ryan feel much better.

We can't thank you enough for all of your thoughts and prayers for us during this time. We are so blessed.

Love, Ryan and Kendra

Update

Here is the update on Ryan.
We need your prayers!

We are now scheduled for our 3rd appeal with Kaiser to approve the much less invasive procedure to replace Ryan's heart valve in Boston. By a miracle only we were able to get into the July 15th appeal meeting in front of the board. We were also very lucky to have a cardiologist offer to come to the meeting with us, and our other specialists involved will teleconference in. This is pretty much our last chance to get the procedure approved. If the answer is no, we will be running into some major road blocks. Pray that Kaiser will give us the approval we need to proceed with this procedure. This carries significantly lower risk than an open heart surgery. We will keep you updated. Thanks everyone! I posted a few more pictures of the little guy below.

Love,
Ryan, Kendra and Sawyer

Moving Day

It's Been a While

Gosh it has been a really long time since I have posted any messages or pictures. Sorry! Unfortunately our lives have been extremely hectic and chaotic the last few months.

We had a lot on our plate with Ryan's planned upcoming heart surgery, and as most of you know we actually cancelled the surgery 3 days before he was scheduled to proceed. I am sure no one ever feels at peace about an open heart surgery, but we REALLY did not feel at peace with everything. At the last minute we had very detailed discussions with both Ryan's cardiologist and his surgeon and we all came to the conclusion that we were rushing into an open heart surgery that possibly could be avoided at this time.

I called the cardiologist a few days before the planned surgery and told him about all of our hesitations and he said, "I have actually been thinking about Ryan a lot, and I think he may still be a candidate for that experimental procedure in Boston". This is a procedure we had considered earlier in the year but after finding a blocked artery on Ryan's heart catheterization (blocked from scar tissue from prior surgeries) we thought open heart surgery was the only option.

Turns out it seems that Ryan's blocked artery is really a chronic thing that he has lived with for probably close to 10 years (since his last surgery). It was difficult to tease out which was causing his symptoms the valve, or the artery. We all figured we needed to try to isolate one (the valve) and if he was still having symptoms then could consider doing something about the artery (with a bypass procedure via open heart).

So long story short as I am now rambling.....we started on the road to try to see if Ryan could have this procedure in Boston. This is a procedure where they replace his valve by a catheterization (meaning going through his femoral vein in the groin and feeding a catheter up to the heart). There was also some talk that they may be able to stent the blocked artery at that time as well.

So at long last, we just heard word that Ryan is accepted into the study. We are on the schedule for August 4th. We will be going out one day ahead of time to do a bunch of testing (echocardiogram, treadmill, CAT scans etc.) They are hoping he will just be in the hospital overnight after the procedure and could potentially head home the following day. We will probably stay one extra day in Boston just in case to keep an eye on him, then fly home.

Now the catch....we have to get our insurance to pay for this. Since this is an experimental procedure insurance does not usually pay. However our cardiologist has had a few patients that were initially denied by their insurance, but then finally approved. So we are in that process right now.

Prayers! We need prayer that our insurance company will approve the procedure. Then if we can get over that hurdle prayers that the procedure will go very well, hopefully buying Ryan a lot of time before he needs to undergo another open heart surgery.

Already our hearts feel much more at ease with all of this. Everything could still not pan out and Ryan may eventually need the open heart surgery, but at least we feel at peace knowing we tried all other options before that.

So there is the update! Sorry for the delay, we have been so incredibly overwhelmed. I am finishing the last few weeks of my residency, Ryan is finishing his current job, finished school and is looking for a new job, we are moving to Colorado Springs on June 28th, I have my final board exam in internal medicine at the end of August, going to Boston the beginining of August for Ryan's procedure, and starting my new job in September as a physician for Colorado Springs Health Partners...pheww!! All that with a little guy in tow, that is now almost 17 months old! He is the one that gives us the most motivation to keep going and means everything to us. We are truly truly blessed.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I will try to stay in touch!

Love, Ryan, Kendra and Sawyer

Our little guy gets cuter every day!
















This was at the Children's Museum.

Hi everyone. Well as many of you know I am very bad at this whole blogging thing. Sorry for the delay in pictures and updates.

I have finally figured out how to add Cora's link to my blog site. I know many of you learned about her heart wrenching story through Laura's link (The Moffats).

I know it is severely late, but better late then never. Cora has touched our lives beyond belief, as it has thousands of people. If you haven't had a chance to look at the link please do. We continue to pray for Jessica and Joel every day, and our heart goes out to them. God truly chose two beautiful people to care for his precious angel in the small time that she had on this earth. Her little life has touched so many. We hold each other closer than ever these days.

Our newest difficult news is that Ryan needs to go in for another open heart surgery, which you also may have read on Laura's site (My sister is the ultimate blogger!) This will be open heart surgery number 4. It will be in April or May, and I will try to keep everyone updated through this site. We are pretty upset over this upcoming trial, but ultimately trust God that he will bring Ryan through this with as little pain as possible. We continue to count our many blessings though, as God provides everything we could ever need.

Look Who's Walking!!

Sawyer had been taking 1 to 2 steps here and there but he officially made the jaunt and truly walked on New Year's Day 1-1-09. He was just 11 months old! Mom had the pleasure of taking the New Year's Day shift at the hospital and when she came home from a long day guess who walked right into her arms!! What a great start to the New Year.

Cute Pics Poor Broncos

A Few Christmas Pics

Well Christmas was fun but kind of crazy with an 11 month old! So we got very few pictures! Here are some though. Sawyer got this big stuffed dog from Aunt Laura and Uncle Michael that he loved. He was enamored with cousin Hunter's Elmo. He also got a fun activity center from nana and papa. Dad and mom got him a few trucks and big boy toys since he mostly had baby toys. Really wrapping paper and boxes went off as the biggest hit though!