We have not brought Grady up here to see Henry. We are afraid it would just upset him to see all of the cords and to see Henry in the hospital. He asks about Henry all the time though...he says, "I want Henry at Mommy's house" and "see Henry." (Grady has always called our home Mommy's house because, clearly, it is Mommy's house and daddy just comes to eat in the evenings and stay the weekend;) ) So I showed him this picture the other night.
He looked at it, and could tell something wasn't quite right. After a few seconds he said, "Mommy, Henry's got mustard on his face." And we said, "He sure does. And he misses you so much!" Sweet boy. We are thankful for his naivete and innocence. We are now considering bringing him up to see Henry so please pray that we are wise about that decision.
We are also so thankful for Henry's health. I look around the ICU and see all of the hurt and heartache of so many families. John pointed out the tough realization that hurt and pain never stop...our world is broken, and that is why things like this happen. We are thankful that Henry seems happy and unbothered by his circumstances. He is alert and awake, no breathing tube or sedation. That makes it so much easier to be up here day in and day out...his sweet smile is so contagious. The doctors continue to remind us what a good thing this is...that hopefully his clinical health is an indicator of what is going on inside...healing.
The echo they did yesterday afternoon was the same as it has been. The doctors weren't too surprised by this. They have increased some of his medications and will wait another week to check again. The reason behind this decision is that they are going to treat Henry as they would another kid with a heart like his, instead of treating him based on his clinical appearance. Everyone handles sickness differently and Henry is apparently handling it well, better than his heart shows. It was a discouraging day yesterday...we were just so hoping that there would have been improvement, and that we would maybe start weening him of the medication instead of upping it. The cardiologist here over the weekend made us believe that this could be a shorter healing than what we had originally anticipated, but I'm not sure that is the case now. Dilated Cardiomyopathy is so difficult because there aren't many concrete answers...there is no surgery or specific treatment that will fix it...it is trial and error and lots of patience.
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-7
Meg and John
