The Day we have known about since March 15th - Part I

 

Back in the spring, on Kari's second ultrasound (20 weeks) we found out that Carsten had what was described as hole in his heart.  Further doctors appointments, ultrasounds, and ecco cardiograms revealed that surgery would be required to fix a complete A/V canal heart defect.  So yesterday, Carsten had surgery to fully separate the four chambers of his heart.  Amazingly, the cardio thoracic surgeon (I love saying that title.  What do you do, sir?  I am a cardio thoracic surgeon.  Wow!) placed this piece of cloth into the center of his heart and sowed the heart around it.  The actual surgery took two hours but with pre and post operation time, the total time was six hours.

During that time, we waited in a private family room where a nurse would come hourly to brief us on the progress.  There was a tremendous amount of tension in the room and in our bodies when the nurse would knock on the door and subsequently come in to tell us where the operating team was in the process. 

Frankly, there are few days in all of our lives that we can and will never forget.  We remember those days containing both good and bad events.  Days with events that shape you, change you, mold you.  Yesterday was one of those days for Kari and me.  Fortunately, it was a day with a good ending.

Honestly, it is surreal to look back on it.  We are both extremely overjoyed with the results and yet feel a sense of guilt as we think of people that we know that have experienced similar difficult situations  with not so happy results.

Kari and I believe God is faithful to us regardless of the situation.  And knowing that we haven't experienced what our friends have experienced, we believe that God was faithful to our friends despite the fact that their outcomes were not happy.  2 Timothy 2.13 says that "if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself." (ESV) Also, Lamentations 3.22-23 state "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;* his mercies never come to an end; they are new *every morning; *great is your faithfulness." (ESV)

I think of Horatio G. Spafford who wrote a hymn, "It is Well With My Soul", during an event of extreme loss where he lost his four daughters simultaneously.  The previous link provides further background on the hymn and the story behind it.  It is well worth the read.

I say these things to impart we are extremely pleased and thankful...overwhelmed with joy because of the success of the surgery.  And at the same time, we want to be thankful and joyous, despite the outcome of the surgery.

We are blessed and I don't want to take it for granted nor forget it.  More on Carsten in Part II.