A VERY Merry Christmas in 2007!

December 15th marked the one year anniversary that Hannah was diagnosed with her heart condition and entered the hospital. Her first Christmas in 2006 was spent in a hospital bed on a ventilator, and the possibility of a heart transplant loomed overhead. If only we could have peered into the future then and seen where she would be just one year later. What a joy it was to spend the holidays at home this year! A normal Christmas with a decorated tree, presents, family, and lots of food, but best of all was a happy little Hannah right in the middle of everything. That was definitely the best gift we received. It was impossible to ignore the thoughts of the many children spending the holidays in the hospital, and we will always remember them and their families in our prayers at Christmas time. The “miracle” of Christmas has a whole new meaning for us, for each year we will celebrate the birth of our Savior as well as the miracle of Hannah’s healing. We will never take the simple pleasures in life for granted. It is because of God’s grace and Jesus’s stripes that Hannah is where she is today. She has come so far in one year and we know she will continue to do so in 2008. In the new year we anticipate her coming off all medication in April and know that God will continue to have His hand on her during that transition. Thank you for continuing to check in on us and for remembering Hannah in your prayers. We are amazed by the multitudes that have been touched by her story and will continue to tell it to offer others hope. God DOES answer prayer and He DOES heal the sick. Hannah’s proof! Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Lori & Greg

Marvelous!

Last week Hannah had her appointment with her pediatrician. We were excited to find out that she now weighs 18 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces. That finally puts her on the chart for weight at the 5th percentile. So, she continues to be tiny! Her height is now 29″ which is in the 20-25th percentile. Her doctor was pleased, and we believe she is right where she needs to be. She eats a big lunch and supper every day, and also likes McDonald’s biscuits for breakfast. We are always trying to think of ways to add some calories because she is a picky eater and doesn’t like to try new things.

Today we had her check-up with her cardiologist. We were very anxious to go since it has been three whole months since her last visit. Hannah cried the majority of the time except during the end of the ultrasound. She does not like strangers of any sort, especially ones wearing scrubs! But they were able to do an EKG and take plenty of pictures in the ultrasound. Her doctor’s words were, “She looks marvelous!” Greg and I came expecting this news, so we weren’t surprised at all! But it was very reassuring to hear that her heart is absolutely perfect and has been for several months now. So the plan is to increase one med a tad bit since she’s gained a little weight and keep the other med the same. We don’t go back for six months (April) and at that time he will consider dropping a med to get her on single therapy. He wants to see six solid months of perfect function before trying to decrease meds. The other good news is that we don’t have to do bloodwork until that next appointment. That is our least favorite thing to do! So Praise God for another fantastic report. We truly believe He has completely healed Hannah’s heart and that one day she will be free of medication.

This weekend we will be taking Hannah to the 1st annual LPCF family picnic. This will be a wonderful opportunity to meet families with children that have heart conditions. We can’t wait to share the story of Hannah’s miracle to encourage others. We promise to post pictures!

New photos!

Check out the latest pictures of Hannah in the photos section. We finally got around to loading them onto the computer! Please keep us in your prayers during the next week. We have her check-up with her pediatrician this Thursday and will see her cardiologist next Thursday. We haven’t been to a doctor in 3 months, but we are believing that her heart is still doing fine. In fact, we are hoping we can get her off one of her meds.

This past Sunday, our pastor mentioned Hannah in church! He was speaking about how God still performs miracles today and briefly told Hannah’s story. It is awesome that God is still using her story, almost a year later, to touch so many lives. She IS a miracle and we will never, ever forget what God has done for us. Everyday with Hannah is a gift that we will never take for granted. We are blessed to have experienced God’s intervention so closely. Through Him, ALL things are possible!

Update – 8/26/2007

Wow, we are so amazed at the number of people who are still praying for Hannah!  The recent updates regarding signs posted in Texas simply blew us away.  We have no idea who put them up, but thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is rallying prayer for our little girl!  These signs are the beginning of Hannah’s powerful testimony that God is still scripting, telling the world that He is still in the miracle business!

According to her cardiologist, Hannah looks marvelous!  Her last checkup was in the beginning of this month, and he told us to come back in late October for our next appointment!  Three whole months without seeing a doctor, WOW!!!  We are so thankful that she has been able to gain (and sustain) weight.  A month ago, she was still “off the charts”, but she is eating like a piglet and steadily gaining weight.  Two weeks ago she weighed 17 lbs 2 oz, and according to our scale at home, she now weighs close to 18 lbs!  But the BIGGEST news is that SHE IS WALKING!!!  It’s so funny to see this little bitty girl just stand up and take off!  She really looks too little to be walking.  It’s by far the cutest thing we’ve ever seen!  Our cardiologist told us that the average age for heart babies to begin walking is around 15 months, so she even beat that estimate by two months!

Since Hannah is on chronic Amiodarone medication, there is a risk of corneal deposits.  We took her to see a pediatric opthamologist, and at this point her eyes look completely normal!  We will follow up in January for more tests.

It has been so wonderful to live completely normal lives for the past 4 months — no hospital visits, and completely normal doctor visits.  So we continue to pray every single day that her arrhythmia will go away completely on its own.  January will be the big test, when her cardiologist will start to wean her from the Amiodarone.  Since the half life of Amiodarone is 90 days, it will take a few months for her body to completely metabolize the medication she’s already received, so we probably won’t know anything certain until closer to April.  In the interim, I’m sure there will be MANY holter monitors and EKG’s to make sure nothing is going wrong.

Again, we want to thank everyone for the continued prayers, website visits and guest book entries.  We apologize for not updating in so long.  It’s been really incredible spending normal, quality time with our little miracle.  Updated pictures are coming soon, we promise!!!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

Happy 1st Birthday, Hannah!!!!!

Our little Hannah turned one year old this Thursday, July 12th. What a special day it was to celebrate the miracle of her first year! We are so blessed by her continued health and normally functioning heart. Looking back over this past year, it is so evident how God has guided our steps, in good times and bad, to get Hannah to where she is today. He has answered so many of our prayers- that the doctors would be amazed (they are!), that she wouldn’t need a transplant (she didn’t!), that He would heal the heart He gave her (He is!), and that none of her heart problems would set her back developmentally (they haven’t!). We are so thankful for His faithfulness!

It was true joy to see Hannah playing with little friends and toys at her birthday party. For so long we couldn’t get her around people, now we don’t think twice about it. She’s still a little shy and gets overwhelmed at times by lots of people. (The nursery at church isn’t going well…) But we know over time she will get more comfortable in social settings. This Tuesday she has her one year check-up with her pediatrician, and we are very anxious to see what her weight is. She’s eating a lot more solids now, and it appears that she’s gotten a bit chunkier. We’re also going to see the nutritionist this week, so pray that we will get some good advice on how to get her weight up even more. But praise God that she is eating better!

Thank you all for continuing to check on Hannah! We are still believing that she will be totally off all medications one day and that her arrythmia will go away on its own. Keep the faith!

Update – 6/25/2007

Hannah’s heart is still doing wonderful! Last week she woke up a LOT every night, so we took her to her pediatrician and cardiologist just to make absoultely sure there was nothing wrong. They both assured us nothing was wrong and told us how awesome she looks and sounds! Her heart function continues to be perfectly normal, even though she’s off several meds, and her cardiologist even decreased her main heart med! The only slight concern was her weight, which was about 15 pounds 6 ounces. She’s off the chart now, so her pediatrician suggested we see a pediatric nutritionist to see if we can increase her caloric intake.We are very excited about this because Hannah is such a picky eater! She does great with her formula, but the only table foods she likes are Cheerios, toast, green beans, and chicken or turkey sticks. She loves fruit juice, but she will NOT eat fruit. So hopefully they will have some good ideas on how to get her to eat more. We also had to get some bloodwork done, and her results showed that everything was fine except two liver enzymes and one muscle enzyme were a little elevated. We’re waiting to hear from her cardiologist what he thinks about this. Hopefully it is normal considering the medication that she’s on. Lately Hannah has been sleeping much better at night, and we recently discovered another new tooth coming in, so that may explain the wakings last week. Continue to pray for no side effects from the meds and that her arrythmia will go away on its own.We are believing it will happen! God is faithful!

Update – 6/11/2007

Holter Monitor Results are in–

Completely normal rhythm! Not even a single abnormal beat! Wow!

We continue to stand amazed at the wonderful ways God has touched Hannah’s heart and our lives in the past few months.

The LPCF tennis tournament fundraiser was a HUGE success- we raised over $55,000 to help needy families of children suffering with heart disease or defects. Special thanks to Lori’s brother Brian for playing in the tournament, and our favorite sponsors, Funchess, Mills, White, & Co, and Orgain, Bell, & Tucker LLP. We are already looking forward to next year!

5/29/2007 – More awesome news!

MORE AWESOME NEWS TODAY!

Hannah had another ECHO today, and they measured her shortening fraction at 21% and 22%. She was really fussy and squirmy, so they weren’t able to do any more measurements. The cardiologist said it was MUCH better than that! Her mitral valve (which separates the left ventricle from the left atrium) is now fully closing with NO leakage! (Before, since her heart was so dilated, the leaflets of the mitral valve weren’t touching, so blood was recirculating between her left ventricle and left atrium.) Her heart literally looked brand new. I’ve never seen it contract so well! PRAISE GOD!!!

The cardiologist feels so good about her function that he’s beginning to wean her off of some of the heart failure and maintenance medications! This is another BIG answered prayer! She’s completely off of Digoxin and Aspirin, and her Carvedilol and Enalapril dosages have been changed to once a day instead of twice a day. In another three weeks, she will be completely off of the Carvedilol and Enalapril. They will have to do some blood work in a few weeks to make sure she’s not showing any signs of side-effects of the Amiodarone (the main anti-arrhythmia medication she’s on).

It’s becoming pretty clear that the AET is what caused all this in the first place. Her cardiologist feels like the next appointment in six weeks will show even more improvement in ventricular function, even with the reduced treatment. Hannah was sent home with a Holter monitor, just to make sure the Amiodarone is doing its job and controlling the arrhythmia.

As I look back at our journey over the past six months, it is so obvious that God has completely healed Hannah’s heart. She IS such an awesome testimony of the power of the God we serve, that He IS still in the miracle business!

Update – 5/28/2007

Hannah is still doing great!  We have another cardiologist appointment this Tuesday.  She’ll be taking home another Holter monitor, which she always hates, but it’s been a while since they’ve done one and they need to make sure that her arrhythmia is still being controlled by the medication.  We are expecting to hear another incredible report on Tuesday!  Of course, we’ll post an update as soon as we get home.

As a follow up to our last update, I am more convinced than ever that this arrhythmia (AET) caused all this in the first place.  Most of the cases of Dilated Cardiomyopathy I’ve read about that were caused by a viral infection resulted in a necessary heart transplant for the patient.  When we first arrived at Ochsner, everyone said that she needed a new heart, and that a transplant was almost inevitable.  I remember when Hannah was getting her heart cath, and they took those biopsies, how we prayed that it WAS a viral infection and not genetic.  Back then, we were unaware that she had an arrhythmia, and had no idea that an arrhythmia could cause Dilated Cardiomyopathy.  We were so shocked that the biopsy results came back negative for a viral infection, and almost disappointed because we had no idea what caused it.  God knew what He was doing!  In His perfect timing, everything has worked out and the pieces have fallen into place.  I asked Hannah’s cardiologist if he had looked at her EKG’s from Ochsner any more and if he saw any traces of AET.  He never noticed anything from those EKG’s.  I asked if the IV medications she was on back then could have been controlling the arrhythmia if it was present, and he replied that that is a definite possibility.

So for now, her medications will remain the same, and they will continue to monitor her heart for any signs of AET.  We are believing that they will see nothing but a PERFECT, SINUS RHYTHM.  After a while, they will begin to wean her from some of her other heart medications.  Eventually, we know that she won’t need to be on medication.  What a glorious day that will be!