Archive of Daily Messages October 30, 2000 Abbie had her chest cavity closed this morning. It was left open after the surgery because the swelling of her chest would have made it more difficultfor her heart to beat. She came through the procedure fine. She will be waking up from her sleep (she's been out since the original surgery on Wednesday) in the next 24-30 hours. November 3, 2000 Abbie is still doing great. Mom and dad are the ones who are having a hard time. Abbie was supposed to come off the respirator this morning, but because of an infection, her airways have swollen up. Therefore she needs more medications and will hopefully be off tomorrow. The hard part is that we keep hearing that she will be coming off the breathing machine (tomorrow) for the past 3 days. So please pray that she will come off the machine tomorrow for real! We are dying to hold her!! November 6, 2000 This morning Amy and I (Jason) were hoping one more time for the respirator to finally come off. Again, there is another problem. Now, she has too much fluid in her right lung. One time it was because she was not stable enough, one time it was because her airways were swollen, and one time it was just because it was Sunday. The hospital does very little on Sunday. Please continue to pray for her to be well enough to get her off the respirator. The good news is that she opens her eyes quite a bit. It is such a joy to just look into her eyes and comfort her as she looks at us with the face that says, "What in the world is going on!" Tuesday Nov. 7 Abbie was taken off the respirator today (finally)! Jason and Amy are ecstatic. They still cannot pick her up yet. The doctors want Abbie to be a little more stable at first. It will be an adjustment for her to be breathing on her own. Please continue to pray. This is another critical 24-48 hours. November 8, 2000 Things were going good yesterday, but in the middle of the night we got a phone call letting us know that they need to put Abbie back on the respirator. This was something the doctors did not want to do, unless they absolutely had to. We are having a difficult time with the longevity of this whole situation and to see set-backs just drains us of the small amount of energy we have. Please pray for Abbie's strength to be able to breath on her own. And pray for us that we can continue to find strength in the Lord. Thank you. November 11, 2000 On Saturday, Amy was holding Abbie when she felt something wet in the back of Abbie's neck. As she pulled her hand out, she saw that her whole hand was bloody. Amy then lifted up Abbie and saw her blanket was full of blood. Of course she yelled for a nurse and frantic activity took place. When all was said and done, we learned that the arterial line fell out of her and blood just started spurting out. Through it all Abbie did just fine while mommy did a momentary freak out! We are very thankful all this is going well,Please continue to pray for us! Thank you. Jason November 14, 2000 Abbie has graduated from ICU!!! We are so excited to see her doing so well. We are now moving from Pediatric ICU to the infant unit. The nurse said last night, "It's like staying in a hotel." I say, "Ya, right." I'm suggesting we skip the "room service" and order out for pizza! This sure is a change of events from a couple days ago. November 20, 2000 Excellent news! Abbie is now home! Praise God. She is one month old today and is doing well. The doctors continue to remind us that she is very fragile and still sick. We also were told that she has a small leak in a valve in her heart. If this leak continues to get bigger, we will have a serious problem on our hands. The second surgery will alleviate that problem. The problem is... we need to make it to the second surgery, which is in 4-6 months. Please pray for a good 4 or so months! Thanks everyone. December 12, 2000 For those who have been faithfully checking this site, we appologize for not keeping it updated. Here is the latest. Abbie is having a difficult time eating. Her feeding tube (that goes through her nose may be a factor.) Therefore the doctors are planning to put a tube directly into her stomach. They will be doing the procedure this Friday at 3:00. Please pray the procedure goes well and that it will resolve the eating problem. As for other things. We met with Dr. King and he has told us that the leak in her heart is better than before, but he is very concerned about the right ventricle. It may get more and more difficult for the right side of heart to keep up because of the weakness. He hopes the next surgery will help fix that. I'll update more on Friday - after the G-tube procedure. December 15, 2000 The G-tube procedure went very well today. They were not sure if they would have to go in surgically with the tube. Praisefully, they could just put the tube through her mouth and out an incision. She didn't need to stay on the respirator for long, and was soon moved up to the infant ward. Amy is now with her. They will spend the night and be released tomorrow... as long as everything goes well. Hopefully she will have an easier time eating and will keep her food down. Goodnight for now. December 12, 2000 Abbie seems to be in a little pain... righly so. While in the hospital she was given lots of fluids. So now she is a little on the puffy side. Hopefully that fluid will drain away and she will feel back to normal soon. So far she has not thrown up her food like she had before. We hope the removal of the GI tube solved that problem. December 18, 2000 The new feeding tube seems to be a success. She only threw up breakfast. Bofore she was throwing up almost every meal. We are pretty sure she is still in a little pain. I guess we came to that conclusion cause, if we we had our tummy sliced open -- and a tube shoved in it, well, we would be pretty uncomfortable for a few days too... wouldn't you? Thanks again for your prayers. December 27, 2000 We had a wonderful Christmas. Abbie got more presents then both her mom and dad combined. Abbie thanks all those who gave to her this year. One cool thing is that her uncle and aunt and cousins from Puyallup came down for Christmas... and her grandma and grandpa Thompson came up from Fresno for a few days. As for health news... Abbie is doing well but Amy is going to need surgery for her gall bladder. I joke that I'm next... Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! God bless. December 29, 2000 Amy had surgery today.. Yes, you read right, Amy... not Abbie. The surgery was to remove her infected gall bladder. The operation went good and she is recovering as of this afternoon. A good friend from church, Debbie Smouse, was so kind to come to our house and take care of Abbie all day. Now, Grandma Thompson is taking over, and I'm heading back to take care of my drugged up wife :) This is an amazing year. Everyone is hoping 2001 is a little less eventful. That sure would be nice. By the way, Abbie is doing good. She gained 2 more ounces this past week. Thanks for your prayers. -Jason January 7, 2001 After 3 days of listening to Abbie scream without reason, we were advised to take her to the ER to be checked up on. They gave her an X-ray, blood tests and examined her and found nothing. The best thing about the 3 and 1/2 hour visit was just to know that everything (heart related) is good. So, after we left the ER, Abbie goes back to normal. She is talking and eating good. We hope and pray that will stay that way! Amy is also doing better from her surgery and I'm just going with the flow! Abbie's next surgery is right around the corner... we will keep you posted when we know the date. January 10, 2001 Very bad news today. We took Abbie in to Dr. King for a check up and was informed of some serious problems. Abbie's right ventricle (which has been a problem since day one.) has deteriorated. Along with that, the arch that was put in at the Norwood stage, has shrunk, which is limiting blood flow and in-turn causes the right ventricle to work even harder than before. Dr. King said that the only way to fix this problem is to insert a balloon into that arch to help with blood flow. They scheduled the surgery for this Friday morning... 10 a.m. Dr. King informed us also that this is a risky procedure and has resulted in death. Please pray for Abbie on Friday and though the infamous 24-48 hours after the surgery. Please pray also for Amy and myself, that we keep our focus on the eternal perspective. Thank you. January 11, 2001 Received a phone call from Dr. King's letting us know that there is a small change in the plan. They will be making a new incision and will go in and surgically fix the archway. This is different than the balloon method. They've rescheduled the surgery for noon instead of 10 a.m. We'll keep this posted. January 12, 2001: Praise God! Abbie's surgery went very well. They had a difficult time putting in her artillery line, so they had to make an incision in her arm for good blood flow. The surgery went a little longer than expected because of scar tissue, but they were intent on taking their time. When it was all over the doctor said that her stats are better now (even in recovery) than before she went into surgery. Please continue to pray for Abbie during these (still crucial) 48 hours. Thank you, and again praise God! January 13, 2001 We called in this morning and Abbie is still stable. The only major change is that she gained 2 pounds over night... all swelling of course. Hopefully over the next couple days and with lasix and dialyses, she will begin to loose that unsightly bloating. Abbie is looking much better. Her color is pink! The above pictures are current as of today. The doctor on the left is the surgeon. January 14, 2001 Abbie stayed stable all day. She is still a bit puffy, but they hope to take her off the ventilator tomorrow morning. She is kept sedated, but at times it wears off and she lets everyone know that... she DOES NOT like that tube down her throat. We hope to have a picture of her in Amy's arms on the 15th. Hopefully, we will have that picture. Goodnight! January 15, 2001 Abbie is off the ventilator, but is not doing as good as we would like. Her left lung collapsed, her heart rate sped up, her breathing became more difficult, her oxygen saturation dropped, and she has a temperature of 103. They gave her medication and extra oxygen and now we are just waiting it out. I'm tired. It's now 12 AM, Amy and I just got home. While we were there in the hospital, her oxygen saturation got extremely low, everyone came rushing in. Abbie turned blue and they had to bag her (for extra breaths). Amy and I thought we were going to lose her (AGAIN). They called Dr. King who told them to not bag her, but to put her back on the ventilator... which they did. They took another x-ray and found that the lung that collapsed is ok, but the other lung (the left side) was completely collapsed. Dr. King came to the hospital to stabilize her. (We are so grateful for him) They gave her a paralyzing medicine and will wait to see if her lungs will inflate again. As of now she is stable, but we promised the nurse we would be calling at least 4 times tonight. She's a fighter. There's no denying that. I praise God for another day with her. January 16 (Almost Midnight), 2001 Abbie is still doing stable. No big changes. The sad part of the day was a baby who was brought in by life flight. She had a bacterial infection that was eating her from the inside out. They did everything they could, but lost her. It was a very sad ICU. Please say a short prayer for all the nurses. It was very difficult for them and for us. Please also pray for Abbie to get her lungs back to full capacity and to get off the respirator. January 16, 2001 All is stable today. They had to give her medication to keep her calm, but right now, things look good. Prayer and works surely work very nicely hand in hand. I'll keep you posted! January 17, 2001 Stable as she goes. All the doctors and nurses say the same thing, "Abbie is running this show." We just wait. Tomorrow morning if her lungs are not back to normal, they will run a fiber optic camera into her lungs and find the secretions. I keep thinking... this is a heart problem NOT a lung problem.. Jeez! Pray for the best for tomorrow. I'll try to change the pictures above tomorrow sometime. Thanks. January 18, 2001 Who feels like this is going on and on and on??? Well I, for one, do! Anyway, you may be thinking I am having a nervous breakdown... and you may be right. As for other news, Abbie was tested for different viruses today... but everything is checking out ok.. Her lungs still need improvement. I pray this happens quickly as she doesn't have much time until the NEXT surgery.   My poor little girl   Thank you everyone for keeping posted to this site. With all of you joining us everyday, we don't feel alone! Have a good Friday everyone! January 19, 2001 Abbie is still stable. Her lungs are still in need of improvement. Please pray for healing of her lungs so we can move on to the next step. The above picture is of Amy, Abbie, and Marla. Although all the nurses are incredible, Marla is Abbie's favorite. I truly hope and pray to bring news of lung healing in the next couple days. I am so thankful God is in control, cause I'm not. January 20, 2001 Abbie's 3 month birthday! Three surgeries in three months. She's a fighter! Abbie is doing great today. She thinks she's ready to get off the ventilator, but Dr. King thinks Monday may be good. She needs just a little more lung healing - otherwise her stats are looking really good. Mom is dying to hold her… and dad is on the upswing. Please keep praying for her recovery, we don't need any more issues right now! Thanks - The Thompsons January 21, 2001  Abbie is doing really good tonight. She still has a little more secretions in her lungs, but for the most part everything looks good. At 3 a.m. they are going to put her on volume support - meaning the breathing tube will still be in her, but she does all the breathing on her own. If everything goes well with volume support, they will take out the ventilator tomorrow morning. This is a big prayer day. She needs to do well once it is removed. Many times they can not tell right away if the babies are strong enough to handle it. Sometimes it takes a full day to know. Pray for good stats and healthy lungs. Please. I hope to update tomorrow afternoon. God bless. January 22, 2001   Bummer. Abbie had a hard time on volume support last night. Dr. King wants to wait another day. I have the Little Orphan Annie tune stuck in my head, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, it's always tomorrow, it's always a day away." We are both happy, however, that Dr. King is being very careful. He doesn't want any set backs when they take her off the ventilator. Please pray for a victorious day "tomorrow." Thank you. January 23, 2001   Praise God! Abbie is off the ventilator. She is now on the funny looking mask that looks like a synchronized swimmer. But it's a step down from the breathing tube. (I'll take a picture when that breathing apparatus comes off, but for now...I'll put up an oldie... but a goodie.) Other great news is that Dr. King did an Echo this morning. He said that the right ventricle is looking much better. That's a first since birth! We have an awesome God! January 24, 2001   Abbie is still doing well. Finally, after 11 days, Abigail gets to be held again! Mom's pretty happy too. She is no longer on the breathing machine pictured above. Please pray for a good day off that machine. Pray also as she is withdrawing from the drugs she's been on over the last week. I'll update later tonight. January 25, 2001   Everything is looking good with Abbie. Nicole, Abbie's nurse was looking forward to a night with Abbie. Since Abbie is now awake and still going through withdrawals, it's good that there is someone to hold her and comfort her. Unfortunately, there was a new patient admitted to the ICU at the last moment that needed Nicole's attention. So Amy decided to spend the night with Abbie. The great news is that Abbie should be leaving the ICU today! This means she will be going to the "floor" which are the rooms outside the ICU, the next big step to going home. Please pray for Abbie as she withdrawals off the drugs she's been on. It's hard to see her sweating and erratically shaking her arms. Hopefully it won't last long. Thanks everyone for your prayers... Abbie continues to be an ongoing miracle! January 26, 2001   As of today we don't know when we are living… Dr. King is going to give an RSV shot, which is for a vaccine of a very serious virus going around. Each shot is $1000! She'll need several shots. She is still going through withdrawals, but doing ok. Next week, Abbie will be seeing a physical therapist to make sure all the limbs are working well and the speech therapist to see about her eating ability. We will now be giving Abbie both Mircolipids and Human Milk Fortifier. These are both for helping add calories. Using both these products will cost about $200 a week. This is NOT an insurance item unless we can get it prescribed by a doctor. Please, please pray we can get it covered under our insurance! Thanks!! (I'll try to get you all a new picture soon!) January 27, 2001   Yeah!! Abbie is now home!! Dr. King discharged her this morning with the following report... Her right side of the heart is much better, her breathing is a little difficult because of continued withdrawal, and her liver is smaller (which is good). Dr. King is now thinking the second part of the Norwood will be 2-3 months from now, which is right on track for a "normal" Norwood!    Abbie is still going through withdrawals. The biggest side effect is that she does not sleep. I stayed with her last night and we were literally up all night, bright eyed! (Not me, her.) We have been given some drugs to help her sleep, so we are hoping for a good night tonight. We are so very happy we are home. Thanks for all your prayers and love through this last episode. I will update throughout the week. Please click the above link for a new signup e-mail list. If I can collect all your e-mails... I will update you to when the site will need daily updates. (That way you don't need to check the site every day for the next 3 months!) Of course you're always welcome, anytime! I'll keep putting photos and updates for anyone interested. Thanks again! God bless each and every one of you. Jason, Amy, and Abigail. January 30, 2001 Special Thanks!   Amy and I cannot extend our gratitude enough for all the gifts, meals, prayers, money, and love that has been freely given to us. Grandma and Grandpa's - THANK YOU! For all those in the church that have brought us meals, THANK YOU! For the countless people who have been praying for Abbie's healing - THANK YOU! We also would like to extend a special thank you to Karen from Chicago. We thank you for your very special gift to help with Abbie's expenses. We are truly blessed. We pray God will bless each one of you 10 fold! February 2, 2001: Abbie Videos!!   Every dad wants to show off his little girl, but I'm blessed enough to have access to all you. I made a couple of videos of when Abbie was in the hospital and first came home. If you would like to check them out click the movie box.    News: Abbie saw the doctor today. - She now weighs 8 lb 9 ounces. NOT Bad for three surgeries...but she needs to keep getting bigger! She has two new teeth coming in - which causes some discomfort. (I imagine, as I don't remember.) Things are going good at home. Except for the new teeth and some continued sweating, she is doing really well. Again, I hope you check out the videos! More to come! Return to Abbie's Homepage