Celebrating All Things – Big & Small!

Our family is extremely excited to welcome our newest member, Emma Jayne Maguire, born August 15 at 7lbs 14oz, 20.5 inches. No. 1 and grand baby 1.2 are doing great. Mom (Kathy) was able to take a much-needed "break" and spent the last week with the Maguires in Virginia. 

Mom is heading home tonight and said she is ready to see daddy! Thank you to Elmo and #3 for holding down the fort last week while she was gone. 

Shortly after Daddy survived his stroke, therapists encouraged us to celebrate the small accomplishments  – even if it’s just toe movement. We are learning the truth in that statement and are excited to share some of those “wins”!

Daddy has started moving his right hand! Over the last few days we have seen him use his fingers to squeeze a ball or someone’s hand. We are excited to celebrate this win!

 

Next, daddy was apparently feeling adventurous this week and decided to forego the chairlift. He was able to make a successful trip up and back down the staircase unassisted. Daddy and daughters 2 & 3 were all quite impressed.

Thank you so much for all the prayers over these last few months. Here are some specific areas that could use bold prayers moving forward:

·      Daddy’s Heart – he’s operating off one of his three major arteries and his heart ejection rate is at 25% (normal range is 50% – 85%). Please pray that the medication he is on will strengthen the remaining artery and heart muscle and that his ejection rate will increase to at least 50%.

·      Speech - we continue to see small improvements. While his vocab is limited, Daddy is able to get his point across through small words and gestures. Prayers will be that his speech will come back instantaneously, we know he will have a lot to say!

·      Clean Eating – Lots of prayers here! I’m a firm believer that we can do what we can do, and God will do what only He can do. We can ensure Daddy eats clean so that his heart gets the nutrition it needs to get stronger.  So, the daughters are coordinating healthy meals. We’d love to give daddy some variety so please send your favorite healthy recipes toJessica.geras@lifechurch.tv. 

Daddy's next cardiology appointment is on September 8^th. We’ll keep you updated!

#2 

Fight the Good Fight

This morning Daddy had his heart catheter done to find out more information on what is going on with his heart. The test confirmed that he has had 2 heart attacks completely blocking 2 out of 3 of the major arteries in his heart. The Circumflex artery is the only functioning artery but it is a large artery and completely clear of any blockage. His ejection (blood being pumped out of the heart) is at about 25-35% right now (normal being 55-85% for his age). We were hoping that during the catheter they would be able to repair some of the blocked arteries by angioplasty (ballooning and stinting) but the Dr. T said they were damaged beyond repair and the angioplasty would have been pointless. Any type of open heart surgery at this point would be unsuccessful as well.

As far as the cause, Dr. T says the blocked arteries are from cholesterol. Between an unhealthy (I'd call it semi-unhealthy) diet and genetics. The blockage probably started a few years ago and has progressively gotten worse. Daddy has noticed a decrease in his energy (mostly while running) but blamed it on his blood pressure medicine and his age, so we had no reason to question the cause. That's why you have had decreased sightings of him running the streets of Nowata in the last couple of years.

The game plan from here is to up his dose of Carvedilol (beta blocker that makes the heart pump more effectively) to see if that will increase the ejection rate in his heart. In 3 months the doctors will reevaluate, and if the ejection rate hasn't increased then he will be eligible for a defibrillator. In a month he will have blood work done to check his cholesterol and possibly another echo to see how he's doing. I'm sure he's excited about his new diet that mom will be putting him on immediately. :)

With 3/4 of a brain and 1/3 of a heart functioning, he is still our tough, witty and stubborn Daddy and we have full confidence that he will continue to fight the good fight.

#3