We were awoken this morning by alarm bells and about 5-6 nurses/doctors rushing into our room.  Maddie‘s respiratory tubes were being suctioned for routine cleaning and her heart rate had inexplicably dropped precipitously but then self-corrected within 10-15 seconds.  This was the 3rd episode since chest closure yesterday.  They have her back on an external pacemaker as a back up and since this AM she’s had one more episode that was instantly corrected by the pacemaker.

Praise God that it isn’t something more serious and that she was able to correct them all herself.  However, her stay here has been extended and the doctors/cardiologists/surgeons are now discussing when to add a permanent pacemaker internally as an insurance policy.  They had originally discussed this shortly after surgery last week but everyone was hopeful that they wouldn’t need to do that.  Unfortunately, that would require opening her chest again, with all the accompanying risks.

Her breathing, wakefulness, and kidney function have continued to improve and they are continuing to wean from sedatives so she can wake up more for stimulation.  They are doing another CT scan to check her brain as we are typing this.  The rest of the day/night will be for her to rest.

We firmly believe that God has a plan and this is all part of that plan.  We are comforted that He is in control and will always give us a way to endure these tests.  Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  These episodes all seem to be instigated by some invasive contact (lifting her, poking her, suctioning, cleaning, etc) but the doctors still aren’t sure what’s causing them exactly.  Please pray for more clarity and healing as well as for comfort for Abby as we will probably be apart from her longer than expected.