Maggie's party at the hospital

If you recall in the original post, I wrote about Danny contracting West Nile Virus about 10 years ago. Today it occurred to me that back then Danny was super, super sick on Charlie's first birthday. Now, that same mosquito has him even more sick on Maggie's 14th birthday! Those are definitely two birthday's our family will never forget...

Maggie turns 14 on Wednesday and since Danny and I will not be home to celebrate with her, we had a little birthday party at the hospital today. Charlie got Maggie a t-shirt she wanted from Disney and you can tell how excited she was by how fast she was running to hug her brother!!

 


We all decided this shirt could work for Danny too! :)

Danny didn't even want to try the cake. If you've ever eaten a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes, you'd know for sure he must be really sick to pass it up!

He spent some time alone with the kids today and I don't know what they talked about, but I'm sure it was some precious Daddy and child time!

 

Going back to last night and what the days are typically like...I think I already wrote about his constant nausea. The doctor has made it clear that vomiting is NOT good for him because it's too much stress on his heart. The plan is to stay on top of the nausea and the pattern has been that he needs IV nausea medicine about every 4 hours. Phenergan is an every 8 hour med and Zofran is every 6 hours. They have been alternating the meds and giving the Zofran at a half dose when it's the 4 hour point, which s really too early. Most nurses catch on to this quickly and just bring him the medicine when it's time, but one or two we have to almost argue with to make them call the doctor for the order for early dosing.

 

Unfortunately, tonight it's a nurse that doesn't understand the importance of TIMELY medicine. However, God is the ultimate healer and it's just a matter of prayer! 

 

Here is how Danny looks as soon as the anti-nausea medicine starts to wear off every 4 hours...for almost a week now. 

 

 

Tomorrow Danny moves to the CCU where they will put in the balloon to prepare for the LVAD (mechanical heart pump) on Thursday. This is fairly routine and typically an outpatient procedure, but holds risk for Danny because of how enlarged and weakened his heart is.

 

Since the LVAD has been scheduled, Danny and I have had some very frank and difficult conversations about different responsibilities I will have should the unthinkable happen and he doesn't live through the surgery Thursday. I believe that Danny is going to live through this and have many years left on this Earth. However, the truth is that all of our days are numbered and this experience serves as such a powerful reminder of the importance of living each second in such a way that honors the Lord. We were created to glorify God and each breath we take is a gift we are given...let's not take that for granted!

Current prayer requests: end to nausea/dry-heaving, wisdom and guidance for doctor's hands, peace and comfort for our family, and whatever else the Lord leads you to pray. As I said before, I wish I could personally thank each of you for your prayers...please know that we thank God each day for you!

 

~Tricia

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As you can imagine, the cost of a heart transplant and/or LVAD is staggering. Should the Lord lead you to help us financially, you can do that in a couple of ways.

Paypal is a secure, online method. Simply go to paypal.com and click on "buy" and then "make a payment". Our paypal email address is helpdannysauer@gmail.com

 

If you would rather use the mail, please email me for our address. tasauer@cox.net

 

Some have just given a card to one of our family members.

 

Thank You. We are humbled and grateful for the love and support we are receiving!