Praise the Lord!

I know it's been a while since I blogged. And I do have some things to say about the new year and things I would like to do this year, and my 30th birthday. Being without a laptop for a couple of weeks left me feeling like it was difficult to blog, but I am back and hope to blog on a semi regular basis!

Right now I just have to share some awesome news! I don't know if you will remember a post I wrote last year, probably in May or June about baby Ethan. He is the son of Lisa and Shaun, and Lisa and I were good friends when we were kids (though we have sort of lost touch over the years). He was born with a terrible heart defect and they did not expect him to live when they took him off life support when he was a couple of weeks old. But he did and he is still alive and thriving. He is still struggling a little and needs to have nasal oxygen so help him to function better, but he is still doing well.

Over and over again Lisa and Shaun have been told that he has no long term prognosis. It is a miracle that he has lived this long, but there is nothing we can do to fix him, so he will likely not survive in the long term. They have made a couple of trips to Edmonton to speak to specialists there and were told the same thing, but were finally given a referral to a top pediatric cardiologist (I think...) in California. They applied for coverage for any treatment through Sask Health, and are covered (they are just possibly going to have to pay for the air ambulance to get him there). They had a phone conference with the doctor this morning and for the first time in Ethan's 7 1/2 month life they were given some good news. The doctor feels confident that he can operate on Ethan and fix the defect in his heart! Amazing! After nothing but bad news, they finally have something positive to look toward. I have to give Lisa and Shaun a lot of credit. They have been amazing advocates for Ethan with the doctors they have dealt with, and from what I can tell on Facebook have maintained a fairly positive outlook through the whole thing. Praise the Lord for some good news. I know that there are definitely still some major risks that Ethan will face, going through surgery in a weakened state, but at least there is a course of treatment available. They are just waiting to hear back about a surgery date. Amazing! Awesome! Praise the Lord!