As most of you know, we met with a pediatric cardiologist at Johns Hopkins yesterday to discuss Nick's illness. We got some good news but still face an uphill battle getting Nick back to full health.
The best part of the report was that we found out Nick does not have any heart disease or damage. There is some disagreement over the results of some of the tests but we feel very confident in the answers we got yesterday. The cardiac issues he has stem from a disorder in his nervous system. It is an illness that encompasses many system groups in his body and affects his neurologic, cardiac, and endocrine systems.
We have a treatment plan and are praying that Nick's case will be an acute case and will resolve itself in a few months. We have medicine and a strict activity and dietery regimen to help ease some of his symptoms and hopefully speed along his recovery. At this time, he is still unable to function at his normal level and is under strict orders to not let his heart rate go above 120 bpm. That's not an easy thing to do, given that he has no control over that and his heart rate can jump to 160 or higher while he is just sitting down. We're keeping a good eye on him, though. :)
That's our latest update. We're thankful to so many who have prayed for and emailed/called Nick and helped out while Dave was gone. We are beyond blessed.
I've been praying!!!
ReplyDeleteSo relieved that you have a plan in place. Nuturing and mothering will be the nursing he needs to a full recovery. I'll keep praying! Please ask if we need to call on our Cousin again. She is simply amazing and we are grateful that she's at J.H. We are secretly hoping Lyn goes there for her Masters to learn from her....
ReplyDeleteThanks guys.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Nick needs a lot more than nurturing and mothering. In fact, the cardiologist told him that this will be a very long, hard, and painful road and that there is no guarantee any of it will work. He has to try to make himself do these things but with no guarantee he still needs lots of prayer to get him through this.
We have many unanswered questions still. thank you for keeping us/him especially in your prayers.