Draft Day...

If you read yesterday's post, we left off with Lauren having been diagnosed with a retinal artery occlusion.  Her ophthalmologist had determined that a microclot got stuck in a tiny artery causing her to have a mini-stroke in her left eye and resulting in some blurriness of vision. Though we now knew what had happened, we still didn't know why it had happened or if there was a chance for it to happen again.  Our next move was to assemble a team of doctors to get down to the nitty gritty and find a diagnosis.

In case you don't get the "Nitty Gritty" reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rdCQjfN2CE

The next few days I kind of felt like I was a General Manager for an NFL team and it was draft day. With the help of Dr. Hilgers (the OB), we had to go about finding a cardiologist, a neurologist, and a maternal fetal medicine specialist (I didn't even know that this specialty existed before this) to join our team and figure out what the source of Lauren's problems were.  This process turned into quite the ordeal.  Not only did we have to find doctors that would accept our insurance, but then we had to get each doctor to sign off and actually accept Lauren as a patient.  This meant that each doctor wanted to review Lauren's medical records before they would accept her as a patient.

At first we didn't think this would be a big deal because each doctor said that they would request the records, review them, and then get back to us, but as any of you that have dealt with this type of situation before might have guessed, records never were sent and therefore never reviewed. We ended up having to round up all of the records ourselves in order to get them to the appropriate places.  Once this was done, then the waiting game began.  This in itself was rather frustrating because we still didn't know if Lauren was at risk of throwing another clot.  We figured that the records review would just be a formality, but that turned out to not be the case.  For whatever reason, we actually had a couple doctors deny her as a patient which meant that we had to start the entire process over again.

It ended up taking almost a month to finally get Lauren in to see all of the different specialists.  Each specialist ran their own battery of tests to try to nail down the ultimate cause of all of Lauren's problems.  This post would never end if I went through explaining all of the test that Lauren had to undergo so I'll just fast forward to the diagnosis.

If you remember from yesterday's post, I told you that Dr. Chang, the ophthalmologist, actually diagnosed Lauren over the phone the day of the stroke.  Of course, at the time we had no way of knowing if it was an accurate diagnosis, but it ended up that he was right all along.  Lauren was diagnosed with a large grade PFO (Patent Ovale Foramen).  In short, a PFO is a small hole in the heart that didn't close the way it should after birth.  It's actually fairly common, about 20% of the population has them and just never know it.  PFOs very rarely cause any problems, but unfortunately for Lauren, a complication arises. The combination of a large grade PFO and the increased blood volume/hyper-coagulation from being pregnant ended up to be the perfect recipe for a much more eventful pregnancy than we would have hoped for.

The doctors believe that the microclot was produced as a byproduct of all of the changes going on in Lauren's body due to the pregnancy.  Instead of continuing through the venous system to the lungs where it could get filtered out, the clot then got very sneaky, sneaky and snuck through the PFO into Lauren's arterial system where it eventually made its way to her eye.  Because the PFO was considered to be large grade, the neurologist decided to change Lauren from the aspirin therapy to a drug called Lovenox.

The positive to changing over to Lovenox is that it does not cross the placenta so there is no risk of it affecting the baby in anyway.  But as seems to be par for this course, with every positive comes a couple negatives.  Lovenox can only be taken as an injection so Lauren now has to give herself a shot twice a day until 6 weeks after the baby is born.  Needless to say, she wasn't too thrilled about having to inject herself almost 400 times and I can't blame her.  The other negative is that Lovenox can really complicate the delivery process because it is a blood thinner.  Unless Lauren is able to get off the drug at least 24 hours before the delivery, she will not have the option of an epidural and any type of c-section could prove to be troublesome as well.  (I'm now trying to figure out a way to get the baby to call ahead and make a reservation so that Lauren can stop the Lovenox 24 hours in advance. Right now the leading idea in the clubhouse is to teach the baby Morse Code so that he/she can send us a series of kicks 24 hours before his/her planned appearance.  All suggestions are welcome...)

I need to wrap up this post because it's getting long and I want you all to keep coming back, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out one of the major ways that God has provided throughout this process.  We are absolutely positive that God has placed each of our doctors in our lives for a specific reason.  Both Lauren's OB and ophthalmologist ended up being very strong Christians that have not only have provided top notch care, but have committed to praying for us as well.  That commitment means more to us than anything that either of them could ever do medically.

You'll also remember the saga I described of trying to get doctors to accept Lauren as a patient.  All of the doctors that refused Lauren as a patient happened to be neurologists.  Looking back, I now know that this was God working to get us with the right doctor.  The neurologist that we finally ended up seeing actually is in the middle of doing research over PFOs and their long-term effects. Think about that for a second.  A neurologist, a doctor that focuses on the brain, is doing research on a defect in the heart.  More specifically, he is doing research on how clots passing through PFOs can cause strokes.  We could not have found a more perfect doctor for Lauren and his research has already affected changes in how Lauren is being treated.  He is absolutely a Godsend and we are so thankful that we were able to draft him to our team.  More tomorrow...

In Him,
Chad

And Then Things Got Weird...

In case you didn't read the last post, let me start with this:  Both Lauren and the baby are doing great. Other than some continued nausea and fatigue, things are under control, but that unfortunately hasn't been the case for the entirety of the pregnancy.  Let me explain.

Everything started off smoothly, with the major exception of a wicked case of morning sickness, until we hit week 8.  It was Thursday of that week and Lauren was at work charting when she started to feel some very mild discomfort in her eye.  She also started to notice some blurriness in the vision in her left eye, but she chalked it up to just being tired.  Those of you that know Lauren well are quite familiar with her need for a substantial amount of sleep, so add pregnancy to the equation and you can understand why she might be more than just a little groggy.

It wasn't until she met me for dinner that night that we began to think that something might be wrong. She was telling me about her day and mentioned her eye.  As she described the blurriness of vision in that eye, something didn't seem right to me.  Luckily, our optometrist Dr. Thomas, is open late on Thursdays, so I suggested we run by and see if she could take a look at Lauren's eye.  Dr. Thomas was able to squeeze Lauren in, did an exam, and took some photos of her eye. That's when realized that things were about to get weird.

The photos (see below) showed that the blurriness in Lauren's vision was due to a retinal artery occlusion. Basically, Lauren had a microclot that caused her to suffer a small stroke in her eye.  The clot blocked one of the arteries in her eye, preventing blood flow, and resulting in the blurred vision. Luckily, the stroke did not involve her optic nerve or central vision, though it came very, very close. The clot actually got stuck half way between the two.  Had it affected either one of those Lauren could have lost most, if not all of her vision in that eye.

Dr. Thomas was obviously concerned because a healthy 27-year-old should not be throwing clots at all, but certainly shouldn't have those clots passing into the arterial system where they could cause strokes.  We were now on a mission to figure out what happened and if there was a more serious issue that we needed to address.  We knew that the most likely cause of the clot was the pregnancy itself because the blood volume during pregnancy increases dramatically and becomes hyper-coagulable (clots very easy), but we didn't know how that clot got into the arteries.  (Normally clots are filtered out by the lungs as they travel through the venous system before they can get to the heart to be recirculated.)

Before we could set out on our fact-finding mission, we needed to enlist some expertise to try to make sure that no further damage would be done to Lauren's eye. Dr. Thomas called an ophthalmologist that she typically refers to on his cell phone.  We were quite impressed when Dr. Chang answered and consulted with us over the phone well after normal business hours.  Little did we know at the time, but he actually diagnosed the underlying cause of the problem that night . . . over the phone . . . without ever seeing Lauren.  (More about the diagnosis in a later post, we've got a lot to cover before we get there!)

We set up an appointment to see him the following Monday and then headed home.  Lauren wasn't in any pain or real discomfort, she just had the annoyance of the big blurry spot in part of her vision. After we got home and got to talking about the clot, we started connecting some dots that got us a little concerned.  Dr. Chang had told us that the clot had most likely passed through Lauren's entire system without issue and only got stuck in the eye because the arteries there were finally too tiny for the clot to pass through.  This concerned us because, in our estimation, if there were any other places in Lauren's body that were going to have tiny little arteries, it was going to be inside an 8-week old baby.  At the time, we still didn't know if the clot was going to be a one time fluke of an incident or if there were going to be more clots, so we decided we definitely needed to contact her OB first thing Friday morning.

Lauren was able to see both Dr. Chang and her OB, Dr. Hilgers, on Monday.  Dr. Chang told Lauren that he believed she would regain at least some, but hopefully all of her vision.  Both doctors agreed that Lauren needed to start an aspirin regiment in order to thin her blood and try to help prevent any further clots.  Neither doctor was able to pinpoint why the clot happened or how it passed into Lauren's arteries, so a battery of tests were ordered and referrals were handed out.  Little did we know that in the next three months we would become intimately familiar with Houston's Med Center...more about that tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and God bless.

-Chad

Let's Start With The Good...

I kind of teased everyone the other day with my post previewing Lauren & I's story over the last two years. I mentioned that it has been a roller coaster of emotions and we have so much to share, but since I have always been a glass half-full kind of guy, let's start with the good...

As many of you likely saw, we were able to announce that we are expecting a baby in late February.

We are absolutely thrilled that we are going to become parents!  This little baby is an answer to many prayers and is already so loved.  Parenthood is sure to be quite the roller coaster, but we are so excited to continue on this journey, a journey that has already taken a much longer, more difficult path than either of us ever imagined.

Mom and baby are doing fine, but it has definitely been an extremely interesting journey. Lauren is 17 weeks now and slowly starting to feel better, but she would definitely appreciate it if someone would inform the baby that he/she is not supposed to be making her sick anymore now that they are in the 2nd trimester!  Right now we are eagerly awaiting our 20 week appointment so that we can find out whether we are going to have a boy or a girl. Those of you that know me well know that patience is not one of the gifts I was given an abundance of so the last few weeks have been increasingly hard for me.  I've felt like a toddler waiting for Christmas only to be told we still haven't had Thanksgiving yet!  Neither Lauren or I have a preference of a boy or girl, we just continue to pray for a healthy baby and that God will use that baby to do amazing things for His Kingdom.

But come on, think about it, a miniature Chad (even more miniature than the original version), how adorable would that be!?!

  

We are very thankful that, as of right now, morning sickness and fatigue are they only things that we have to worry about because we have been on quite the ride so far.  Though it has been a whirlwind, God has continued to be faithful and show us His provision.  More about that tomorrow...

Thanks for reading!

-Chad  

For everything there is a season . . .

As most of you know, we moved to Houston a little over two years ago. With the craziness of the move, new jobs, a new church, etc., we have admittedly been slacking on the blogging front since then, but it is time for us to get back with the program because we have a lot of life to share with you in the days, weeks, and months to come. 

Looking back over all that has happened the last two years, I can't help but to be reminded of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: 

"For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven. 

A time to be born and a time to die.

    A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace."

The last two years have shown us every season; good and bad, joy and heartache. We've rejoiced as new life has entered this world and wept as death took loved ones from us. We've shared lots of laughter with both new and old friends and we've shed tears at times when it seemed the world around us was crumbling. Overall, it has been a season of growth that has drawn Lauren & I closer together as a couple and closer to God. These updates have been a long time coming and I look forward to sharing them with you over the next few days. 

Our church just recently finished a sermon series entitled "Share Your Story...". During one of his sermons, our Pastor told us that God has given each of us a story to share and that though we often don't want to share the bad, it's the part of our story that we find hardest to talk about that will likely have the biggest impact on others. That is our goal with the upcoming series of posts. We want you to join us as we rejoice and celebrate the good and as we reflect and continue to try to heal from the pain that life often inflicts. Our hope is that God will be able to use the trials that we have walked through to bless others around us.  

As we share our story, we ask two things of those of you that might read some or all of these posts.  First, please don't ever read any of our words as a "Woe is me" post or a search for attention. As always, God has been more than faithful to take care of us in every situation and we only hope that through telling our story, we might be able to provide hope to someone that might be experiencing some of the same things that we did. We also know that though what we went through at times over the last few years was incredibly difficult for us, it pales in comparison to what so many other people are dealing with on a daily basis through out the world. Second, we ask that if anything you read touches you, strikes a nerve, or you find yourself walking through anything similar, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to be able to talk to you, pray for you, and show you how God provided for us in our time of need.  

To Be Continued...

-Chad

Breaking Ground

We had chosen the floor plan we loved, but needed to decide on a lot. The builder had many, many lots to choose from, but was offering a HUGE discount on one lot in particular. Turns out, that one lot had a pretty large electrical tower behind it. We walked the lot, thought and prayed about it, and decided that the discount was too good to pass up. Since the house is two stories, the power lines would mostly be covered from the front, and we planned to plant several trees in the backyard to act as a barrier. 

The crew broke ground on July 5, 2013, and had the plumbing done in less than 1 week. Every day after work I would drive by and take a few pictures. It was impressive how much they could complete in one work day!

I found this under a mound of dirt on ground-breaking day!

That's our big power line back there. . .  It's interesting to me how small the lot looked and felt without the house. Now that the house is built, we both feel like the yard is so big!

Houston Home Floor Plan

Since we now live at least 7 hours away from all of our family and friends, I thought I'd post more details about our new home, and how it's evolving! Shortly after we found out we'd be moving to Houston, we made the decision to live in Pearland. Pearland is only 8 miles south of the medical district, and happens to be where my sister and her family reside. We looked at buying a home, but quickly found that we could build for the same price or cheaper. So the decision was made to build! We scoured the internet from afar browsing several websites of local builders and walked through several model homes. We soon found ourselves comparing all the homes to one, so we decided that must be the home for us! We went with the Perry Homes 3158 floor plan. The natural light in this home is phenomenal, and it had plenty of space for our future family and for people to comfortably come visit!

First Floor

Second Floor

Obviously, this home has way more space than necessary for two people. However, our prayer is that it is filled with some children before we head back west in one decade! :)

Two Years Ago Today...

On this morning two years ago I was eagerly awaking to the joy of my wedding day! That day is filled with memories that are still so vivid and clear to me that I have the hardest time believing it’s already been 2 full years since those memories were made! Chad and I were blessed with a truly incredible wedding day, but more importantly we’ve been blessed by 2 years of living life together.

I sure love this man God gave me, and I thank Him daily for placing Chad by my side. In our second year of marriage we have:

·      Buried Chad’s dog, Hitch

·      Gained a puppy, Ari, that stole our hearts

·      Buried my grandfather

·      Buried Chad’s grandfather

·      Lead a LifeGroup for college students at Tech

·      Taken one awesome cruise (first vacation since our honeymoon)

·      Questioned God’s calling regarding the next step in our lives…

·      And now moved our lives across the state of Texas in response to His urging

This isn’t really how I thought our lives would look on our 2^nd anniversary, but I just want the world to know that I wouldn’t change a thing.

As hinted above, we’re in the midst of what currently feels like the longest transition period ever. I moved to Houston June 10 and have spent the last 10 weeks living life here while Chad bounced around between Lubbock, Midland, Houston, Chicago and now Phoenix.

Moving definitely stretches the limits of a person, and can bring out the deepest insecurities and weaknesses in our faith. If there’s one thing that’s been apparent to me over the last 10 weeks, it’s the fact that I need my husband. Not that I need him to complete me, or to make my life worthwhile, or to give my life purpose. That's not it at all. I’ve found those things in my Savior and in Him alone. But more in the sense that I need Chad to be where I am, because he the greatest gift from above that I have ever been given.  Chad and I make a great team. His strengths compliment my weaknesses.  

When I am fearful, he remains calm and laid back.

When I worry about our future and plans for moving and building a new life, he points to peace and reminds me that God has laid this path out before us so clearly that we’d be fools not to follow.

When I question our finances (for the 10^th time), he patiently shows me the numbers again, and again, and again. And then re-explains all those business and mortgage terms that my biology teachers failed to incorporate during my college years.

When I search for the reason behind this move, he first listens, and then tells me we may never know and quit wasting energy.

When I start to focus on the things we’re losing by moving so terribly far away from our families and support system, he points to the many things we may never know that we lost by never stepping out in faith.

When I need encouragement, he faithfully repeats the story of how we ended up in this place, and then I am reassured that we took the right step.

When I’m too overwhelmed to pray through the tears some nights, he sweetly prays in my turn (we take turns praying each night together), and for this I am truly grateful.  

Thank you for being the husband that I need. A man that is true to his word, reliable, and so much fun to be around. Thank you for making me laugh on a daily basis! I pray that I continue to learn to be the wife you need in life. Thank you for choosing me to walk through life with you! It's been my greatest pleasure! :) 

So, even though I didn’t intend for our second anniversary to be spent with myself in Houston and him in Phoenix, I wouldn’t have this any other way.

Here’s to our 3^rd year together!!! Moving does one positive thing for us – we now have a completely clean slate as we’re starting over. This means any challenges and blessings we receive will stand out even more as we reflect next year! I can’t wait to see how God has filled that empty slate! 

I love you, Chad! 

Thank you for being my husband.