Surgery updates

Mike will be having his surgery on Thursday Sept. 17, in Dallas, TX. He met with the surgeon and feels good about his options there. What they decided to do is look to see if a repair can be done, and if not, he will have a stentless porcine (aka pig) valve put in. No blood thinners for life with that one, and it looks like these stentless ones are lasting longer than the other tissue valves. He should be in the hospital for a week and we are planning on 4 weeks in DFW. I look forward to it being done and having this all behind us.

Let's talk about the awesome people we have waiting for us in Texas for a moment. I am just completely taken aback by the help we've been offered while we're there. I can't say I'm surprised, there's a reason I tell Mike 3-5 days a week "I wish we still lived in Texas". Our friends are nothing but wonderful.

So Saturday we spend a LONG time planning the trip. I mean, long time. There was arguing and there were tears. No matter how it worked out, the answer was always the same- everything is expensive. We had come to the conclusion that driving was going to be the best option, as it was cheaper since we wouldn't need a car rental for a month. 25 hours in a car with Matthew really scares me, but you do what you have to do. Then, like the God sent angel that I know she is, my friend Susan calls me. "I have a car for you to use for the whole month you're here." What? Excuse me? Was she in my living room listening to our conversation? Her dad has an extra car he's not using and he is so, so generously letting us use it while we are there. Wow. I can't even tell you how much this meant to us. And yes, more tears. (I won't go into details, but she also happens to be taking 2 days off of work to babysit, keeping Matthew one night over night, and letting me and the kid sleep at her place for a few days). THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Now that's a friend.

But I don't want to belittle the others--we have 3 other homes that we're staying at while we're there. One of them, we get to be on our own as our friends are taking a family vacation to disney world and letting us use their house for 6 days. I have another babysitter for Matthew. I have friends letting us borrow baby stuff so we have less to travel with. One friend says she'll put together some toys for Matthew to play with, and then even switch them out every week or so if we want, so Matthew doesn't get too bored with them. It seems the list goes on and on. Many thanks to everyone! I'm not sure you'll ever know the amount of gratitude we feel!

And I REALLY wish we still got to live in Texas! :-) But since that's not possible, I sure do love what we have waiting there for us when we visit.