CONSULT #3 DETROIT HENRY FORD HOSPITAL

So, I am running out of energy tonight and I should be going to bed, but I thought I better give an update. I said goodbye to our home of 8 years yesterday and I really felt good about it and had amazing peace about the whole thing. I wasn't sad at all! I wonder why? I guess b/c I know its not the home I want to stay in, I long to be in the area safe for the kids and school and be closer to church too. It was a great home and I loved it but it was time to go. I am ready for that next step, the next phase of life, hopefully to land in the home to raise our kids for the rest of their lives while at home with us. Its a new hope, new beginning and I am ready.

So we are in our cute little farm house. Its working well, I don't know where to go with all of our stuff, but it will work. I can tell you a few things already, 1. I don't like the smell of well water! GROSS!! Luke took a bath on saturday and I told steve that I didn't know if I could make it here. :) The water barely came out and it took almost an hour to fill the tub. The shower was much better and I am trying to keep an open mind. 2. I miss my dishwasher.
Other than that, I love my new kitchen, TONS of cupboards, pantry, storage and it is so homey and comfy and I just love it here! I do think that I could handle staying awhile and steve is already anxious to fire up the dirtbikes and hit the land and make trails for Luke and himself. We are all adjusting well and the kids are in LOVE sharing a room and think we are on a great adventure! Karlie tells everyone that we live in a barn and luke wants to know why it isn't red. :)

Henry ford in Detroit. I arrived and lets just say, the place doesn't give a very good impression. It looks really old, run down, dirty, and there are tons of people standing everywhere. We arrived a little early to make sure we found it ok and it was an awesome experience. The nurse was so great. She helped put me at ease and told me that the Dr. was awesome and that HE could figure out what to do. She said that in the past 10 years she has never seen a case like mine. She told me that he was going to figure me out and he would know exactly what to do.
She was right. Dr. Abouljoud was awesome! We spent an hour and half talking, he showed us diagrams, explained the body, most of which I already knew but I appreciated the fact that he was talking right to STEVE and showing him and telling him, so that everyone understood. He drew us pictures and talked about the different surgery options and why he didn't agree with them. Like he said, its not a matter of CAN they be done? We all know that each surgery suggested can be done but SHOULD it be done? We can't look at my case and figure out why this happened, its very complicated case, but we CAN take care of what has happened and get an action plan. IF he had to guess, it was from pregnancy and my delivery of luke, separating and breaking my back. (I KNEW THAT KID SHOULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN C-SECTION!!!) He said "its like the chicken and the egg, what came first?" (THIS WAS MY LINE!!! IF YOU LOOK AT MY PREVIOUS BLOG, I THINK I SAID THE EXACT SAME THING!!!) I loved him right away. He gives speeches to other doctors around the country b/c most Dr's want to place patients in either an "A" or "B" category, but we cannot do that to patients and HE suggests that you look at the patient as an individual and do what is best for them in their situation, a unconventional approach at creating the surgery to the patients needs. He didn't say anything bad about the other institutions but by explaining WHY their approach wasn't the best for me, it TOTALLY made sense and it was like writing on the wall. He KNEW me better than any dr. I have ever gone too and usually we are the one teaching the dr what is wrong and this time he showed us what is wrong and what we need to do about it.

We don't remove the spleen b/c my body needs it and major vessels have now attached themselves to that spleen and depend on it for their blood supply, we cannot take it out b/c we might have taken away a very important piece in my situation, we don't know how important it might be in there and we have to leave it.

We don't want to put a shunt in my liver "TIPS" b/c for one, the way it is usually done can't be done b/c that vein has a clot in it. So they would have to do it a non traditional way and that vein has too much of an angle to it and more than likely will not stay open long. Plus we bypass a healthy liver and we don't need to do that. "Some Dr's love the acknowledgement of creating papers and publicizing documents and books and thats great" he says, "I want to save peoples lives by getting in them, and actually DOING the surgeries. I know what works. Do I have all the literature and documents to prove it, no. I could have published millions of papers, but that is not what I was called to do."

We leave all the body parts, organs, and vessels where they are and create an artificial bypass "shunt" between my splenic vein and kidney vein. Essentially close to what U of M had proposed but not removing my spleen and using its vein to create the bypass but putting a fake one in. This way, we are NOT using one of my own veins and then if this clots or doesn't stay open we are not any worse off than we are today. We have OPTIONS. We leave the door open to what God forbid my happen years down the road. We don't know how long it will last, it could last forever but if it doesn't we still have many other options, we haven't clotted off a real vein and now are left without that one too! He put one in a patient similar to me, not with all the clot burden, but she has had hers for over 5 years and is doing well. He left telling us to think about it, talk, call him if questions, and he said he would call my GI and thank him for the "easy" referral. (wink).

Steve and I loved him. It was the answer we had been looking for, something that made 100% sense and something I have complete confidence in. Yes its surgery, yes I have to do something he says and I agree with that, but it could fix the problem forever and if something does happen, I am not worse off, it just means we are back to where we are today....We would have to find something else. I am doing it. I am ready. Big incision, 4-7 days at Henry ford, 6-8 weeks recovery. Ultrasounds and CT's monthly, spread to yearly, and if we reach 5 years, we might be done!

I will call tomorrow. Cancel my surgery at Cleveland clinic and schedule the new one. I am ready. I KNOW the Lord is going to take great care of me. I KNOW he is here holding my hand right now and loving me, I know he wants to see this come to an end just as much as I do. I KNOW that my relationship with him is all that matters in life and in death and that my friends is amazing comfort and peace when you TRULY know and understand how amazing he is. This life has taught me that it is FULL of disappointments, sadness, trials, struggles, let downs, friends and family will all hurt you at times, there is no guarantee in life but ONE, HIM. I have Him and my relationship to him is all that matters!!