What just happened?

Okay... I'm still working on processing the day I just had.

I went to Columbia Presbyterian thinking that I was going to sit in a waiting room all day, write a requirements document, see a sleeping baby and maybe have a nice meal, but the day didn't quite go that way.

My niece, Faith went in pretty much as scheduled for her cath, and my family including my mom and dad, Billy and Erica, and her parents started the waiting. The woman from the front desk had told us that things were going well and they would be finished soon. I sent a message to Ron saying everything was good.

Then, Dr. Gloom and Doom walked in. He said that he didn't see enough evidence that Faith's veins were growing... That it would be unlikely that she would survive the third surgery, and transplant is not an option because they only transplant the heart - not the veins around it. She wouldn't survive that operation either. I watched my brother's wife beg the doctor to fix her daughter. That Faith is her world, and she can't live without her. To not let her baby die. We looked for some form of option that we could take as a next step. There was none. He said that Billy and Erica should try to make things as normal as possible, and we would "see what happens." Basically, eventually (read anytime from the next 3 months to the next 18 months), Faith would outgrow these veins, and she would not be able to get enough oxygen into her blood. She would fall victim to some illness she wouldn't be able to shake.

Hours later, we find out a different story. The surgeon was able to expand one vein to normal size through ballooning, plug up a spontaneously grown vein that was sending un-oxygenated blood back to the heart, and now we are back in the game. No stints (read pieces of metal that can never grow with the veins) added at all. Assuming all goes as it should, Faith will be a candidate for the 3rd surgery. From close to 0% to 50% in a few hours.

I got to see the sleeping baby. Color is now in her fingertips because the blood is flowing (closer to) properly. Amazing.