Jeremiah 29:11

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For I know the plans I have for you "declares the Lord," plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Love bug thought this was the pose of the day?

Whatever? She's a doll, belly showing or not!

We had our appointment with the cardiologist on 

Thursday as you know, and we got the results 

from the blood work done on Monday.

The results of her electrolytes were delightful! For 

the first time ever Ivy's electrolytes (potassium, 

sodium and Magnesium) were within NORMAL 

(or almost normal) range!!! This is very huge for a 

child on so many diuretics for her heart. Blessed!

But the biggest part of the blood test was the BNP.

BNP is a substance secreted from the ventricles or 

lower chambers of the heart in response to changes 

in pressure that occur when heart failure develops 

or worsens. The level of BNP in the blood 

increases when heart failure symptoms worsen and 

decreases when the heart failure condition is 

stable. The BNP level in a person with heart 

failure, even someone whose condition is stable, is 

higher than a person with normal heart function.

A BNP level below 100 pg/ml indicates no heart 

failure.

100-300 pg/ml suggests heart failure is present.

100 to 300 pg/ml indicates mild heart failure.

Over 300 pg/ml would indicate moderate heart 

failure.

600 pg/ml would indicate severe heart failure.

Ivy's BNP left us all speechless.

3800 pg/ml

this in not a typo

What on earth? Who on earth could be there and 

look like this! Her and that big old donut! Our 

fighter! Mini sized miracle. Determined and 

mighty!

Only a super star!

Only God! He knows! He is the only one who 

knows. We are just waiting on Him. We trust Him, 

we love Him, we believe He is in control and He 

has a plan better than we could ever imagine. He 

clearly is protecting our baby girl. She is nothing 

short of unbelievable and it is all because of one 

miracle after the other. Yes, lots of pain and 

suffering, yes, a few big scars, but all this and look 

at her! She is a happy, funny, loveable, adorable 

toddler living and loving life! 

Her echo shows some moderate to severe tricuspid 

valve regurgitation. This could still be from those 

high pressures in her lungs. She was in the 90's for 

pulmonary hypertension 3 weeks ago and she is 

down to the 70's today. So still severe, but 

trending down and we like that a whole lot! We 

have consulted with our Boston team. They are 

blown away too. Her repairs are working well. Her 

heart may just not know what to do with all of this 

newness yet? But honestly, we really don't know at 

this point. An MRI would help... but she has a pacemaker so we can NOT do an MRI. They do 

not want to cath her unless it is absolutely 

necessary and right now they don't even know 

what they would be looking for so there is no plan 

to order that just yet. The less invasive we can be 

while she heals, the better off she will be. She has 

been through so much already. We will continue 

to do echo's and check BNP regularly.

My hope is that everything will trend down in 

Gods timing. I believe in that. It may seem crazy 

but my heart is happy. We have been given more 

than our hearts could ever have fathomed and I 

know God's not done! My life is so RICH! And I 

would never want another. This road we are 

traveling is different than the road we had 

envisioned. But this road is so beautiful and has 

left us so completely full! 

And we press on! 

With Joy!

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