We took a trip to visit Dr Tong today. He went through the standard procedure of echo, ekg, blood pressure, O2 sat reading and exam by Dr Tong himself. We discussed the pros/cons of having surgery now or waiting until spring and he feels that Damon is ready so why wait. So surgery is still on for October 21st. We will be going up on Tuesday and then Wednesday he has a full day of pre-surgery testing. Damon is doing so great with all of this. He was once again a champ at the dr today and while I haven't been talking specifically to him about the surgery, he has heard me talk about it to others and he doesn't get bothered about it. This morning he asked my grandma (G.G. to him) if she was going to be at the hospital with him and she told him yes. Then he looks at me and asks me if God is going to be with him. Every minute, I told him. What an opportunity I have to teach Damon and Myles about God's faithfulness during this time. I'm so grateful to Him for that faithfulness and for His provision. Please continue to pray for Damon's heart to beat strong and steady and for him to stay healthy between now and surgery. Also pray for me to find someone willing and excited to take care of Myles and get him to school while we are up in St Louis. There are so many other things too, but that's all for now. God bless and I'll talk to you soon.

Sarah

I finally got to talk with Dr Tong today and he says that Damon is doing well enough right now and is big enough that it would be a good time for his final surgery. He agreed that the possibility of him needing his surgery during cold and flu season is a good reason to go ahead and do it so that we can hopefully avoid that all together. So his surgery is going to take place on Oct 20th. We'll have to be there on the 19th for all his pre_op appointments. Please be praying for Damon. Talk to you soon.

Sarah

The surgeon's office called yesterday to schedule Damon's last surgery. As I was talking to the lady I started to realize that the drs haven't really communicated very well amongst each other and we haven't even seen Dr Tong yet for Damon's post cath appointment so I told her I wanted to talk to him first before making a decision about it. So for right now surgery is penciled in for October 20th, but I am waiting to hear back from Dr Tong. He was going to try to talk to the cardiologist who did the cath some more and also hopefully talk to Dr Huddleston, the surgeon. I will post again on here as soon as we have a final date.

Something else that happened today was that I found out that the boys will no longer receive Medicaid. They have had it since Damon was born and it has been so helpful. Normally, I would've started to freak out after hearing this news but I didn't. I'm actually sort of relieved that I won't have to mess with any of that anymore. It was something I dreaded doing. So please keep this matter in your prayers and pray that God will continue to provide as the medical bills start to come in. Talk to you all soon.

Sarah

Well some of you are probably thinking that I am completely irresponsible for not posting anything since Damon had his cath. He was released from the hospital the Friday morning after his cath. He did really great the whole time, he just does NOT like tape being taken off his skin. My mom and I took him to the zoo that day and we all had a fantastic time. He's been doing fine every day since he got back. We're still waiting to speak with the surgeon about a date for the the surgery so as soon as we know something, we'll let you all know.

Sarah