All photos, wav files, and plaintext copy courtesy of Mikey's Dad.
Thanks, Rick!! ~smile~

February 1st, 2004... In today's pic, Mikey is reading the family Bible before bedtime. At our church, we have a saying: "3 chapters a day.. 5 on sunday".. that's how to read the Bible through every year. And that is what Mikey is doing. He has several revised "youth" versions of the Bible that would be easier to read, but he insists on reading the King James Version. He calls it the "real" Bible, because that's what Pastor Don reads from!

Mikey is doing pretty well. He had his pacemaker checked last week and it looks alright. Little Rock is scheduling us in April to discuss his next open-heart surgery.. perhaps yet this spring.

February 8th, 2004... It's SONday, and we get to go to church today! Mikey is doing fine. He's doing his "workout" in today's picture. He has plenty of energy. We go to all the home games of our college basketball team, and Mikey loves to cheer for "his" UAFS Lions (University Of Arkansas Fort Smith). There are only 2 more home games left this season. We will be celebrating Mikey's birthday Saturday! His birthday is actually Monday the 16th, but we're having his party a little early on Saturday so everyone can come. WOW! We've come such a long way with Mikey.. he'll be 9 years old. Thank You, Lord!

Mikey's friend Diva Kathryn
Knows he shares his love each day,
So she made a special valentine
With what she thought he'd like to say!

Here you go, Mikey; something for you to give Mom and Dad!

February 15th, 2004... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKEY!
Mikey is 9 years old now! God is good.

We had a nice little party for him in our "Arkansas rec room" (the garage). Chili, hot dogs, cake and ice cream, ping pong, video games and good company. In our first picture, Mikey has a little trouble getting enough air to blow out all the birthday candles. Second picture (top to bottom): Patrick, Mayzie, Mikey and Anna... havin' a ball..
Thank You, Lord!

February 22nd, 2004... Mikey's birthday, Part 2! We had his party a few days early, then on his actual birthday he went to watch his favorite basketball team play and sat with his buddy Pastor Don again (that's Mikey and Pastor Don "high-fiving" in the pictures above). Don is the busiest guy in town, but he always makes time for Mikey. It was a good game, and.. we won. The graphic work on the Stubblefield Center (above) is a gift from Mikey's friends Peg & Bobby from Arizona. Peg and friends have done a lot of wonderful things for Mikey. You can see the cool birthday page they made for Mikey by clicking the link above today's pictures.

Peg's note: Diva Christie and her 11-year-old son Jeremy went birthday shopping for Mikey. Christie got him a lion, because of his favorite basketball team ~grin~ while Jeremy selected a book about airplanes, complete with a model. From Rick's pic, it looks like Mikey enjoyed them!!

February 29th, 2004... In today's picture, Mikey looks on and smiles as Uncle Rusty tries to blow out 38 birthday candles! For his birthday, Aunt Carol brought Rusty down to Fort Smith (from Kansas City) for the weekend. After a big breakfast, we all played some ping pong and went bowling. Later we had a little pizza and ice cream party at the house.

T.G.I.S. Thank God It's SONday.. We get to go to church today. Mikey is doing well. We should be hearing from Little Rock soon when they will schedule us in April to discuss Mikey's impending heart surgery.


***** IMPORTANT NOTE: *****

We returned from our last trip to Little Rock with bad news. We thought that this summer's stent placement had "bought" us a year or two, but the stent to open Mikey's homograft has failed, causing the homograft to fail.

Heart echoes were done to confirm what the xrays show. The stent is crimped and the wire mesh is broken, letting the already calcified and obstructed homograft collapse further.

It is not possible to remove or replace the stent. They think the only option is another open-heart surgery to start all over.

The cardiologist seemed surprised that Mikey is not showing any symptoms, but he was emphatic that Mikey has a very sick heart. I asked, if surgery is imperative, could it wait 6 or 7 months until the end of this school year, and the doctor said he could not say at this time. He sent us home and said that he would confer with other cardiologists and heart surgeons for their opinions.

He explained that, as of now, the only option is to open the chest, (disconnect, and) stop the heart, and place Mikey on a heart-lung machine until large gortex "piping" could be installed. The stopped heart would be kept "alive" by continuously circulating a special cold fluid through it. The old calcified and brittle homograft with the broken stent would be removed, and the new gortex pipe would be attached to the large pulmonary artery. The other end would then be sewn into the large hole in Mikey's heart and they would begin to warm and try to re-start his heart. Of course, he would come out of surgery on a ventilator and may be on the vent for some time.

We certainly had not expected this news when we went to Little Rock.

Mikey is home, feeling fine, laughing and smiling, full of life, full of energy and hugging everyone he can get his hands on. Same ol' Mikey. Showing no symptoms, other than lack of stamina and getting short of breath.

We don't know when Little Rock will get back to us, and we don't expect any immediate action. We just need y'all to keep Mikey in prayer, and we all will believe God for another miracle.

             

While you are here, Please sign Mikey's guestbook.
Thank you!!!

            

There is another little angel, Billy, who needs extra prayers RIGHT NOW!!
Click below to visit Billy.

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