Mikey's May was awarded outstanding page by Diva of the 'Net.
Thank you, Kathryn and Divas! *VBS*
Click award to leard more about the Divas.)


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

May 2nd, 2004.. The "author" at work? Pictured at his desk, Mikey says he is writing a book now.. hehe. Sissy and Mister Ed were here saturday and we had a big garage sale. Mikey disappeared to his room before the end of the sale, and later told us that he was writing.

It's been a busy week. Mikey picked up some more awards at his school's awards ceremony, and he also had a part in the PTA program.

Well, the time is set now for Mikey's next open-heart surgery... the end of this month. We will have to be at the hospital a day early for tests, lab work, other pre-op stuff, and to meet with the surgeon, Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb. It will be a full day, then we need to be there at 5:30am the next morning for final prep and anesthesia, before the surgery starts at 7am.


May 9th, 2004... Happy Mom's Day! In today's pic, Mikey and Sissy are celebrating with mom at "Fridays" restaurant. Beside Mother's Day, mom also had a birthday last week, so we took her out.. not once, not twice, but 3 times!


Since Mikey's big heart surgery is just days away now, we have been taking Mikey out for some "fun days" i.e. golfing, fishing, picnicking, feeding the ducks, and yesterday it was Lions' baseball (below)....

Diva Sue went Mikey-shopping,
Here is what she found;
ATV's both large and small,
Sponge Bob, a poodle and a hound.

Shopping isn't really fun;
What makes it all worthwhile?
Seeing God's love shining through
In Mikey's precious smile!!

(Click on pic for a Mikey message!) ~smile~

May 16th, 2004... In today's picture, Mikey is playing with a remote-controlled ATV he got from his good online friend, Sue. In fact, the ATV is just one toy out of a BOX of toys she sent him.. How cool is that!

Mikey is prepared for surgery next week. He's ready. His faith is strong. OUR faith is stronger than ever and WE are ready, too. After more tests, lab work, and other "pre-op" things next week, Mikey will be admitted to the hospital at 5:30am thursday the 27th. Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb will perform the open-heart surgery at 7:00am. This will be a life-saving repair, not a permanent fix, unfortunately.. future surgeries will follow.

We thought that last summer's stent placement had "bought" us a year or two, but the stent to open Mikey's calcifiying "homograft" (donor conduit) failed, causing the homograft to fail

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

It is not possible to remove or replace the stent. The only option is this surgery to start all over.

The surgeon will open Mikey's chest, re-break the breastbone, stop the heart, and place Mikey on a heart-lung machine until large gortex "piping" can be installed. The stopped heart will be kept "alive" by continuously circulating a special cold fluid through it. The old calcified and brittle homograft with the broken stent will be removed, and the new gortex pipe will be sewn into the large hole in Mikey's heart. The other end of the pipe will be attached to the large pulmonary arteries out to his lungs. After the repair is complete, they will begin to warm the heart before re-starting it. Of course, he will come out of surgery on a ventilator and may be on the vent for some time.

We need EVERYONE to pray for Mikey at this time, and we will ALL believe God for another miracle.

May 23rd, 2004... In today's picture, Mikey is accepting one of his awards in last weeks award assembly at school. We had to take Mikey out of school early to make sure that he would be healthy for his heart surgery. If he were to catch a virus or even a head cold, the surgery would have to be postponed. Mikey is a straight "A" student, so taking him out early was no problem. We took him back to school long enough to receive his awards, and his teacher and his classmates surprised him (AND US) with a special tribute. They made a banner for him that they all signed, and each student in the classspoke a little about their special friend, Mikey. It was quite touching.

Mikey is prepared now for his surgery THIS WEEK. He's ready. His faith is strong. OUR faith is stronger than ever and WE are ready, too. One thing that Mikey is concerned about, is that he will miss reading his bible. He always reads 3 chapters a day and 5 chapters on sunday. He asked me to read them to him, while he is on the ventilator, so he won't get behind on his bible reading.

After more tests, lab work, and other "pre-op" things this week, Mikey will be admitted to the hospital at 5:30am thursday the 27th. Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb will perform the open-heart surgery at 7:00am. This will be a life-saving repair, not a permanent fix, unfortunately... future surgeries will follow.

EVERYONE THAT WILL, PLEASE REMEMBER MIKEY IN PRAYER THIS WEEK, ESPECIALLY THURSDAY MORNING!


Peg's note: for a VERY graphically intense and current update as Rick is able to get to a 'puter, CLICK on picture above. And pray. And BELIEVE the miracle awaits again!!

May 26th, 2004 10:00pm ... In today's picture, Mikey is entering Children's Hospital. We were there for nearly 10 hours today.. for tests, lab work, EKG, pacer checks, heart echo, xrays etc. and we met with cardiologists, anesthesiologists and the heart surgeon, Dr. Jonathan Drummond-Webb and even an ENT. Anesthesia will start sometime around 5:30am or shortly after, with surgery to begin at 7:00am.

This hospital in definitely NOT as "family-friendly" as the hospital in Tulsa. They have said they will not allow us to stay by Mikey's side as we had before. We cannot stay at the hospital. And we will not be able to hook up our WebTV to do frequent updates from his room. We will try to update daily, probably late evening.

We were also shocked to find out from the surgeon, in the final hours today, that he most likey will NOT be implanting a new homograft OR gortex material. He is talking about using a "dacron tube". We are totally unfamiliar with this.. we just heard of it for the first time this afternoon, and the surgery is in the morning! In another surprise, they told us that the lead to the 2nd pacemaker in his abdomen went bad and that pacemaker is not functional. They said that during his surgery in the morning, they will remove BOTH pacemakers, and implant a NEW pacemaker in a different spot in his abdomen.

Mikey is prepared now for his surgery. He's ready. His faith is strong. OUR faith is stronger than ever and WE are ready, too. One thing that Mikey is concerned about, is that he will miss reading his bible. He always reads 3 chapters a day and 5 chapters on sunday. He asked me to read them to him, while he is on the ventilator, so he won't get behind on his bible reading.

EVERYONE THAT WILL, PLEASE REMEMBER MIKEY IN PRAYER THIS WEEK, ESPECIALLY TODAY!


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If you have something to add, email Diva Peg. Thanks.


                  

                  

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Thank you!!!