Twins Update & Heart Attack Update, Oh My!

As usual, Christy expresses herself so well and a lot of you don't have access to their blog since it is private so Christy said it was OK to copy the latest updates on the twins especially since there are so many of your out there praying for them.

"Well today's been a really hard day. We got news that Emily's PDA valve has actually increased in size and so they will be preforming the heart surgery on her tomorrow to close her PDA. So even though they say the sugery doesn't take long and is fairly easy to do, it's always a risk. But I feel that everything will be fine and the doctors are so skilled at what they do.

We also got back Ethan's brain scan today and it was hard to hear the news. It is showing that his brain is bleeding on both sides and is at a level 3 right now out of 4. It's pretty severe they say. The blood that is showing is still in his vessels and hasn't gone outside of that, but he has a really high chance of having mild to severe brain damage which could result in cerebral palsey or other mental or physical disorders when he is older. The nurse practioner said there's really not a lot they can do for this other than monitor him and hope that the blood will be absorbed and not continue to get larger or go outside those vessels. They will do another brain scan on him next week.

Well, that's all the news for now. Ryan and I are heading back down to Utah tomorrow to be with both of them. It's been hard writing this... Thanks again for all your prayers for our family! We love you all!

Oh, and I wanted to add a few pictures of our babies...

This just puts it in perspective of how small their hands and feet are...and actually Emily has quite large feet! Some of the nurses have said her feet are the biggest they have seen! They for sure got their dad's feet, toes and long fingers! haha!

Emily Jean

Emily snuggling with her blankie under her shades

Emily with my wedding ring around her wrist

Ethan's little foot

Our little Ethan "

The pictures are so precious. Can you believe how small they are? It is so hard to be away from them and the older girls. Oh yeah, I drove home to take care of Mom. I arrived at the hospital about 2:00 this morning. I felt so horrible leaving the girls but Christy's friend, Stephanie, came and picked them up so that I could take off and not have to drive all night. Today they transferred her to the hospital in St. George where they have a Cardiologist.

Mom's chest pains weren't going away so they did an angiogram and found out that her heart and arteries were healthy. Mom had Bronchitus and had coughed so hard that it affected her heart and she still has some lingering pain. They are keeping her in the hospital for another night to keep an eye on her.

My Sister, Jerri Ann had an angiogram also and did actually have a small heart attack. Here's the crazy part, it was a side effect of taking a migraine medication! One that she had taken before! How crazy is that? The good news though is that the Doctor told her that she has the heart of a 20 year old! Cool!

Now my Mother and Sister have matching scars from their angiograms. I told them that they were going to have to find another way of bonding because this method just isn't working for me. And NO, I refuse to get a matching scar!

Bob was so sweet, he took a day off of work and went and retrieved Mom's truck from work so that she wouldn't worry. Ryan & Christy were also worried about them, as if they didn't have enough to worry about! I've talked to so many family members in the past two weeks but wish that it could have been about something more light hearted.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and concern. I don't know how we would have been able to handle all of this withought your prayers and concern. Heavenly Father has blessed our family so much. While we are currently having a lot of challenges we are also being blessed.

Twin Update

Because of all that has been happening we haven't been able to keep everyone up to date on everything. Ryan and Christy are dealing with what is most important, their four precious children and each other, oh yeah school, bills, etc.

Christy has put the following update on her blog and I can't put it any better, especially since I wasn't at the hospital. I was in Pocatello with Madi & Avery and worrying about some other family health issues that I will explain in another post.

Here's Christy's update, "It has been two...almost, LONG weeks, as you know at the Hodges home! Today the twins are 9 days old and are stable at this time. I am so grateful for their little spirits and the time I have had with them so far, holding their hands in mine and softly touching their heads. They are fighting hard everday to be here. It has been a roller coaster ride, with so many ups and downs. I have had moments of strength where I know it hasn't come anywhere but our Heavenly Father and all your prayers for our family. And I have had moments of weakness where I just sit and cry my heart out and feel completely useless as my babies struggle every moment to stay alive and miss my other two girls like crazy! Makes me really appreciate the time I do get with them when I see them. :)

Today has been another crazy day, and I thought I would give a quick update as I sit here in the waiting room, waiting for an Echo test to be done on Ethan. An Echo test is a test to check to see if his PDA valve in his heart has closed, or gotten smaller from his 2 rounds of Ibuprofen medicine. If it has closed or is at least showing signs that it has gotten smaller, than he won't have to have sugery to close it, it will do it by itself. But if the size of his PDA valve hasn't changed at all due to the Ibuprofen medicine, then he will have a little heart sugery(which they say it isn't anything to worry about, as it is a simple procedure) in the next two days to close it.
Usually if the valve hasn't closed within three rounds of the Ibuprofen then they do the surgery, but with Ethan they don't want to chance another round, because sometimes, I guess, the Ibuprofen medicine can cause bleeding in the brain and/or other problems. So they are also going to be doing an ultrasound sometime today on Ethan's brain to see if there is any bleeding. So we are just waiting for both these tests to be done and get the results back. We should know by tonight whether or not they will do the surgery.

Some good news is they did an ultrasound on Emily's brain to check if there was any bleeding and hers came back normal, which is great news!!! So we are praying that Ethan's brain scan also comes back normal and also that his PDA valve is either smaller or closed!! Which would honestly be a miracle for his gestation age. Many nurses have told me that Emily and Ethan are really doing good for how early they are and are good size babies for being twins. (It must have been all the broccoli I ate!) Emily is on her last round of medicine for her PDA valve, (which was something different than Ethan's Ibuprofen...sorry, I can't remember all the names of the medicines/treatments that they use!) and she will be having her Echo test done tomorrow sometime.

8 hours later...

OK...so I wrote this earlier today, never getting around to finishing it and posting it. I have some good news and some bad news. First off, the good news...the results came back and Ethan's PDA valve is A LOT smaller!!! Yeah!!! That means, Ethan will not have to have the heart surgery! "

Christy then goes on to comment on our other family health emergenty which I will deal with in my next post. I just want to say that Ryan and Christy are both amazing. They are so strong, I know that they are scared and being inundated by so much but I am impressed by the way they are able to support each other and their other two girls. There are times that are so scarey that no one can really do anything but just be there and let them know that they always will be. Sometimes I feel so helpless.

I am also grateful for all of the family and friends that have circled the wagons to help and support this family. Everyone has been amazing. The faith that has been shown is astonishing as well. Thank you to all of my friends, who don't even know Ryan & Christy, and to the amazing Sorensen Cousins who have lent their prayers and support which could move mountains. I love you guys and you are always there for me. If nothing else this helps us to appreciate each other and the time we have together. We also know that we will be reunited in the next life.

Surgery Over!

My surgery is over and everything went well. I'm home and recuperating. I am a little worried about my brain though because with my last surgery in October they gave me Lortab and I got this killer headache that wouldn't go away until the drug wore off. Since my surgery was a lot bigger and so many other things were going on, I guess I forgot. Well now I'm paying for it because I've got this head-splitting headache and now I remember that I've had it before. Maybe now I won't forget. There isn't anything I can do except wait for it to wear off. Consequences can be a pain - literally!

I just wanted everyone to know that I'm fine and will be taking it easy for a little while and then hopefully be up and active again. Thanks for your good wishes and prayers.

Small Surgery

Tomorrow afternoon I am going in for a same-day surgery. It is just a small surgery to repair scar tissue from my previous surgery in October. Long story short, I have some scar tissue that isn't healing correctly and it very painful so the Doctor is going to go in and clean it up. Hopefully after this I will be able to sit - how embarrasing. I have missed so many important family events and important things because I can't sit for any length of time without a lot of pain. I am looking forward to this being over. I need to get in shape for our up-coming new twin babies!

For those of you who haven't heard, Ryan & Christy are having twins that are due on August 9th. Since christy usually delivers early and twins usually come early we are planning on them coming in early July. Hmmm, my birthday is July 5th - wouldn't that be a great present for everyone. I share a birthday with my Great-Aunt Mildred and it is so cool. She is one of the happiest people I have ever met and I consider it an honor to share this special day with her.

I will be happy no matter what day the babies come. One of the twins is a boy (Ryan is so excited!) but they aren't sure about the other one.

My surgery isn't until 2:30 and my Mom will pick me up at the hospital afterward so I won't be home until after 6:00 or so. I wouldn't let Bob take the week off for this small procedure but he feels bad for not being here. I told him to save the time for more important things that may come up. I hope this is the end of medical procedures for awhile. I have too many fun and important things to do and I am way behind already. Patience was never my strength.