Prayers for Jiliang's Heart

Please keep Jiliang in your prayers this weekend. On Monday, we will have her Heart MRI that will tell us if she has a salvageable pulmonary artery. If they find it, they have hope that her heart can be repaired, which will give her a chance at a normal life and hopefully a very long lifespan. I am praying for a miracle for them to find a pulmonary artery, and one that is repairable, on Monday. I also pray that the anethesia and the procedure for the Heart MRI and Head CT to go smoothly and safely for Jiliang. They will be stopping her breathing to get a picture of her heart and lungs. I know that she will be in excellent hands at the University of Michigan, but because her heart is still quite a mystery, we pray that her heart will remain strong during these procedures.
They will also have a Mandarin Translator for Jiliang to walk her through the IV's and anethesia. That will help to ease her fears a lot. We have to arrive at 7:15 a.m. The MRI begins at 8:00 or 8:20 a.m. After the MRI, they are going to do a CT of her skull. They will keep her anesthetized until the CT is complete. They will be intubating her for these procedures, so hopefully she will be in recovery around 11:00 a.m. and we can leave by 1:00 p.m.
They have a anesthesiologist who is experienced with pediatric heart patients, and an ICU bed on stand-by. We are glad that the U of M doctors are taking every precautionary method possible.
We did receive some good news yesterday. When Jiliang came home, we had her blood taken to test for any thyroid issues, contagious diseases and bloodborne pathogens. Everything came back negative and we were very happy. We also had her tested for DiGeorge Syndrome. It is a syndrome associated with congenital heart defects and bone disorders. We wanted to rule out DiGeorge syndrome, because it posed other risk factors when considering surgery and it can affect bone growth and cause severe thyroid issues involving dangerous calcium levels. We thought that it came back negative with the rest of the lab work, but discovered about a week and a half ago that it was sent out to a genetics lab. Yesterday, we found out that Jiliang tested negative for DiGeorge Syndrome as well. :) We did not think that she had it, but it was a relief to hear that she did not have it. However, her cardiologist is still taking precautionary measures as if she had it. Patients with DiGeorge Syndrome need to have radiated blood in the event of a transfusion, or it can be fatal to them. He has reserved the radiated blood for her in the event that blood is needed. Once again, I am thankful that so much planning, communication and proactive medicinal thought has been dedicated to my daughter's care.
Please send forth your prayers for her on the morning of April 5th, 2010.
Thanks and God Bless You All!
Happy Easter.
Jill :)