Hey, Dad. We just got home this afternoon from Tucson.
Sorry I didn’t call you to let you know how things were going. Angie said that she would write to update you, but she is a slacker, so I will do it.

So, we got to Tucson and met with the financial coordinator first. The main thing that I got from that meeting was that our insurance is going to pay for the transplant as in-network. Yay and praise God! I cried a little.

Then we met with the transplant coordinator Sue. We love her. Next Angie had her treadmill test and EKG. They said she did really well on the treadmill test. Next we met with a social worker. Angie described herself as “angry and easily irritated.” I said “You get that from my dad.” Ha, ha, ha. Then they had me meet with a psychologist.

I swear she kept falling asleep while I talked so I guess that means there weren’t any red flags that I’m crazy. (I would have bet the other way.)

Finally for Monday she had a chest x-ray, some dental x-rays and only 14 vials of blood drawn. Poor thing. We went to stay with a guy Eddie used to work with in Riverside and his family.
I was nervous about staying with people we don’t know, but they are the kindest family and we felt at home there.

On the way to their house, the truck started acting weird. It wasn’t drivable. Eddie called and got an appointment at Firestone for 7 am the next day. Aimee was bringing Katlyn, Evie and Trevor out to be with Angie during her cath the next day.
She got up and took her kids to our friend’s house at 3:30 am to go and get the truck so they could take it in. They were all so tired. Angie’s cath was a nightmare. She was supposed to be gone for 1 hour and she was in for 2 hours and 45 minutes.

When I got to see her, she was crying and said it was the scariest thing in her life. She kept waking up during the cath and could feel them sticking her. They had problems finding a vein because she is so small. They ended up calling in a pediatric cardiologist to do it. They tried to go into a vein in her neck. They said they gave her enough medicine to knock out a horse and she must have a very strong tolerance.

We thought they were going to knock her out, but I guess they don’t. We weren’t happy and we’ll leave that there. In the meantime, Eddie was calling to find out about the truck and Firestone didn’t touch it until noon.

We weren’t happy that Aimee and everyone else were so inconvenienced to get it there by 7 so it could sit. We’ll leave that there too. So, the cardiologist said that Angie’s pressures are really good.

She doesn’t have a whole lot that he could see that was wrong. There were a few things and he could see where her heart was thick, but she is in pretty good shape.

There is a pro and a con to that. Of course the pro is that she is doing well. The con is that if they feel that she doesn’t need a transplant immediately, they will not list her until she is really sick. They only list people who need a heart now. She WILL need a heart. It is just a matter of when they feel she is in immediate need. Doesn’t that suck?

Sue told us that they will meet on Friday to discuss Angie and make a decision as a team. Normally we would have to wait to see the team (August 13th) to find out the decision, but she said she would call us. See? We love Sue.

We went back to Jon and Jessie’s and Aimee got my kiddos home safe and sound.

Today we had an echo and we came home. It is Eddie and my 14th anniversary. OK I am going to give you a link to check out some pics of our vacation. Angie has a pretty stinkin good eye. We’re having a contest on Facebook to see who gets the most votes for best photo. She might win.

Love to all!

-Mel.
Vacation Photos

Hey, Dad.

We got a letter from UMC yesterday. They were explaining to us what to expect when we get to Tucson on the 27th. At 8 am we have to meet with a financial coordinator. (First things first, huh?) At 8:30 we meet with the transplant coordinator. 9:00 Angie has to do a treadmill test. I think they hook her up and test her heart and her lungs while she is exerting herself. At 10 she will get an EKG. At 10:30 she will meet with a social worker. 12:45 she has a 3 1/2 HOUR meeting with a psychologist! They have labs, chest x-ray, and a dental panorex listed as "anytime." On Tuesday they have the whole day set aside for her heart catheter. The procedure itself will be a couple of hours. Then she is required to lay flat on her back for 6 hours so they can make sure the hole the cath makes in her vein stops bleeding. On Wednesday we have an echo at 9:30 and we can come home! I am going to take Rai with me because I don't want Katlyn to be over whelmed at home watching Rai and Evie. Our church is going to bring meals for them on Monday and Tuesday nights. Aimee plans on driving out to Tucson on Tuesday. She is going to bring Katlyn and Evie with her. I miss my Evie when I'm not with her for a while. They are only going to stay for the day and then coming back home. It's going to be a rough few days for my Angie.

Tomorrow we leave for our trip. I am excited but very busy. I have a few other things besides getting ready for our trip that I am trying to get done. Rai likes to un-do things for me so some stuff I do I get to repeat a few times. :) I will send pictures of our gnome "Fred Roamin" from our trip. I put a 49er sticker on Fred's hat. Fred was a gift from my girls. I always wanted a gnome so we can take vacation pictures with him. I had heard a story about a family that had a garden gnome in their yard. One day there gnome was gone. The next thing they knew, they started getting pictures in the mail of their gnome from all over the world. People would take the gnome with them, send some pictures to the family and then hand the gnome off to other travelers to do the same thing. One day the gnome owners woke up to find their gnome back in their yard. I love that story, so thus the desire to take vacation pictures with Fred. The girls named him Fred Roamin because he is going to roam around with us.

Anyway, I love you guys. Talk to you in a couple of weeks.

-Mel.

Hey, Dad, guess what?!?!

WE HAVE THE TESTING DATES!!!!!

Finally, we know when we are doing the evaluation testing! July 27-29th. That is the day after we get back from our trip. We had an appointment for the consultation with the electric physiologist scheduled for the 28th so we had to move that to the 30th. That is the doctor who will do the cath for the SVT. Anyway, once they do the testing, we just have to wait for the insurance to approve the transplant and then for the transplant team to call us in and tell us that she is listed. I hope we can still go to CA in August!

One of Eddie's friends from when he worked at HomeTeam in Riverside is going to let us stay at his house in Tucson during the few days. He is the general manager for the HomeTeam branch there.

Angie is sad because she won't be able to see her "special friend" Trevor for 2 1/2 weeks.

Eddie went and got the wheelchair today too. Do you ever have those days when things just move right along? I LOVE these days! We have a busy couple of weeks coming up. I would rather be busy than sitting around though.

Love to you guys!

-Mel.

Dear Dad,

Angie's cardiologist called this afternoon. He was discussing Angela with another doctor. They both feel like it would be best if they address Angela's SVT now. The SVT is a problem with the electrical circuitry in her heart. Sometimes when the heart sends out a current to tell it to contract, the current gets looped back around. The loop causes her heart to beat really fast. When she was diagnosed, her heart rate was 267. Normally SVT isn't a major problem. She takes medicine to control it and there is a trick that she can do that fixes it. Dr. Shah thinks that because her heart is already having issues, that the SVT should be taken care of. I think what he meant was that if she has an SVT episode, she can have a sudden death event but he didn't want to say that. They want to go in with a cath again. They map the electircal current in her heart to figure out where the loop is occurring. Then they fix the problem. It doesn't always work. The procedure can last up to 8 hours. So we are supposed to get a call tomorrow to schedule the consultation with the doctor who will do the procedure. Poor Angie. This will mean she has 2 caths to look forward to. :( On a positive note, we have just about met our annual out-of-pocket in network max so this normally expensive proceudre should be pretty close to free for us.

I meant to tell you earlier too that Angela has decided to stay home next year for school. She has been trying to decide. I'm glad she'll be home..

OK, well that is all for now.

Love,

-Mel.

Dear Dad,

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. There hasn't really been much to say. I have kept myself busy with planning and organizing for our trip. Eddie says I am doing it way too early because we don't leave for another 2 weeks.

Angie is doing ok. She has had a few episodes like some swelling she had in her feet. It wasn't enough swelling that anyone other than someone who knows what her feet normally look like would notice. That is one of the questions they ask her every time we go to the doctor: "Have you noticed any swelling in your hands, feet or stomach?" The day she had all the swelling she had been eating a lot of chips and Chex mix. I don't think she is drinking the amount of water she is supposed to be. We have cracked down on the salt and lack of water. She hasn't had any swelling issues since then. We have decided though, to buy a wheelchair for our trip. We found one for $20. It will come in handy if we have to walk fast or far or if we are standing for too long. She is not happy that at 15 she needs a wheelchair. On the 4th of July she had an episode after carrying Rainna up a flight of stairs. She said she went slow, but still she was winded and dizzy. A couple of weeks ago we were walking into Walmart. Katlyn, Evie and I were hurrying to get out of the heat, but it was too much to walk fast for Angie. Little things like that are occurring more. It's sad. We just keep praying that her heart and lungs will maintain their health until she gets her heart.

Would you guys pray for my friend Aimee and her family? They have a couple of things that they are dealing with right now that they could use the prayer for.

Love to all!

-Mel.