Our Request - by Ane

It has been almost two weeks since our visit to Dr. Urba, the oncologist.  He told us that he would call our cardiologist and let him know that he felt good about moving forward with shocking the heart since there was no evidence of a tumor there.  He did so, and we called the cardiologist’s office to see how soon we could get in to see him.  The earliest appointment available was August 30^th which was still three weeks out.  This past Friday Mark & I were feeling an urgent need to get in sooner, but didn’t know what we could do.  A few hours later, Mark got a call from the office telling us that Dr. Schroeder had taken a new assignment and couldn’t meet with us on the 30^th.  There were no other appointments with any cardiologists until October or November!  That was NOT good news.  Then the receptionists said that there was an older doctor who had some time available that very afternoon in the Gresham office.  Mark told them we would come!  At 3:15 we were talking to this doctor – yes older, but nice guy.  He had looked at all the reports and he saw no reason not to move forward.  He said that even though Mark has been in A-Fib for several months that his heart did not seem to be enlarged and there were no visible signs of any clots in his heart.  He did say that the longer the heart has been in A-Fib the more difficult it is for it to go back to regular rhythm so the sooner, the better.  With his approval we were able to make an appointment with an electro-physiologist who would review the case, and he would be the one to do the actual procedure.  We have an appointment on August 29^th at 8:45 a.m.  If all goes well with that appointment it should be less than a week before the procedure is done.  So…with all that said…our request to you is that you pray with us that Mark will be able to have the procedure done and that it will work – that his heart will return to its normal rhythm and that in time he will be able to discontinue the heart medicines. 

We felt that our prayers were answered in being able to see a cardiologist this past Friday and get the ball rolling for this procedure to be done.  There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that your prayers have been a tremendous blessing in our lives.  We are also mindful that some of you are enduring trials of your own – some public and some private.  It is sometimes those private ones that are the hardest because you don’t have the support of others.  Our hearts go out to you and you will be remembered in our prayers. We pray for all of you that have prayed for us. 

With deepest gratitude, 

Ane