It has been a difficult week. When Kris was at the UofU on Tuesday last week it was discovered that his lungs were working at 33%. This increases the risk of surgery. The surgeon made us feel like the risks were too high. Kris is meeting with a pulmonologist (Dr. Barbara Cahill) on August 9 to find out why his lungs are so weak, and what can be done to resolve the problem. On Wednesday last week the "team" of doctors indicated that they think they have a way to do the surgery with his lungs as they are. That will be addressed (hopefully) on next Tuesday.

Kris had pericarditis when he was younger which caused his pericardium to stick to his heart. When his aortic valve was replaced in 1999 the pericardium had to be peeled from his heart. Unfortunately, without the pericardium his heart has adheared to his sternum. The surgery went from 4-6 hours to 10-12 hours because of this. Can you imagine standing/sitting for 10-12 hours working on someone's heart? Our lives are in God's hands. He is in control and will only do what is very best for us. We may not understand or like what it is at the time, but in looking back we can see his mercy and love.

Also, just to keep things interesting, his mechanical aortic valve won't work very well (increased risk of blood clots) with the L-VAD (heart pump), and so he will have to have it replaced with a pig valve.

Oh, and if you are interested, the colonoscopy went well. Re-check in 3-5 years. :-)

And so goes the saga. Please remember him in your prayers.