What a whirlwind of activity the last month has been. The World Show then the Rocky Mountain International. By the way Code of Honor won the Championship class at the International against a very nice class of 11 three year old stallions. I was very pleased and S T was really happy with the result as well.
Then we were happy to welcome Alyssa Grace Arnold to our family. Weighing in at 4 # and 13 Oz she immediately made our hearts her very own. Then the bad news came that on Monday at 5 days old she would have her first surgery. My son Steve, her Grandpa called and broke the news to me. He asked if I wanted for him to come to Kentucky from Mississippi to pick me up and take me to Virginia with him to see Alyssa and be there for her mother during the surgery. Without a second thought my answer was yes.
So he left his home in Mississippi on Saturday morning and drove here.
In the meantime we went to the Mountain Pleasure International Show in Owingsville Kentucky on Saturday evening. Van Berts took 4 horses for me to that show and all four were rewarded a Championship in their class. We also got a couple of seconds and a third. My stallion, Code of Honor won his Championship against a class of other quality stallions. Annie, the weanling, was outstanding in her class.
Rockin Andi won her under saddle class and Flair for Fury won the Yearling Conformation class. It was a really good and exciting show for me as my horses demonstrated the quality available in the four separate breed registries.
Those are broken down as Rocky Mountain Horse Association, American Gaited Horse Association, Mountain Pleasure and the the show yet to come is the Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse Association. If you are new to Mountain Horses, this may help you. It took me a while to decipher all this. I could just be slow
Eleanor and I left the show early. We had a couple of hours drive back to Taylorsville. I needed to be home at a decent hour because the next morning Steve and I were leaving for Virginia to see my newest Great Grandchild. It was his first granddaughter. We were anxious to get on the road.
During the 10 hour drive to Virginia, I got a phone call from my nephew in law telling us that his sister had died. It was tragic. She lived alone and was not found for a couple of days. It was heart breaking. We did get back in time for the funeral on Wednesday. We needed to be there to comfort our family.
We got into Virginia on Sunday early evening and picked up Sarah and went straight to the hospital. Alyssa is so tiny and so beautiful she took my breath away. Each of us had a turn to go into the nursery with Sarah to see and hold her. Only two can visit at a time. We each had to scrub like we were doing surgery and put on a gown and only then could we hold Alyssa. Sarah loves that baby so much that her heart aches. She goes from all smiles and then smiles through tears.
It hurt to see her hooked up to so many monitors and tubes. But the worse was yet to come.
The next day was the surgery. The staff at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk VA are skilled at giving information in understandable form. We got to speak with each of the health care professionals before the surgery who answered any and all questions we could think of. Her pediatrician, the heart specialist and the nurse that would go into the surgery with her. They are very compassionate and kind.
During the surgery, we were updated frequently on Alyssa's condition. We were told that she was a strong baby with a strong heartbeat. The surgery was necessary because Alyssa has Tetrology of Fallot. A hole in her heart and a artery that was leaking blood. She also has Digeorge Syndrone. A stint was put in her vein (or artery) to make the blood flow the correct way. Her oxygen rich blood was mixing with the blood that had no oxygen. Don't ask me hard questions. I don't have answers but if you would like to know more, go to google and there is a world of information on both conditions.
The 5 hour surgery went very well. We were allowed to visit her in PICU. Again no more than two at a time. We could not hold her then but we could talk to her and talk we did. We rubbed her feet and hands gently almost afraid we would break her. She looked so tiny in the full sized bed. And it was so heart breaking to see her with even more tubes in addition to the already in place monitors.
It got to be very late and we left to take Sarah home and go back to the Navy Lodge for the night. The Navy lodge is a very nice place to stay. We had beds that the comfort rivaled the Holiday Inn. There was a small efficiency kitchen and a roomy bathroom. Very nice and very clean.
Tuesday we left for Kentucky. We were not yet out of W Virginia when the phone rang. It was a sobbing Sarah. All her Dad could get out of her was tube out, OR and CPR. We almost turned around on the spot. But we had a promise of frequent updates that we didn't get all that frequently. Sarah was in no condition to tell us what had happened. Her sister's phone battery was nearly dead. We finally called the nurses' station who called Sarah to the phone.
As it turned out the breathing tube had been dislodged during a time they were suctioning her and they did CPR on her. They had to take her back to surgery to reinstall the breathing tube that is only 2 cc into her. While they were there they put her back on bypass and checked her heart to make sure the stint was still in place and that all was still ok.
We had a terrible drive home as we went back and forth in our minds whether we should be going to Kentucky or turning around to go back to Virginia. Many prayers went up to our Heavenly Father as we laid our petitions before his throne of grace. I opened my eyes after one such prayer and in my face was a billboard to read. "All things are possible with God". At that moment I knew that Alyssa would be alright but it was still a long wait to here the words spoken.
She is doing ok now. She opened her eyes for her mother Tuesday night and that made her mother's heart sing with joy.
We want to thank all who have prayed to faithfully for her. Keep those prayers going heavenward. She still has a lot of health issues. She will have another surgery in the first six months of her life. She will probably have health problems all her life. Modern medicine is so wonderful. There is much to learn but so much more is known now than past days.
One of my Dad's brothers died at 5 years of age. He had diphtheria. My brother also had diphtheria but he survived thanks to medicine that had become available after my Uncle died. Bob was sick in the early fifties. Uncle Shelburne died sometime before 1915.
God bless each of you and keep you in his loving care.
Regards
Mary
"And God took a handful of southerly wind, blew his breath over it and created the horse.
~~~Bedouin Legend~~~~
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiastes 12: 13
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