Looking Back...

I've had some time to sit and reflect over the last few weeks. Not sure that's completely a good thing because it's given me time to think about all of the "what if's...". But, it definitely has me appreciating life and the power of prayer!

I don't know that it completely occurred to me how close we came to losing Kayleigh on more than one occasion. Her illness has slowly been taking her body over, leaving her so weak and fatigued that her heart literally was just starting to give up. Our second night in the hospital, at Baptist, we must have had a roomful of doctors and nurses around when she first went into distress. They moved her bed over to make room for the "crash cart" and prepared us for what "could be". The room was oddly calm, I was in a bit of frozen panic, and all Mike could do was say "I get to yell CLEAR" nervously!

Later that night Mike and I were talking to the doctor in the hallway, leaving Kayleigh in the room with a dear friend. Kayleigh, with tears in her eyes, looked at Jen and said "I felt like I really was dying..." When Jen told me of this conversation, my heart just sunk for Kayleigh.

A few days later, while at Duke Med we found ourselves in a similar situation. The doctor that came in explained to us that they were on the verge of pulling the "code blue" switch in her room because her heart rate had just dipped way too low and she was in a dangerous heart rhythm.

There were several occasions where Kayleigh would go into a sustained dangerous rhythm where all we could do was run our fingers through her hair, speak softly to her reassuring her, and keep her calm. I would send out a prayer text to a group of people that simply would state "Pray NOW..." and within minutes she would return to a normal heart rhythm. The two times where Kayleigh was so dangerously close to cardiac arrest we silently prayed and only His healing hand was needed without any other intervention.

Kayleigh is recovering more each and every day! She is eating well again, has energy, and looks better than she has looked in months! We have learned that life is truly a fragile thing and we are not in control of if, only He is. I thank God at the start and finish of each day for not taking our Kayleigh home quite yet!