Please Be Praying!

Hello to all of our friends and family! As you know, from our last update, Lincoln has been doing great and was scheduled to go down to UCLA on Sept. 26th for his bi-annual heart catheterization. Well, our plans have changed just a bit! Lincoln gets his lab work done once a month...and last week’s lab work revealed something not so exciting. One of the lab numbers they keep an eye on (the BNP level) was elevated 9 times the normal level. BNP is excreted by the heart when the heart muscle is being stretched. A couple of reasons the heart muscle could be stretching is: the heart is working too hard which could mean some level of rejection; too much fluid in and around the heart; or as simple as a growth spurt. We are praying for the latter...but at this point the Dr's aren't sure what it is or what it means. The rest of the labs, echocardiograms, medication levels and all around energy are great, so things aren't making too much sense at this point. All we know is that in April his BNP level was normal but it has been slowly and steadily rising. So basically this means they are bumping up his cath procedure to this Monday the 15th. They want to get in and get numbers, pressures and a biopsy as soon as possible to see if there is any rejection happening. Please be in prayer for Lincoln, his heart, the procedure and our hearts and minds as this is no doubt stressful and discouraging! Lincoln goes into cath at 7:00 AM and should last a few hours so please be in prayer! Other than that Lincoln is doing fine...he is his happy, crazy, smiley self! Hope everyone is doing well...we'll keep in touch. We love you lots! J,K&L