Jonah's Journey

I would like you to meet Jonah Van Spronsen - age 21 months. Jonah was born with a number of abnormalities. Jonah is the first son of George and Jessica. He has a younger brother, Samsun.

The following account of Jonah was prepared by Jessika, his mom. I am inviting you to pray with us over this month for Jonah's surgery. I encourage you to send this page to as many people as you can over the next days. You can Copy/Paste the entire text and photo into an email from yourself - or simply Copy/Paste the URL( http://northviewchurch.blogspot.com/2006/11/jonahs-journey.html ) into your email.

We are asking for an army of people to be raised up to pray for Jonah over this month and into December 2006.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and support today.

~ Pastor Murray ~

Dear Northview Church Blogspot Reader;

The surgeon's office called today. As some of you already know we have a new surgeon on our case, and his office does things a little differently than the other ones, so here is the update. I am including the details of Jonah's surgery to make sure you are all up to date on everything.

SURGERY DATE: November 27th, 2006. This has been moved up by 2 days...WOO HOO!!! We are being admitted on the 26th. Jonah will be out of PICU hopefully by the 29th. ( Paediatric Intensive Care Unit).

DISCHARGE PLANS: The lovely secretary I talked to said Jonah will likely be hospitalized for a total of 9 days, that includes the day before and the day of surgery. Following that will be our recovery time in December.

SAMSUN PLANS: Samsun, Jonah’s younger brother, is going to keep Gammy and Nana company at home. Oma Margaret may also be stopping in.

SURGERY DETAILS: Jonah is having a whole array of things done in this surgery:

• ABR (which is a hearing test), tubes placed in both ears to alleviate his balance issues.
• A collar test to see if the vocal chords are still working, they place electrodes on the vocal chords and send electric shock through them and if they respond then they are working, if they don't Jonah's trach will be permanent.
• They are also checking to see if the connection between his esophagus and his trachea has reattached, if so, they will remove it.
• He is having a re-fundoplication (the wrapping of the stomach 360 degrees around the esophagus to prevent acid refulx).
• His heart is also getting an operation during this time. He is having the vascular ring removed from around his trachea and esophagus, and placed back where the aorta is always supposed to be.
• His stomach is being removed from beside his left lung.
• They are also performing a bronchoscope and larynxscope to see what is going on in his throat in terms of getting the trach out...it will not be removed for some time yet, but they are just doing a thorough check.
• They are possibly going to remove the granulation tissue from the stoma of his trach (the red puffy skin around the outside of the trach), this is just scar tissue and easily removed.

A lot for one day. But this new surgeon is confident that the surgery will be over in 5-6 hours, including the time it takes for him to be put under and wake up. Which is a lot better than the 9 the other surgeon was saying. The reason is, is that ENT (Ear Nose and Throat), can work the same time as the other surgeons are and doesn't need to take any extra time, so that cuts down considerably, and also, the cardiologists can work with the general surgeon to get both things done at the same time. Which in the long run is better for Jonah.

So...exciting news...we go meet the new surgeon on the 23rd, George is also donating his blood to be banked for Jonah's surgery on that day. Thanks for all your added prayers, we need them, and we feel them.

“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)


Love: GEORGE, JESSIKA, JONAH EVAN AND SAMSUN MATTHEW

The first photo is of Samsun... the next is the Van Spronsen Family..