3rd Consultation Update

We just got a call from the operation room. Cate is doing well. The were able to leave her valve alone!! Praise be Jesus Christ! The had to put a piece of conduit in her pulmonary artery to widen it. HER HEART IS BEATING ON ITS OWN!!!!!!!!! She is still on the heart/lung bypass. They are now putting all her chest drainage tubes and pacemaker wires in, just to get and keep her heart on a natural rhythm, until it gets used to beating again, it has not beat for almost 7 hours now. Dr. Salazar is complete with the repair and should be finished up with all the finishing touches and sewing her little chest back up in about an hour and half. We will have a consult with him when its all said and done. Praise be Jesus Christ, Thanks sweet Loving Faithful Father, and thank you wonderful Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos! Once we talk to the Dr. and Cate is in the CVICU I will update you all.

2nd Consultation Update

Alright, we met with Doris again just minutes ago. Everything is still going well. Cate is still on the heart lung/bypass machine. They have closed the two holes in her heart and were able to use her own pericardium, which is the sack which her heart sits in, so they did not have to use any artificial material. Dr. Salazar is looking at the Pulmonary Valve right now. He is concerned that it might not be work well enough. He is not sure. So there is a possibility that they will take her off the bypass machine to see how the valve will work now that the holes are repaired. If it does not function at a level he is satisfied then they will put an artifical valve in. The bad thing about that is that putting an artifical valve increases the chances that Cate will have to have another surgery in the years to come. The nurse said it will definitely be 6:00pm or after before they are finished up. We should get another update around 5:00pm. Ali and I are doing very well! Our Father is faithful and Cate is a fighter, we have alot of faith in BOTH of them!!! Love you guys....KEEP PRAYING!

1st Update Consultation

Doris, Cate's nurse came to give us the first update at approximatley 2hrs 30min into the operation. Cate is now completely sedated, the have opened her up and she is now on the heart/lung by-pass machine. They are now assessing Cate's defects visually and how they plan on repairing them. They are giving 6pm as the approximate finish time. We will have another update in approximatley 2hrs. Pray HARD PLEASE! Love you!

Game On

Cate was taken back into surgery at 11:15am. Will give you all an update soon! Pray for Dr. Salazar, other doctors, and nurses!

Circling the Airport

The nurse came in about 8:45am and told us that Cate got bumped from 1st up to 2nd spot. So it will be at the earliest between 10:30-11:00am before they even bring her in to pre-op. Please pray for her, she is hungry and she is a Cantrell,
we are not pleasant people without food in our bellies! Love you guys

Waiting Game

hey guys,

Just wanted to give you brief update. Its 7:30am they came in
at 6:15am and told us they were coming to get us. So, we are
running a bit behind schedule. Once Cate is in surgery I will give
yall an update. Thanks for th prayers keep them coming. Baby
Cate was doing good till about 20 minutes ago when she realized
that she hasn't eaten since 11:30pm last night and that her crying
is not getting her feed, so she is a little upset right now. Pray for
a full belly for her sake!

Good Day

Greetings to all, we are quietly sitting in our room before our families show up for a visit so I thought i would send you all an update about Baby Cate's day. We arrived at Texas children's hospital at 8:00am this morning. We were immediately taken and given massages and spring facials, SIKE. We were immediatley taken to get an EKG, then Chest X-Rays, Bloodwork, meetings with the Nursey Practioner for anastesiology, a Physicians Assistant to the surgeon, a childlife specialist, and went on a tour of the 3 floors that we will be on while Cate is here at TCH and this was all before 12pm. So, needless to say it was a very busy morning. We ran into a friend of ours who is in his Fellowship in Cardiology here at TCH, just a great connection with a close friend who could explain everything and answer anything us dumb cajuns still didn't understand. He even stopped by our room tonight just to make sure we were feeling good about the day and to give us his number in case we had a freak out session during the middle of the night. God is amazing, he has gently calmed our fears and reminded us that again he is here and we need not worry. Ali, Cate, and I went and got some lunch down in the food court and then went back up for our 1:30 appt. with Dr. Salazar. While waiting on Dr. Salazar, Cate's favorite nurse of the morning came and got her, took her around to everyone that was working to show them how cute Cate was. Everyone we met today said, we're not supposed to say this, but she is absolutely beautiful. We were like, yeah we know. Then Dr. Salazar came in, I think my wifes heart went piter pater. He was awesome! Very clear, very calm, told us like it was. He said you know I can say with 97% certainty that everything is going to go smoothly tomorrow. He said, would you like a 1 to 3% chance something might go wrong or 50/50. I said I would chose the 1 to 3%. He agreed, so I think we are going to go shoot some hoops later and we will probably be friends. Yesterday as we were driving here I got to thinking about Blessed Xavier Seelos and how he has been with Cate for almost her whole life now. I decided that I was going to go out on a limb and ask Dr. Salazar if he would take our 1st Class relic of Fr. Seelos into the operating room with Cate. So, as we were wraping up our meeting today, he said, You can send Cate into surgery with her favorite blanket, bear, bunny, whatever, and I am thinking HERE IS MY CHANCE! I said Dr. Salazar my wife and I are devout Catholics and Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos has been our intercessor for Cate since we found out there was complications in Utero. We have a relic that we would like to send in to the operation room with you all so that he can physically be there with yall. He smiled, he said, "In the morning ask the anastesiologist (sp?) if that would be ok, actually just kinda insist that it has to go in with her. In fact, tell them that Dr. Salazar said that he is going to put it on his Loups Box, which is the instrument that holds the magnification glasses I wear during surgery. And you've got to tell me what they say." I was like YES, mission accomplished, Fr. Seelos, will be with Cate in the operating room! Fr. Drew Wood, my old boss/pastor from St. Laurence Parish in Sugar Land, Tx, came by tonight to see us and Cate. We gathered with our family in the hospital room and we all prayed for Cate, the Surgeons, Doctors, and Nurses who will take care of Cate during this time. it has been a great day and a great night. Ali and I are truly at peace right now and out trust is in our Heavenly Father, who has had Cate in the palm of his hand, since the moment of her existence. It has been a long day and we are all tired, but NOT CATE, she is wide awake, pulling on the IV that is in her foot and rattling the metal bars of the baby bed she is "resting." The phone calls, emails, and text messages are ALL appreciated and encouraging! We are keeping track of all of them so that we can tell Cate in a few years from now all the people who were thinking and praying for her. So, if you were her to know that you care about her at all you better send her a note, hehe. We love you all and ask that you say a special prayer about 7:45am tomorrow morning this is when the surgery will begin. The surgery should last until about 12:30pm. I will update you all as soon as I can. With that I sign off in sweet surrender of our beautiful family to the arms of our Loving Father.