"I feel fine...I have lots of energy...I'm not sleepy at all."

Discharge!!!

Candace has been discharged and is back at the hotel now. As expected she's "fine" and wanting to act like nothing happened. Dad had to stop her from walking the 3 flights of stairs up to our room. Next stop medically is Tuesday for open heart to repair her valve.

Candace is back in the room. Came in shortly after posting the last update. She says she was awake for most of the procedure just hanging out. :) For those of you wondering why a 4-hour procedure took almost 10 hours... they were having a difficult time inducing a tachycardia. Without a tachycardia they don't know where to ablate. But, they think they took care of everything eventually. Needless to say, it was an experience for her. Now she has to lie flat until 7:30. She is really looking forward to being able to sit up... so are we! Wiping her watery eyes and scratching her itchy feet is getting old. lol.

Note from Candace: "Thank you so much for your prayers. I'm thankful that we know the great physician because everything is going well and I feel great. I hate this thing (blood pressure cuff)!"

Nurses just came in a few minutes ago to let us know that they have finished the procedure and are pulling her lines out now. She will be heading back to the room after recovery in about an hour. Random picture, but I know she wanted a picture with every post and I thought the hospital architecture was really pretty.

...from the heart ward

 This is Amanda on Candace's behalf. It was another really early morning (left the hotel at 5:15)... as you can see in the picture, we were all pretty sleepy.

Well, they finally came and took her back around 9:30 for her ablation. It took until just a few minutes ago for them to find the source of her racing problem so they could fix the problem.

On a positive note... Our cousin, Jared, dropped by to see us (and Candace of course). It's been almost 10 years since we've seen him, so it was great to reconnect. Pray for him as he just finished hiking the Appalachian Trail and is heading back home to Florida via a canoe trip down the Mississippi.

Will continue to keep you posted as we hear more.

Happenings of the Day

Well my day started at 5am! All of my Pre-Op tests are done. I had two blood tests done, an electro-cardiogram, two different consultations with the doctors and surgeons and of course a coffee break in between!

Tomorrow I will arrive at the hospital at 530am. From there I will go into my ablation surgery where they will attempt to locate and correct the electrical problem that is causing my heart to race. The procedure will last anywhere between 2-4 hours, after which I will be hospitalized for 1 night. I will ask my sister to update tomorrow when I am in the procedure and when I come out.
Thank you so much for your prayers!
Candace

A few of you have asked for an address in where I will be staying. I am posting the address for the hotel in which my family will be staying. I will be in a few different locations of the hospital so it will probably be easiest to send anything to the hotel and have my parents bring it over. If I find of a more permanent address at the hospital I will update you.

GuestHouse International Inn and Suites
435 16th Avenue NW
Rochester, MN 55901

We are in room 315

Thank you
Candace

From the heart of the Guesthouse

We made it to Minnesota at about 4 this afternoon. We are beginning to settle into our temporary home here. Thank you so much for all of your prayers for our travels. The weather was great and everything went smoothly. Please continue to pray as tomorrow at 730 begins my real adventure. I have 4 tests/ appointments tomorrow.
Thank you so much!
Preparing to serve Him on the equator,
Candace

What is "...from the heart"

This blog has been created via the request of my wonderful supporters. I will still continue with my normal prayer letters but due to everything that will be happening within the next month this will be a better way for details to be given while I am in the hospital. What is the purpose of it? It has been created to keep a better connection between you and I. As my supporters both financially and prayerfully, you ought to be informed with what is happening in my life. I want you to be involved in what goes on while I am both stateside and overseas. For the time being the updates will mostly be concerning my health. My first surgery is a week from today and I would like to be able to keep you informed so that you will know how things are going and how to pray. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and support thus far. It means so much to me to know that I do not just have my immediate family behind me, or even just my home church, but that I have people all over the world bringing my trials before the Throne of Grace.

The title of this blog is "...from the heart." There is a two fold purpose to this. Obviously the updates for the time being will be mainly concerning my heart as I will be facing these operations. But more importantly I would like to use this blog to share with you the things that the Lord is doing spiritually in my heart as I travel this journey. I want this to be a way for me to share with you the things I learn both during this trial and when I travel to Kiribati. As I spend my time in recovery I will try to keep updates on Kiribati as well. And I ask that you continue to pray for the Daku and Snyder families, as well as the i-Kiribati people.

Keep checking in for updates along the way. During the next few weeks there will be several updates, and I have asked my sister to keep updates going while I am out of commission.

Preparing to serve Him on the Equator
Candy