How is your heart? It is a great spiritual question coming from a missionary but in this case of Chad, it is a question concerning his health.
Chad has had a heart arrhythmia for several years. He has had two procedures (cardiac ablation) to correct it but each time it has returned. Thankfully, his arrhythmia is not life threatening but still, periodically very troublesome. The first two operations corrected for a heart condition called "Atrial Flutter". Now, the doctors want to do another ablation but on the other side of his heart to correct a different arrhythmia called "Atrial Fibrillation." When Chad had the first two operations, the procedure for "Atrial Fibrillation" was considered high risk, but now 5 years later, the technology has improved and the operation is become quite common. Originally we thought he would have the operation done here in Chile but for various reasons we have decided to have in done in the states.
So on December 6, we fly to California where Chad is scheduled for a surgery on December 13. The doctor has recommend that Chad stay in the US for several weeks after the surgery just in case of complications. (The trip from Temuco, Chile to the US takes about 24 hours so it is better to make sure all is well before returning to Chile). It was not our plan to return to the states so soon after our visit last year but we really feel that it is better to get this taken care of now. We will be staying with Chad's parents in Salinas, CA which is only 5 minutes from the hospital (SVMH). Although we would love to see everyone, we will not be traveling outside the area since this a time of recovery for Chad. But if you would like to visit us, the door is always open.
We leave California on Feb 2, 2012. Please pray that Chad does well in the operation and that the effects of the operation are lasting.
Thank you for your prayers,
Ruthanne Lynch
