He is OUT!

We got word about 10:30 that he was done already!  We had to rush so I didn't have time to update.  I will update about the cath and the future plan soon.  Right now I am going to go hold my little man!  Just wanted to let everyone know he is out and he did well during the procedure.  Thanks for all the prayers!

Cath Update No. 2- Good news!

We are getting nothing but great news from the cath lab!  She came out about 9:30 and told us that they got right into the left pulmonary artery.  If you've been following us a while, you know that is his trouble spot.  In the past it has taken 4+ hours just to get to it, several times with no success.  When we were here last February, it took them over an hour to get to it, but they succeeded and ballooned it.  So it is a miracle that they got right in.  She said Dr. Divekar is getting ready to balloon it now, and that the area beyond it (which has always been small) has really grown.  She felt that they were able to get to it so easily because it had grown really well.  This is amazing news to us, because basically his whole life all we have been told is that his PA's are not growing.  It's about time!


The hope is that this will help to lower the pressures in his heart and buy him more time before surgery.  We won't know for sure if that is the case yet until they take final measurements, but we are on the cusp of fantastic news!!  Keep the prayers coming.  We appreciate all the messages!  It gives us something to read while we are waiting. :)

Thank you Help A Heart for lunch today and they also sent Andrew a giant Thomas balloon, which is going to make his day.  Thank you, a million times over.  God is hearing our prayers!

Cath has begun..please pray!

They took Andrew back to the cath lab around 8:00.  Things were a little uncertain at first, as when the anesthesiologist came in to listen to him, he heard slight wheezing again.  So they decided to X-ray him first thing, just to make sure it was okay to proceed.  Of course we were all wondering if they were going to end up sending us home!  But they said the X-ray looked good and Andrew enjoyed seeing his bones on the screen!  He was perfect this morning.  Enjoyed waking up in the hotel after cuddling with me all night.  I loved every minute of it.  I just held him and prayed, awake most of the night.  He never asked for anything to eat or drink this morning, thank goodness, so that part was easy.  Papa and Ga Ga are here, and as we were talking to the doctors this morning before they took him back, he wanted to rotate between all of us holding him as he watched Toy Story.  He was happy.   The mask to sedate him was no fun as usual.  They let Craig and I both go back with him for that part, Craig held him down as I tried to choke back tears.

He's in God's hands now.  Please pray for him.  I'll update when I know more...

The cath is a GO!

But look what our boy is having to go through to get better!  I've been so stressed out this week, praying for him to get healthy (and thank you for your prayers, too!).  He just kept having that darn cough and it sounded so cruddy.  He also had a fever again, 24 hours apart on Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon.  I talked with Iowa City on Tuesday morning, and they said as long as he stayed fever free the rest of the week and seemed to be doing better, we could plan to come on Thursday and they would check him out.

Then the fever occurred again.  It was only 99.5, but still.  Here we were on this roller coaster of emotions again.  As you know, me the planner was going crazy not knowing if we were going or not.  Between Craig, myself and my mom we've managed to keep him out of day care this week and he was only there 3 days last week (prior to that was our 2 week break).  So somehow, in the 3 days he was back at day care he managed to pick up this crud.

Bless my dear mother, today was her day to stay with him so she took him into our local pediatrician this afternoon, just to get the final go ahead.  The doctor was very thorough and did a chest x-ray because he sounded a "little wheezy," as she put it.  The x-ray came back fine, and no more fever, so she gave him a breathing treatment in her office, which helped him a lot.  So she sent us home with a nebulizer to give him 3 treatments a day until he's doing better.  Not sure how we're going to manage that from the hospital and hotel room tomorrow with no DVD player, but we'll manage!

Poor little guy, he is behaving so well.  My mom said he was perfect at the doctor's office (this is coming from a grandma, but I believe her, because he has been really good for us the past few times too!) :)  I tell you, "Elmo Goes to the Doctor" is the best video on the market! Ha!  It is what truly has made the difference for him.  Before they even have a chance to look down his throat (which used to make him scream), he now opens wide and says "AHHHHHHH" right away, all by himself!  It is so funny.  Even the doctor gets a kick out of him!  He is becoming a pro.  Not sure if that's a good thing that he knows so much already, but it's all he's known, and it'll be a big part of his life so it's good he's already used to it I guess.

My best friend and neighbor, Alissa, had to come over and help us set up the equipment because we had NO CLUE.  Her daughter has used one before so she knew how it worked.  Thank goodness we had her!  Craig and I were funny trying to figure it out.  Andrew sat there like such a good boy, watching his movie as Alissa entertained him.  I'm not sure what we're going to do without her the rest of the times- he loves her so much and even said "I love you!" when she was leaving.  Thanks again, Alissa!

So, the plan is to head to Iowa City in the morning to try to make it for some of Logan's surgery so I can be with my friend Stef.  Then Andrew has pre op appointments in the afternoon.  Ga Ga and Papa will meet us after work and we will all have dinner together and stay in a hotel.  Papa wanted to take Andrew swimming but we'll have to put that off until next time! :(

Friday morning the cath is bright and early.  We'll arrive at 7:00 and they'll take him back by 8:00 I would guess.  We're trusting this is the best decision for Andrew and that the doctors wouldn't do it if they didn't feel he was healthy enough.  With him having been so sick the past couple weeks, I am a little more worried than normal, but I understand this is relatively urgent, and they want to get it done.  We all just kept talking about day care and how he could be sick the next time too, if we had to reschedule it.  At least now he is on the mend and almost over this "bug."

Please keep Andrew in your prayers tomorrow and especially Friday, along with our friends Logan, Jordan and Derrick.  I posted the buttons to all of their blogs on my right sidebar.

I'll be updating next time from Iowa City!  Goodnight!

When it Rains, it Pours...

This smile just melts my heart.  It really does.  I look at my baby, who is about to turn 3 years old in a couple of weeks, and simply can't believe how far he's come.  When I think about everything he's been through, it just seems like a distant memory.  I remember people telling me that the night before his last open heart surgery- that soon it would all be a distant memory.  I remember not being able to wait for the day where that is how I would remember the most horrific moments of my life...turning my baby over to the surgeons and 12 hours later seeing him with a fresh scar running down his chest.

That scar is fading.  And so is the memory... but only a little.  Most of the events of that time in our lives are engraved pretty heavily on my heart.  I just like to push them to the back burner and focus on the following days, each one while watching Andrew grow, laugh, learn and I just fall in love with him more each day.

In both of these pictures, I have to comment on how he lined up his Thomas trains, just like they are on the show.  He knows Annie and Clarabel go behind Thomas, and Henry and James go right nearby.  His favorite things to do these days are to play with his trains.

I have to admit, the thought of sending Andrew back to surgery in his future makes me almost physically sick.  When I think about how much more we know him now (and we said that the last time!), how much he has grown and developed his special little personality.   I know our time is coming... the question is when?  I dread the day that I have to once again look at my baby and wonder...will I ever see him again?  This is where you have to trust.  Have faith.  Hope.  Cling to that peace that can only come from God. 

While surgery is looming over our heads these days...it is very real for some of our heart friends.  Our very special friends.  Ones whom we have grown to love and have supported each other through everything this heart journey throws our way.  This smiley little boy is Logan Jacks.  Andrew and Logan are only a couple months apart in age.  They are just typical little boys.  They love to play, have fun, laugh.  They both love Sheriff Woody, Elmo and Thomas.  They have completely stolen their mommies hearts and we could almost just melt at the sight of their smiles.  The only difference between them and your typical little boy is...

They have broken hearts.

Not broken in the sense that they are sad.  Nope.  Quite the opposite, actually.  They are two of the most spunky and happy little boys I know.  They just having matching chest scars.

Logan's mommy, Stef and I have become very close friends since we met through carepages only a short two years ago.  We share so many similarities with our boys, and have found we have lots in common beyond our journey as heart mommies.  I knew the moment I met her, and we clicked right away, that we would be friends for life.

 

These two precious little boys brought us together...

I'm so glad they did.

Which is why my heart is just breaking for Stef right now.  It is so hard to see one of your best friends going through such a painful time.  The truth is, I know how she's feeling, because I have been there.  Yet I can't imagine the emotions she is going through right now, because Logan's next surgery is right around the corner.  It is this Thursday, January 14.  Logan just turned 3 years old.  How do you hand your three year old baby over to the surgeons?  Once they've grown up and you've had the chance to just keep loving them a little more each day, for three whole years?

I don't think it is a coincidence that Logan's surgery falls on the exact same day our family heads to Iowa City for Andrew's cath.  I am so grateful that Stef and I will be there together, and be able to support each other in ways that only heart mommies can understand.

This is Logan's older brother, Wyatt.  And he's having a hard time with all this too.  Who can blame him?  He's only six.  And he's got a special heart too.  It might not be broken, but he is an incredible big brother.  He has so much love to give.  He even loves Andrew and treats him like his little brother, too!

 

Will you join me in praying for our dear friends, the Jacks family?  They are heavy on our hearts and minds this week.

We just want our boys to be able to run and play like this again.  Happy, full of life, and not a care in the world!  After all, that's what little boys are supposed to do, right?

They say when it rains, it pours.  There are two other heart families who we have also met on this journey who are sending their babies to surgery this month.  Please also say prayers for the Carter family, and the Snyder family.  Derrick's surgery is the 18th and Jordan's is this Tuesday, the 12th.  Way too many families are being affected by CHD's.  We must all work together to find a cure.  For our kids, and the ones yet to be born.  February is CHD awareness month- and us heart mommies are all working hard to fight for our kids!

We've been having all kinds of fun around here lately.  Last night we went to Papa and Ga Ga's for dinner, and they surprised Andrew with this neat train that will run below the Christmas tree.  It is especially fitting because it is A Christmas Story train.  And if you've been following our blog for a while, you'll know that both Andrew and I are obsessed with that movie!  Andrew still asks for "Ralphie" and I don't bother to tell him Christmas is over!  The truth is, I sort of want to watch it too!  Ha!

Andrew loved holding the remote.  He thought he was making it go, but really he just pushed the button over and over again that makes the whistle blow and it was driving us all nuts!  Ha!

 

He wouldn't take his hands off this remote!

 

Papa had these blocks from when his other grandkids were little.  He brought them out for Andrew and he had a blast!  He wanted to stack them up and then fall into them!  Good thing they were soft!

 

After he'd knock them down he'd yell, "AGAIN?!"

He didn't want to take a break for dinner, he was having so much fun!  I just love capturing these huge mouthed smiles!

 

Ga Ga and Andrew playing

 

C'mon, more fun Ga Ga!

 

Papa also had this saved from a while back, and Andrew loves to play with it and race the car down the ramp.

 

Is it sunny at Ga Ga's house, Andrew?   Ha!  What a cool dude.

Now I'd like to request your prayers for Andrew.  As you know, his cath is scheduled for Friday, January 15.  About a week ago, he developed a slight cough, but no other symptoms.  We brought him to the doctor last Thursday, just to make sure everything was okay.  She said everything looked good, but he had a little fluid behind one ear, so she prescribed an antibiotic, just to ward off anything and help get him healthy for his cath. 

Well, I am getting nervous, because it has now been 4 days of antibiotic and his cough sounds worse to me tonight.  He's also been running a temp the last 3 nights but is fine during the day.  We can't quite figure out what is going on with him, but I plan to call Iowa City tomorrow and see what they want to do.  I know they won't perform the cath unless he is 100%.  We were just praying he'd be on the mend by now, but it seems as though he needs a few extra prayers.  Please pray for guidance for us and the doctors so we make the best decision for Andrew.  Thank you for all of your support!

This is one of my favorite verses, and especially during scary or hard times.  I wanted to post it tonight for us, and for all the heart families going through surgery this month as a reminder that God is with us, no matter what.

 Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
  Do not be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you.  I will help you.
  I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10