Sweet Boy

When I went to get the mail today I opened the mailbox and saw a huge yellow envelope. I immediately knew what it was and my heart sank. It was the surgery packet. I dont know why that particular thing got to me but it just hit me and it just made the surgery so real (it is one week from tomorrow! yikes!).

When I got inside, I unwrapped all the mail and inside of the folded yellow envelope was a small letter. It was a sweet (really sweet!) note of encouragement. God is so amazing!! =) I needed that note to go along with the surgery material (of course God knew that!)

The envelope was filled with surgery information, visiting hours, things to expect and a DVD to watch (havent brought myself to watch that yet). As I was reading all of the material I began to cry a little; Parker was sitting at the bar across from me and asked if Momma was sad? and then before I knew it, he was giving me the biggest hug and brought my coat to me so that I could wipe my eyes on the sleeve. He is such a sweet boy and I always want to remember these sweet moments. It is so easy to forget in all the hussell and bussell of everyday life.

It's official

This last week Dennis and Parker have been getting the yard ready for Spring and Parker has loved helping Dennis.


He has his own shovel! And was so proud to help put mulch in the wheel barrel!


This week I have been talking to schedulers, admissions and nurses about Parker's heart surgery.


The date will be March 17th! Wow....how did this day get here so fast? Wasnt he a little tiny baby just yesterday?

The plan is to go into the clinic on March 16th for all of the pre-op tesing (EKG, chest x-ray, blood work, etc) and then we will report to the hospital at 5:30 am on the 17th.

He will be the first case that morning (probably will start around 8:00-9:00), but there is always the chance of a delay or change of time due to an emergency surgery or a heart transplant. This has happened with both of Parker's previous surgeries.

God is so good and I know that all of this is His plan for Parker and our family. His strength and the love of our friends and family will get us through this difficult season.
Thank you for all the support and for lifting us up in your prayers!

The rest of the story

The results of Parker's heart cath were perfect! He is a text book candidate for the Fontan surgery (his third and hopefully final, major heart surgery)! We have mixed emotions....I am thrilled he is a candidate for this surgery (so many kids dont make it to this final step in the process) but I am so incredibly scared and sad that he has to go through this surgery.



It really is a praise that Parker's heart cath looked so good. He does still have a leaky tricuspid valve and we are waiting to hear from his surgeon to see if he will fix this during the surgery or if he will see how the surgery effects the valve (it could be better with the new circulation, could get worse or it could stay the same). His lung pressures are great, his heart function is what we expected and his pulmonary arteries are huge!! No fistulas were seen in the lungs, no collaterals had formed and the blood in his lungs is oxygenated at 100%!



As for the surgery....he is scheduled for a date in the middle of March (like 2 1/2 weeks!). I will give the exact date once I talk to the surgery department and get that last verification. oh dear!!

Pre-Fontan Cath and keeping busy

Yesterday was Parker's heart cath to evaluate his heart function in preparation for his third open heart surgery (the Fontan). He couldnt have anything to eat after midnight and his procedure wasnt until 1:00 in the afternoon!! It was very interesting. Thank goodness for this toy....

Parker was super hyper all morning; I think he was trying to keep his mind off of being hungry. Everyone that came in the room kept saying that he will definitely need a "pre-med" before going back. So, at like 12:30 they gave him a pretty hefty dose of Versed (a sedation drug) and he was HILARIOUS!!!

He kept telling Buzz how much he loved him; this smile was glued on his face. Once they gave him the Versed we were told to keep him in the bed and watch him really close. It was so funny when he would try to hold his head up. I have a video but out of fear of people thinking Im a bad mom, Im not gonna post it! =)

He loved the ride to the cath lab. It was on the other side of the hospital, so it was a long ride. He would not lay back and just kept yelling "weeee" and saying "hi" to everyone he passed.

Dennis and I got to go into the cath lab until he was asleep but left before they put the breathing tube in. He loved the candy oxygen mask (they had to increase it three times before he got sleepy)! He was just so funny, it was such a fun hour before we had to say bye.

This is in the recovery room. After the procedure he had to lay flat and keep his legs straight for 3 hours (During the heart cath they go through an artery in his leg to look at his heart and laying flat will prevent bleeding). They told us he would probably sleep for a few hours after surgery because they gave him a bunch of extra sleepy medicine because they know keeping a 3 year old down is hard!! Well, he woke up like 5 minutes after he got to recovery! This kid does not respond to drugs!! After he woke up the nurse gave him some Morphine to help the pain and to hopefully get him to go back to sleep. It did the opposite!! He was upset, aggrevated, confused and just pitiful for the entire 3 hours!! (I will remember this bit of information about Morphine for the next time)! Dennis and i had to take turns holding his legs down, It was just NOT FUN!!

I didnt get a very clear picture of him in the wheelchair, but he was crying. He just wanted to walk so bad but we couldnt let him yet. He now has a big pressure dressing on his groin and a little dressing on his neck.

When we got home, he just wanted to eat spaghetti. Here you can kind of see the dressing on his neck. He keeps pointing to it and wants to show everyone his "boo-boo".

We got home about 6:30 and he went to bed around 7:30. He slept good all night, but woke up at 6:00 am crying that his "boo-boo" hurts and he was SOAKING wet (all the IV fluids). I gave him some Tylenol and changed him and his bed and he slept until 10:30 am. He is in the best mood today but is limping a little and is still a little unsteady from the anesthesia. We were told to limit his activity for 24 hours and try not to let him walk too too much. HAHAHA! Dennis and I decided to take him for a boat ride! It is entertaining and requires no walking!

Parker loved it!! AND he got a new Buzz Lightyear life jacket...he was thrilled!!

Oliver also swam for the first time!! So proud!

Overall, Parker has done so great and I am so proud of him! I will take the dressings off tonight and give him a good bath to get all the blue stuff (cleaning goo they put on him before the procedure) off of him.

Thanks for all the prayers!! I will update with other heart news tomorrow (what the cath showed and talks of surgery). Im sorry for all the "heart" talk but this is just my life right now =)

Cardiology Appointment

Before we left town, Parker had a cardiology appointment along with an echo. This was his first echo since last summer, so I was a little anxious to see how his heart was doing.

Well, the echo lasted 2 hours and Parker was amazing the entire time!

While the echo tech went out to talk to the doctors to make sure he had gotten enough pictures we watched Toy Story 3!

Parker's echo doesnt show much change. His heart function is still pretty good and his tricuspid valve is still pretty leaky. At our last appointment we had discussed doing his heart cath and Fontan surgery in spring. Well, Dr S did not like his weight gain (he barely weighs 27 lbs and that is right on the line for the Fontan). We are going to keep the heart cath scheduled for this Friday and then Dr S and the surgeon will discuss when the best time for surgery will be. If there is no benefit in waiting we will go ahead and have the surgery in March but if there is any benefit at all, we will wait. I'm ok with waiting but I am a planner and this appointment did not go the way I had planned.

So, we are back on the pediasure to hopefully get some weight on this kid =) We will also be feeding him anything and everything!!

Please pray for his heart cath this Friday. This will be his first procedure of any kind since he was like 6 months old! And pray for this momma =)

A quick trip

My parents have had a week long ski trip in Jackson Hole, Wy planned for a long time. Dennis and I decided last minute to go ski with them during the last few days of their trip.

We left on Thursday and got back on Sunday. It was a quick weekend getaway but it was exactly what we needed.

Jackson Hole is our favorite places in the whole world. It is fun in the winter and the summer.

This is the view from our room. It was snowing so hard when I took this picture but for some reason you cant tell.

I am so glad we went, the timing worked out just perfect! We got three days of skiing (the skiing was amazing because of all the fresh snow) and now I am so sore!!
We are so glad to get home though, and we Can. not. wait. to take Parker next year!!

A trip to the creek

The weather has been amazing this week! So, we took Oliver and Parker down to the creek near our house to play!

Parker was a little nervous to walk in the water but loved it in the end.

He did fall once but nothing too traumatic.

Oliver, of course, loved it!

He is such a great dog! And Parker absolutely adores him =)

Dennis is doing such an amazing job training Oliver, he is going to be the best duck hunting dog!

My sweet valentine

Happy Valentines Day!!

Parker's Vday party isnt until tomorrow at school but he had to dress the part on the actual "holiday". My boys have been so sweet to me today and I have gotten lots of kisses from my sweet little Valentine!

This week we have had more crazy weather and Parker has gone to school two days out five!

This was Thursday (bundled up in the 12 degree temps). We didnt play too much because it was just so cold!

And this was Sunday (no coat and 70 degrees!). We have played way more in this weather!!

This picture is kinda funny. My neighbor has a really pretty back yard. We were playing back there and Parker climbed on these rocks and this is him trying to pose for a picture =) Cutie!

CHD Awareness Week

I have learned about Congenital Heart Defects in my nursing career but never imagined my life would be foever changed by one. We found out about Parker's broken heart when he was one day old and our world was forever changed. CHDs are the most common birth defect and are the leading cause of birth defect related deaths each year. Parker has a pretty serious CHD called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome; HLHS occurs in 4 out of 10,000 births.

There is so much need for research, funding and education about Congeital Heart Defects. Most people have no idea how common they are or even know what they are until it affects them personally.

It is so important to raise awareness of this scary condition that affects so many families. So many families dont have the amazing story that we have. This week I am praying for those families who had to say goodbye to their sweet angel because of a CHD and praying for all the future babies who will be born with one.

Crazy weather!

Well, Arkansas weather is once again CRAZY! This past weekend it was got up to 78 degrees and it was so awesome!!

Parker wanted to be outside all weekend, and so did Oliver!!

We played on the swing set and road cars outside for the most part of Saturday (exept when parker would get tired and want to go inside to watch Toy Story for a few minutes and then we were back out there!)

We also had a few neighbor kids come over and play! It really gets me excited for spring time. There are about 4 boys on our street that are three years old...trouble!!

And today the high is 24 degrees, uggh!!

I hope everyone is staying warm!!