Game on World

It was this past July 2012 that we were scheduled for the Fontan.  When I say we, it really is that Mason was scheduled, but where he goes, we go.  

Our debate and indecision of where to take him to complete the Fontan was finally ended when we decided that Mason's best chances lie in turning him back over to the surgeon who had already done all this magical work on his heart, Dr. Frank Hanley.  

The kids had been shipped off to Mexico after school ended in May and Ernie and I enjoyed a week in Jamaica during the July 4th holiday.  Just us two..we knew what lie ahead and this break gave us the extra motivation to be even more positive and strong for Mason.

I flew out to Monterrey, MX to pick up Mason so we could head to Stanford again. Jordyn, Matthew and Jaylen stayed in Mexico.  Thank God for my Mom's side of the family..without them things would be so much more difficult.  Ernie, Mason and I traveled to California the 2nd week of July, attended a friend's wedding, gave blood for the upcoming surgery, setup camp in a hotel, rented a convertible Camaro, drove up Pacific Coast highway, visited Hearst Castle and were actually excited to get through the surgery.  If everything went well, the hope was that Mason could live many years without another surgery.

The Fontan is the final stage of the 3 stage surgery for Mason's pallative repair.  This connects the lower vena cava directly into the pulmonary arteries and the end result is that Mason's oxygen should be higher.  After this surgery, his heart will have been rebuilt to give him the best odds of living.  He is the million dollar man...to be accurate it's actually closer to 3 million or so!

On July 18, 2012 Mason went into surgery after being pushed back from the day before.  Minor updates to existing work as well as completing the Fontan circuitry and his surgery went without a hitch this time.  What kept us in the hospital longer was an old demon..the pleural effusion.  This complication is typical with many Fontan's but since he had previously experienced it, the likelihood of having it again increases.  

Recovery went quite well and in short order, in hospital time, Mason was up and about, still hooked up to stuff.  Days and weeks passed and he lost tubes, wires, monitors and one chest tube. The final one, on the left, hung on for what seemed forever.  Here was this kid, walking around Stanford and on occasion, carrying his own chest tube drain..what a sight! 

By August 8, 2012 Mason finally reached the magic number for chest tube volume output and his chest tube was removed.  This after we had to "school" the staff and residents on how to read their new chest tube collection boxes..lol. If we would have let them read it their way we could have been let out sooner but didn't make sense to take a chance on him having to be re-admitted.

On August 9, 2012 we were discharged.  We had to remain in the area for a few more days before we could leave out of state. We traveled to San Francisco for an outing and it was fitting to have him pose with the billboard in the background. One more stop in Albuquerque before we finally made it home.  Kids were in school and I had missed Jaylen's first day of kindergarden but we had our little boy back home.

August 19 was Mason's 4th birthday and he wanted to celebrate at Chuck E Cheese. Simple fun.  I made him a dinosaur cake....while in the hospital he became a big fan of Dino Dan, watching several episodes on the iPad.  Days there were filled with mostly routine...xrays, blood draws, echo cardiograms, waiting for the playroom to open, riding in wagons around the floor, going to the family room and eventually being let out to travel to the Stanford cafeteria and gardens.  

Now, it is anything but routine in our home but it never has been and we like it just the way it is.   Physically Mason is doing great and measuring his O2 level tonight, he was between 92-95.  At almost 7000 ft in altitude that is amazing!!  Mason is even in pre-school 4 days a week, partial days and loves it.  

To our friends, The McDaniels, who just found out yesterday their grandson has been diagnosed with HLHS, our hopes and prayers go out to you on your own journey.  

Game on world.

Superboy

October 18, 2011

Daddy, Jaylen, Mason and Mommy flew to UNM to Mason's cardiology appointment.  He was such a good little boy!  He did everything he was asked, without hesitation.  In the above photo he is getting an electrocardiogram and as you can see he was as happy as can be. 

For those of us who have never experienced painful surgeries or spent much time in the hospital, it can be hard to comprehend why there would be any difficulty in such routine tests.  It's often called the "blue" glove syndrome.  (or purple as it was known at Stanford) After being through such painful experiences, these little ones are afraid of anyone wearing gloves.  It's not just the white coats, it's the nurses, echo techs, radiologist, urologists, blood techs, etc that come around with those gloves.  Once they're in sight, it can only mean another round of testing for one thing or another.   The best part of having been away from those days is that Mason has completely let go of those fears.

As for his tests, everything looks as good as it can be.  His echo shows his right ventricle working, while his left is a small, empty chamber; still and lifeless.  His tricuspid regurgitation is about the same as it was before.  He is 14.5 kilograms with socks!  The goal is to reach 15 kilograms, as this is the magic number for which candidates for the Fontan need to arrive at.

Sometime next spring we will have to have his heart cath done.  This evaluation will determine whether or not he is a good candidate for the Fontan.  The Fontan will be the last of the staged surgeries and will connect the lower vena cava directly into the pulmonary arteries.  This final stage will pump all his blood into his lungs first to pick up 02.  The result should be that his oxygen saturations will increase. 

For those of you who aren't aware, there is no fix for what he has.  Once he is done with the Fontan the surgery, they will not have "fixed" anything.  He will have a single ventricle working in his heart and blood flowing directly into his lungs first..this is nothing like us "normal" people.  It is called a pallative repair-it allows him to live. 

There is no guarantee he won't have another surgery or won't need a transplant at some point.  In fact, the oldest survivors of these series of surgeries are in their twenties and there aren't a ton of them!  Dr. Norwood pioneered the series in the 80's and each of these little patients present their own oddities.  It is not a simple fix...but I guess there aren't many things in life that are simple.    That's what makes us so interesting.

Ahh..the eighties..what a great time.  I would have never imagined we would have such a beautiful boy that God has graciously entrusted us with.  I wouldn't go back to save the world.........

No time to waste

Birthday #3 was here in no time.  We haven't even given much thought to all the events in the past.  For me, they aren't even vivid memories I try to forget.  They are simply times past for which I am thankful that God gave us the strength to get through.

These days life is pretty much extraordinary...extra ordinary in that we have been so fortunate to have Mason as healthy as can be.  We don't worry or wonder if he can do something or whether we can take him somewhere.  We just do.

Later this month we will take Mason up to Albuquerque for another checkup and echocardiogram.  We hope to see that things are working just like they should in his little re-built heart.  Each of these "normal" visits gets us closer to his next open heart.  It will be so difficult to turn over our beautiful boy over to the surgeon..he's going to wake up and wonder why his Mommy and Daddy let this happen to him.  Thinking of that breaks MY heart...

Thinking back to when Mason came back home from his Glenn in 2008, he was hooked up to oxygen 24/7...we took him to church, to the store, to the kids games, to just about everywhere we could.  His blue little face had the sweetest little smile.  It still does today...

Mason riding the Rail Runner to Santa Fe  September 2011

Big Boy

Mason had his most recent cardiology visit on 10-26-10 in Albuquerque.  Here he is getting an echocardiogram of his heart.  From what we were told his function looks good and the leakage in his valve isn't any worse.  He was such a good boy and did everything he was asked.  All the fears from being poked & prodded not that long ago have seemed to disappear.  The bad news is that we will have to prepare ourselves to make a decision on where we want to take Mason for his Fontan surgery next year.  It is so hard to imagine that we have such a perfect looking little boy that will HAVE to have another open heart.  If I could only give up something of my own so that he wouldn't have to go through it I would.  Every little moment with are with him has to be cherished. 

Mason's cardiologist says she believes that we just have to pick someone we trust and then just go with their recommendations.  As Ernie pointed out, there aren't a hundred Dr. Hanley's that will be there to take care of him and we have to weigh all our options.  We know the best thing would be to have the same surgeon operate, right?  I guess we know, actually, we don't, that's just what they tell us.  What we do know is that we have faith that God will guide us to make the right choices.  One I can't say we are ready to make right now. 

The Big 2

Our beautiful, little boy is pure heaven on earth and just hit another milestone-he's 2 years old and doing great.  This last Saturday we all traveled to Albuquerque for the LPCH-UNM family picnic.  It's filled with little ones who have traveled to Stanford from NM for heart surgeries.  What a great thing to see so many children given a chance to grow and experience this wonderful world.  It truly is a great time to be alive.

Mexico

So the kids are in Mexico-including little Mason! The kids, my Mom and I left to Monterrey on June 17th and I stayed a few days to make sure Mason would be ok.  I really didn't think he would have any problems but it made me feel better going & I love going to Mexico.

My aunt, Magdalena, who is a retired pediatric charge nurse, has taken Mason into one of her Dr. friend's clinics to check his 02.  He was between 88 & 89%, which is fabulous!  The lower elevation seems to have made a difference in increasing his 02 sats.

Ernie finds it so important to have the kids learn Spanish that he is all for having them go each summer as I did when I was young.  The food, the culture, the buildings, the landscape are all so inviting.  Then you have the norm-like the Home Depots, the Chile's, the KFC's delivered to your door, if you please.  It is simply the best of both worlds and I wouldn't mind living there. 

In the meantime, Ernie & I are basically like newlyweds, just the two of us.  Sure, Michael is here but we just take off whenever we want-no real schedules, no shuffling kids, no medications to give, no listening to arguments. While we truly love them all, we are enjoying that new found freedom. Ernie flew us to Las Vegas for the 4th of July holiday.  Although I am still apprehensive about flying, it was great to be there in just a mere 3 hours or so.  We staked out a little piece of concrete in front of Cesars and watched their beautiful fireworks display.  Too bad the kids weren't here to see that-they would have loved it.

Just a week before the kids left we all drove to Disneyland and Vegas.  I think it was a perfect road trip but my other half didn't seem to think the same.  The kids actually did wonderfully while watching their DVDs but for Ernie, he felt the road trip was too long.  I have to remind him that he has to find the good in everything and to me it was great that we had a new vehicle and that we were able to take the time to take the kids on a wonderful adventure.  The most enjoyable part of Disney is that we were able to do almost all the rides in one day.  Sounds impossible, but I described Mason's condition and we were able to get a Guest Assistance Pass.  This allowed our entire party to be placed at the front of the line and we waited only a few minutes for the majority of the rides.  It was perfect as Mason loved each and every ride and didn't get overheated waiting in the sun.  We made some time to visit the ocean but with it's frigid waters, Mason didn't really want to get in for long.  His one venture in the water caused his lips and fingers to turn purple and his body to shiver.  He was such a die hard as he didn't want to leave and was content to dig in the sand with Jaylen. 

I just have to keep saying it in almost every post.. God is so good.

Ordinary Day

Mason had a simple cardiology visit on April 27th!  A little crying because of the nurse and her probing equipment but he looked so darn good that the cardiologist felt he was doing well enough to leave things alone.  No changes in meds, no echo.  From our last visit, they had scheduled to have an echo done up at UNM on this visit, but apparently we will be waiting to have it done in October instead.  God is so good! 

We flew up to Albuquerque in the morning and since the visit was so short we stayed until the evening and flew back home the same day.  While passing near T or C the full moon lit up the lake and the glow just lit the way.  It was like a little mirror on the ground relfecting the mountains and moon.  We did have a a little distraction though. About 45 minutes in the air Mason got upset and threw up!  It was just what he needed as shortly after he fell fast asleep.  It wouldn't be our lives if something a little out of the "ordinary" didn't happen though.  I'm just so thankful for it all.

Time

I've just realized that I have neglected Mason's blog and that is one of the cardinal sins of blogging.  "They" say that in order to have a good blog, you have to commit to posting something often.  As most of us know, that isn't so easy when you have so many kids, work and everything else going.

Time seems to find you when you are in a hospital room awaiting the next test, poke, cry, good news, bad news and everything else that comes along.  In the meantime, we are busy leading our lives with what seems not enough time for everything we are trying to do.  It's funny how when you are in the hospital the world just goes on without you and that includes your family.  Everyone else is busy still going to school, doing homework, dealing with the next "crisis", having a great time and even sometimes a bad time.  So how is it that all that doesn't seem to exist when you are in the hospital and all you have is time?

In business, one of the main themes you hear when someone leaves a job that they thought only they could do, is that no one is irreplaceable.  There is always someone to come along that can do your job and maybe even do it better than you did.  There is nothing like hearing, "Oh yeah, we found your replacement and they are doing great!" to set you in your place. I think that theme of "replaceability" translates into aspects of every day life.  As a Mom or Dad, someone else could do your job, maybe not the same, maybe better.  In time, you can be replaced and perhaps even dare I say, forgotten.  So what do you do with the time you are here?  What do you do with the time you spend with your kids?  With your parents?  With your friends?   I think it's not all about how much time you spend with them that makes the most impact but the quality of the time. I think it's easy to forget that when you are running around trying to get it all done. 

For me, reality check comes when it's time for Mason's next cardiology appointment and we are hoping for the best outcome.  All I am hoping to hear is that he has more time- more time before his next scheduled appointment, more time before his next surgery and more time without new meds.  His next appointment is April 27th and I'll be praying to God for more time, and if he gives it to us, I'll be praying that He gives us the smarts to make the most of it!

Gotta love it!

So our little trek to Las Cruces for Mason's echo on January 14th didn't really lead to much info at least not how I see it.  We were about 20 minutes late to our appointment and the echo tech had a limited amount of time to work with Mason.  Mason didn't seem to care that things were time constrained as he didn't want to be there to begin with.  As soon as the tech/nurse began trying to do his echo he started crying and promptly threw up on her.  He wanted no part of her touching his chest.  I attribute this to the fact that he has been getting his monthly Synagis shots, one in each leg/muscular, and he is now acting out against all nurses.  So after she got cleaned up, we tried to have him sit still and finish up but we weren't the star pupil for the day.

 As a result of his fitfullness they didn't get exactly the best view of his heart but from what Dr. Goens could tell things looked pretty good.  His function was good, his aortic arch was open/not constricted but she did see that his right ventricle is moderely hypertrophied.  This means there is some thickening of the right ventricle.  As explained to us, this might just be to the fact that when the Norwood was done and subsequently the Glenn his heart has changed in size.  The Norwood requires the ventricle to enlarge more/do more work and the Glenn less.  I can't really explain it but it makes sense to me.  From what Dr. Hanley told us before about the heart remodeling, this sounds like what it could be.  The tricuspid regurgitation was increased but was also attributed to his crying. As for his weight, he is 28 pounds which is wonderful as this places him in the 50th percentile.  He was previously in the 25th percentile so he has made enormous progress without the g tube.  We will continue to be off the digoxin and will have another echo in April to determine if this is still the best course of action. 

Mason at his Mountain View Hospital, cardiology clinic.

A few days later Mason must have recalled his experience as he used the sat monitor to give himself and echo!  I think next time we will just ask the nurse for the probe and let him go at it himself.  Just gotta love it all!!!

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'Tis the season to be thankful

Well, it was this date last year that we were getting ready to travel to Palo Alto, CA for Mason's Glenn surgery. That was to be the "easy" surgery. As if any open heart surgery could be easy, but as you know it turned out to be the worst one for our little Mason. Thankfully, we had some divine intervention and he pulled through. Today, we live almost normal lives, trying to keep the gravity of his condition in the depths of our minds. Whenever I tap into those thoughts I turn teary eyed and can't help but imagine the worst. It usually doesn't happen unless I have read someone else's blog. Someone whos child has not been so lucky and is still in the hospital, someone's child whose heart is starting to fail and they now await a transplant or someone's child whose passed. It's always someone. It just doesn't seem right that it has to be a little child with so much to give.

Giving is certainly what Mason has done. He has given us hope, courage, strength, a stronger faith in God and more love than any human being deserves. We are so thankful for these days!

Uneventful visit-or should I say for me...

On October 21 Mason, Daddy and I traveled to Albuquerque to visit with Mason's cardiologist, Dr. Goens and visit with the Pediatric Surgeon, Dr. Lemon. The good news was that Dr. Goens believed that Mason's heart looked good enough to get rid of the Digoxin and simply increase his Enalapril. The reason being that the Digoxin was used to increase the forcefulness of his ventricle and was especially needed after December's life-threatening events. His heart has recovered enough to hopefully keep him off of the Digoxin for some time. As Dr. Goens explained to me, the goal is to keep Mason's own heart functioning as well as possible for as long as possible. We wouldn't want to wear it out further by keeping his ventricle pumping more forcefully with the Digoxin. She did comment that she thought perhaps there was a slight decrease in function since his last echo but that was subjective. Give it to someone else to read and they might not see the same thing. So to us, all looked pretty darn good.

Now, his peds surgery visit was not as nice. After discussion and evaluation from the med student, Dr. Lemon and Dr. Lemon's nurse it was decided that we try the silver nitrate first in order to hopefully avoid surgery to close his still, leaking fistula. (g-tube site) We had to hold Mason down while the nurse pushed in the swab that contained the silver nitrate into his g-tube fistula. Not a good thing. She asked the med student to hold his legs down while I took his arms. The nurse was apparently a little frustrated with the student's inability to hold his little legs down. She commented to the student, "Now you see, he has been through things like this before, he knows what he is doing and how to move his legs, you have to hold them down!" Of course, she took over the leg part and held him down and applied the silver nitrate at the same time. Horrible for Mason but worse for Ernie and I when we had to do it at home on Saturday. The wonderful news is that it looks like it might have worked! I pray that his fistula closes and we can avoid surgery. It would only be a minor surgery, but I am so afraid of him undergoing anesthesia without a cardiac anthesiologist on hand. Maybe I don't understand the "minimal" risks but I would feel better having any surgery done on Mason out of state! All that being said, look what happened in December at Stanford, of all places. We'll just have to give to God, I know he is taking care of us. So all in all, the visit was "uneventful" and deemed a success! Thank you God!

I almost forgot to metion, Mason took a couple of steps on his own, two times, both while Billy and Marsie were over at the house. I guess he was just showing off! We know he'll be walking in no time. Now then, we'll really have something to report.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Baby T

What a beautiful day for our little Mason's birthday! Absolutely perfect skies with warm sunshine filling every crevice available and little Mason's happy face filling our hearts. It has been a year filled lows and highs and each day has had a little bit of a challenge. From normal baby things like learning to crawl to a heart baby leaving his g-tube behind. There isn't a better place we could be and as always we thank God for giving us so many things to be thankful for. Here's to everyone who has helped us get our little boy through that tough first year and to those who will be helping us get through all those in the future-may your heart be filled with the kind of peace and love we have been blessed to experience.

To my Mason, your are perfection in each and every form, with an innocence found here on earth only as a child. Your rebuilt heart a perfect little machine able to work in a way no one could imagine. To live each day with you is to know the great and glorious power of God, for it is he who has given you life, given the doctors and nurses the knowledge to help fix your heart and for everyone you encounter to be filled with happiness whenever they meet you.

Today is one year from the beginning of our journey, little one. With faith and love many more are to come. We all love you so much!! Happy Birthday Big Boy!!!

We are almost there

Back in January I had applied to the Medically Fragile and Developmental Disabilities Programs for Mason. It wasn't until this past month that I heard from both, one that Mason had been allocated funds for nursing care and the second program wanted additional medical information. I am happy to say , at this point, he needs neither program. When Cathy, nurse from Medically Fragile called me, I was happy to report to her that Mason was off his 02 and his g-tube was removed. She wanted to see him in person and was just amazed at how great he looked. She was thrilled to see how active he was. As for the DD Program, Mr. Piel, spoke to me and told me he had received my enormous box of medically records and from what he could tell, it appears Mason isn't in need of those services at this time as well. The DD program is more for those children and adults who are considered "mentally retarded" and they offer nursing, respite, life skills and other programs to facilitate their lives and the lives of thosearound them. If and when there is a need I would simply reapply for either program. The reasoning to apply to begin with is that there is such a long wait to be on these programs and people wait months/years to be accepted and the fact that when we got back from Stanford in December Mason was in rough shape.

So here we are today only a few days away from his 1st Birthday! Amazing life we have nurtured for this past year. He is such a joy and everyone he encounters simply just falls head over heals over his jolly personality. Thank God for every step we've taken, forward and back, as we have learned so much from this journey we are on.

Our motto now, Don't worry today about what could happen tomorrow. If it never happens then you'll have worried twice!

Mickey is gone

Monday was a good day. We had a visit with Dr. Etheridge who was to remove Mason's g tube (mickey button). After a brief visit we decided that we would just remove it at home closer to bedtime. I figured that it would be better to do it at night while he didn't have much in his stomach. So we went to Daddy's baseball game and as soon as we returned home we just deflated the retention balloon and out it came. He had very little discharge in the next morning and I thought we would be home free since Dr. Etheridge said the actual hole in the stomach would close in about 4 hours. Unfortunately, it just isn't that simple. When Mason drinks liquids he has minor discharge and with increased activity the discharge becomes more significant. The site itself looks good so now it is a matter of wait and see. Most literature I have read indicates the site should close within a month and if not then surgery would be required to close the hole. This is a perfect time to do this though as Jordyn, Matthew and Jaylen are in Mexico and I devote all my time to Mason. He is just a doll and is happy 99% of the time. Everywhere we go he inspires smiles from others as well as comments like he is so beautiful, he is so happy, what a beautiful smile, what beautiful eyes, etc. I guarantee part of the reason he was given to us was to inspire joy and happiness in all those around him. His story is an inspiration and once you hear it you can't help but falling in love with him.

He has now perfect the goodbye wave and crawl. Next are his attempts at pulling up and standing, soon enough he will be walking. What a long way we've come.

Knowing

These are some wonderful days! Our little Mason is developing such a personality. He loves to smile and laugh out loud and each moment near him is pure joy. He loves watching his brothers and sisters and they love him so much. So much so that Jaylen loves to squeeze him tight; much to the annoyance of little Mason, who in turn tries with all his might to escape her clutches.

Last week we all headed to Grandma's house in Deming to take her to the bank. After the post office said they had not received Grandma's renewal payment for her po box of some 30 plus years, they gave away her box two weeks after the expiration/renewal date. So there we were, faced with changing over all important bills, insurances, etc. While we were at the bank officer's desk I asked Jordyn to take Mason, Matthew and Jaylen over to the fireplace while we dealt with changing the address on Grandma's account. In short order, I heard a thud and then Mason's hurt cry. I quickly got up and found Jordyn holding Mason and telling me that she thinks he got a little hurt. Apparently, Jordyn entrusted Mason to Matthew and Jaylen and a swivel chair! They had spun the chair around and Mason flew off. He got a little bump on his head but thankfully he seemed fine. I sent them all outside to wait it out. Within a few minutes I saw a parade of little bodies coming in to get some water from the fountain, all with bright red faces. I think I may have gotten in trouble with some authority if they knew I sent them out alone but I was upset that they hurt their sweet, little brother. As we were leaving Matthew pointed out the spot where he had peed while outside. This being right outside one of the banks large windows, some officer got quite a show. Needless to say, I won't be taking them back to the bank anytime soon.

Our traditional 4th of July camping trip included Mason this year. He loved being out in the woods and was so happy almost the entire time. Another big event happened the week leading up to our camping trip; Mason learned to crawl! He looks so precious scooting around, changing from crawling on hands and knees, to putting one leg out and pushing his butt forward. If you just take a look at him you would never, ever imagine he has a congenital heart defect that affects every aspect of his living.

Knowing he has something so wrong with his heart isn't the problem. It's the wondering when his heart won't work anymore that creeps up in my mind when I least want it to. There isn't anyway to explain this to "normal" people, only those that are going through this can truly understand the hurt you feel to know there is always something about to happen around the corner. The only solace is that I think we can all get comfort in knowing we are not alone in dealing with this. That doesn't sound that great either...Knowledge-it's not all that great is it?

The following is a great video on the basics of Mason's next scheduled surgery, the Fontan. The video is from 2001. I forgot to mention on my last post, we got rid of Mason's Lasix as well! That means he is on Digoxin, Enalapril, Reglan and 1/2 baby aspirin. Next to go will be the Reglan!

http://vvi.onstreammedia.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbs-saf&template=play220asf.html&query=%2A&squery=%2BClipID%3A2+%2BVideoAsset%3Apbssaf1104&inputField=%20&entire=No&ccstart=99833&ccend=870000&videoID=pbssaf1104

Pediatric Visit-Full House

Mason had his 9 month pediatric well visit today and it continues to be all good news. Dr. Etheridge was very happy to see how well he looked and how well he was behaving. He is doing the typical things a 9 month old would do and is looking great on the growth chart! This just confirmed what we already knew, our little boy is so tough! Dr. Etheridge thought it would be a good idea to get a finger prick on him to check his iron levels, which in turn gave us a high result in lead. From what he said, a normal reading would be below 10 and Mason's was 22. Not the best news, but Dr. Etheridge did say they got a new machine so it may be as a result of it not being done properly or the machine malfunctioning. Either way, we were called back to have a venous blood draw to send off to the lab in Albuquerque. Even though the plebotomist was a pro little Mason must have been having flashbacks to the hospital, he was terrified when she started to put the band around his arm. My poor baby was so sad! Thank goodness it was over quickly and I could get him out of there without having to ask to be discharged! I just whisked him away and now we wait for a few days for the results. If it is high after the lab testing then we would be visited by the State to determine what could be causing the unusually high levels. It's good to know there are precautionary measures in place. On the other hand, Mason's hemoglobin levels were great and again, Mason's surprised Dr. Etheridge with how good his numbers looked.

Our niece and nephew Kelly and Kenneth are here for a few weeks of vacation and we so now we have 7 kids at home! Michael is home from college as well and it has truly been great. Everyone is getting along, with the exception of Matthew, who has reached the terrible two stage at 5. Nonetheless, it is a great time to be alive as a full house makes for more fun!

Mason: Height: 28" Weight 19.10

I've got an angel

These past six days have brought a whirlwind of cries, shouts for Mommy, groans, and multiple trips to the bathroom for almost everyone in our little household. The flu bug, or something evil like it, had gotten a hold of even little Mason. My sweet boy would throw up every time he drank his milk. He could keep down both Pedialyte and Gatorade and so we existed on that for 2 days. Through it all Mason wasn't even phased. He continued being his cheerful, little self as soon as he finished spilling out everything he just took in! Those sweet smiles are doled out like candy to an eager crowd on a 4th of July parade. I call him my "Dolly Boy" because he is just so darn sweet and is just a doll. God let us have his little angel to fill our hearts with a love so complete you just couldn't ask for anything better.

When I weighed him yesterday, he had lost .4oz from our last visit to the cardiologist. Not bad, I would say. His 02 sat last night was 82, without the oxygen. That too, is pretty darn good. As far as appearances go, you would never be able to tell there is anything wrong with him. The shirt he was wearing to church yesterday wasn't buttoned all the way up and I could see his little "zipper." When I pointed that out to Matthew, he got a great kick out of it. He never really looked as Mason's scars like that before.

Mason is scheduled for his first physical therapy visit this week. The therapist is hoping to work on his rolling over/tummy time in order to facilitate crawling. He already has a preference for standing, with help, and really hates to be on his tummy. I think a lot has to do with the fact his mickey button is pushed into him when he is face down. Although I don't think we really need a therapist, it can't hurt to help him get pushed along towards either walking or crawling. That will certainly be a site to see.