Cath Success!

Zach was such a brave little man today! We are so proud of him. He was in the cath lab for over 3 hours today and Dr. Bandisode said everything looked great. All his pressures were right where they want them to be. She placed a device (a stopper of sorts) in the fenestration and they coiled a couple of co-lateral vessels while they were at it. Co-lateral vessels form as the body tries to compensate for itself.

She said that we can expect those co-lateral vessels to open up from time to time throughout his life. They serve no purpose and actually cause his heart to work harder. Hopefully, we won't see MUSC for a few years before he needs another cath done. I can truly say that, as much as we owe to the great folks at MUSC, we will not miss coming down here.

Zach is resting peacefully here in the hotel, watching Toy Story 3. We will be ready for bed soon since we are all wiped out. The next 3 days will be filled with lots of couch-potato activities. Please pray that we will be able to keep the little man on the couch!

Also pray for some new heart friends that we met this morning in the waiting room. Harrison (2 months old) is in PCICU right now. He went to the pedi on Tuesday for upper respiratory symptoms, was admitted to the hospital for tachycardia, and was finally transferred (flown in) last night. His mom and dad, Paige and Kyle, are really having a tough time as they watch their son suffer. As of this morning, Harrison's heart rate is still as high as 220. Please pray that the doctors will be able to find a drug therapy to bring his heart rate down and as they try to figure out the cause of these issues. I feel blessed to know that God used us to reach out to them in their time of need.

Thank you to everyone for all your prayers for us! God is an amazing God!

Cath-time

We will be heading back down to MUSC this week for Zach's heart cath on Thursday morning. This is a routine thing... during the Fontan Completion, which he had last July, they left a fenestration, or small opening that acted as a pop-off valve in case the pressures got too high. Now it is time to go in and close it up.

After going through surgery last summer, a heart cath seems like no big deal. Nonetheless, I am nervous and full of dread and ready to get it over with and just wishing we could ride those 4 hours and just go to the beach and the Aquarium and skip the whole thing. Sigh...

We haven't really talked to Zach a whole lot about it yet. I found out after surgery that I have to be careful not to talk about MUSC in earshot of him because he immediately gets fretful and starts in with a barrage of questions. No sense worrying him prematurely. We will start talking to him this week and reassure him about it. I know I can rely on the many prayers of our "heart buddies" to bring us through!

I have to confess that I have taken NO pictures of my children all month! Zero. Zilch. Nada. Bad, bad mommy!!! So, here are some pics of Zach on his recent field trip to a local zoo (taken by his teacher, of course).

 His teacher said he was like a mountain goat --- he climbed all over every rock in the place!

He told me about "the COOLEST thing ever"... getting to feed the lambs with a baby bottle (nevermind that it looks like these are baby goats, it was still the COOLEST thing ever!)

 They got to take a bus ride around to feed various animals - you can see a llama or alpaca, an ostrich or emu, and some deer in this shot.

Ewwww!

13

13. Some consider it an unlucky number. I consider it a very blessed number. 13 is the number of years that we have spent with our beautiful, bright, talented Rebecca. 13 years ago our baby girl looked like this...

Now... 13.

Daddy's little girl

Nana made an incredible cake!

Make a wish!

Minute To Win It games in the garage!

What a nutcase!

So blessed to have great friends!

Proud Papa...

...and Nana.

Rebecca, we are so amazed at the young lady you have grown into! You are so beautiful on the outside, but more importantly, you are beautiful on the inside. We can't wait to see what plan God has for your life!