Asher’s Heart Cath

In March, Asher’s cardiologist, Dr. King, had a stroke, which has left him out of the office for quite awhile, so we had to reschedule Asher’s checkup with a different doctor in April.  He told us Asher’s aortic arch (the part of the heart where the blood comes out to go to the body) had some narrowing from scar tissue, he recommended coming back in July for a follow-up to see if he would need to have a heart cath procedure to balloon or stent open his arch.  We were hoping Dr. King would be recovered and back by then, but we were a bit taken by surprise when the other cardiologist called us the beginning of May saying that after reviewing Asher’s case with his colleagues, they all recommended doing the procedure right away.  Asher’s heart already has to work harder than other hearts, and prolonging the time it has to work extra hard to push the blood out could have some long-term effects.  We scheduled for two weeks later, May 18.

Although worried about Asher, we knew this was a fairly simple procedure with low risk that often does not even require an overnight hospital stay.  We were grateful that this was something that could be repaired through a heart cath instead of open heart surgery!  However, it’s always sad to see Asher have to go through things like this, and to know it’s only the first of many more heart caths he will have throughout his life. 

The morning of his procedure, he woke up happy and waited patiently and happily at the hospital, even though he hadn’t had anything to eat.  They changed the time of his procedure without calling to tell us, so when we got there, it was almost the scheduled time for him to start.  It worked out pretty nicely though because they hurried him through the pre-op procedures and then took him right up to the cath lab without much waiting around.  They gave him some versed medicine, which calms their nerves, and he was all relaxed and calm when I handed him over to the anesthesiologist. 

The boys made Asher some cards to take with him.  Davis’s was especially cute, with the ABCs on the back since Asher loves his letters, and the note inside saying, “I hope you have a good little surgery!”

 

The procedure took about four hours, and Dr. Keyser, the one performing the cath, came with pictures on the report that everything had gone well. They were able to balloon open the arch without needing a stent, for now at least.  They also coiled off several capillaries that had started to grow around the pulmonaries, which cause his heart to work harder too.  They told us his heart looked great and that he would be a great candidate for the Fontan surgery next year, and should really do well with that. 

After they took us over to the recovery waiting room, they said Asher was resting in recovery, and this his anesthesia would take another 40 minutes or so to wear off.  Shane went to grab us some lunch, but within minutes of him leaving they came out to tell me he was waking up and crying pretty hard.  He had to keep his leg still for an hour, so I hurried in and helped keep him calm during that time.  He slept off and on for that hour until we moved over to the day surgery rooms for him to finish his recovery.  He had to lie on his back for four more hours, keeping relatively still.  Unfortunately, he didn’t rest too much, but I stood by him, keeping him still, while he watched some shows.  He also loved the apple juice they brought in to him and kept asking for more!  He was happy to leave later that afternoon around 4:30 to go home.

 

The rest of that day, he did pretty well, and he slept pretty good that night, but Tuesday through Thursday were pretty rough days as he didn’t feel good, had a low-grade fever (normal for a few days), and had a hard time sleeping.  Shane and I took turns sleeping in his room at night on a mattress on the floor as he would wake up frequently and need reassurance to go back to sleep.  He got lots of TV time as he rested and recovered!

Landon turns 10!!!

I can’t believe Landon’s in the double digits already!  He is growing up so much lately, and I am constantly amazed at all he understands and can do now.  He is a great big brother.  I don’t think our boys could’ve had a better one.  He plays well with all of them and doesn’t think he is too cool or to old to play with them (for now at least!).  He is especially sweet with Asher and has become a good helper with him over the last few months as I have been sick with pregnancy.  He still loves to read, and he has read all the Harry Potter books multiple times this past year along with many other books.  If we forget to tell him when it’s time to turn his light out, he will still be awake reading books in his bed when we go to bed.  He also still loves to draw cartoons, and his favorites that he invented, Flattos, are even well known in the neighborhood and his classroom.  He has written several Flatto books, and has even created a Flatto card game this year.  He also loves smiley faces, and they have become his trademark among his friends also.

For his birthday, life was a little hectic.  We had something going on every weekend in May, and the day of his birthday party, I had an early heart echocardiogram for the baby, and that evening Davis had a baseball game.  We celebrated the night before with dinner at Spaghetti Factory, and the day of his birthday with a chocolate birthday cake.

Opening a card, some shorts, some Pokemon cards, and some magic balls from Grandma Morris after the Spaghetti Factory.

     

Checking out his basketball shoes and basketball hoop (kind of a family birthday gift) from us.

        

Silly faces with brothers, and opening his gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Malan – some new Nike shorts and t-shirt.

     

***Update – We finally were able to have a little party for Landon exactly one month after his birthday.  He has wanted to watch the first Harry Potter movie for awhile, so we invited a few friends over for a Harry Potter movie night.  We had Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans and Butterbeer while they watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone projected onto the front room wall.

 

Sunriver

The second weekend in May, the kids had no school on Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences.  When my friend Dayl asked if we wanted to go somewhere with our families for the weekend, we were in!  They have access to a house in Sunriver, so we all headed there Thursday afternoon once our conferences were over.  Shane was able to work away from the office on Friday, so he left with us on Thursday too. 

We got there in the evening Thursday, so we just got unloaded, had some pizza for dinner, and got to bed.  Friday morning, Dayl and I rode bikes with the kids over to Rock Creek Park.  Shane stayed back at the house to work all day.  The favorite attraction at the park was the big cone-shaped merry-go-round.  The kids all were on it and played for quite awhile on that.  They also had fun with the tetherball and on the slides. 

   

That afternoon, Dayl and I took the kids on a short hike to Benham Falls.  Dayl had been there before, so I just followed her to the starting point.  Google Maps took her to a different starting point than she had been before, which included nine miles of dirt roads to get there.  Needless to say, our cars were pretty dirty by the time we got home.  Asher kept saying, “Mom, car bumpy!” as we drove along.  We had fun looking at the falls and walking along the river’s edge, although we were a little nervous at a few points that we might lose a kid in the swift current. 

   

We barbecued hamburgers for dinner that night, then we all (husbands this time too) rode our bikes to “The Village” in Sunriver to get treats at Goody’s.  Landon and Davis were excited to buy these toilet shaped candies, where you would lick a plunder-shaped sucker and stick it in a “toilet” filled with sour sugar.  Davis kindly offered me a taste a few times and seemed quite shocked that I kept politely declining.  Asher picked out some gummy worms, while James decided on a vanilla ice cream cone.  Shane and I shared a delicious Oreo milkshake.

View on the trail in the morning, then the view of the sunset that evening on our bike ride home from Goody’s (plus a picture of the toilet candy)

 

Saturday morning, we all drove over to the lava lands, and drove to the top of the Lava Butte, one of the largest cinder cones of the Newberry shield volcano. We walked along the rim of the volcano, and enjoyed the great views of the surrounding area, including Mt. Bachelor and the Sisters mountains. 

           

We then headed over to Benham Falls again, this time to the hike Dayl thought we were going to the last time.  We hiked the half-mile into the falls, enjoying many stops along the way to throw rocks and sticks into the river, to walk across fallen logs, and to scratch names into tree trunks.  I think the kids could stand and throw rocks and/or sticks into the river for hours if we would let them.

     

That afternoon, we went to the Sharc swim center in Sunriver.  It had a fun indoor pool, with a great shallow area for the little kids.  Landon, Davis, and Halle spent almost the whole time we were there floating in circles around the whirlpool.  Asher and Carter are just about a week apart in age, and they are great buddies (most of the time).  We caught them several times throughout the weekend giving each other hugs.  Asher found the boys goggles after we went swimming and wanted to put them on with Shane.  He thought it was pretty cool.  The kids finished out the evening with a loud game of foosball after eating their dinner.

   

It was a great trip!  James was already planning our trip back as we drove home this morning.