Finally... some good news from UF!

We had our monthly trip to UF this week. It was the first time in 10 months of monthly visits that we received good news!

The best news is that Joshua's O2 sats were finally normal in both the upper and lower extremities. Usually there is about a 10 point difference and the lower extremities have only been in the upper 80's. We were quite surprised at the upper 90's Thursday!

The other good news is that Joshua gained ONE pound!!! Woo Hoo!!! I told him I could gain 10 pounds in the time it takes him to gain one. (He asked me if I'd like to take that challenge and I quickly said NO!) He is now officially 5'7" and weighs a whopping 113 pounds!!! He still does not have a trigger for hunger (unless it's been 24 hours!) or thirst so I will still be pushing food at him as much as I can. We buy whole milk for him and put butter on anything we can for him. The COMPLETE opposite of how the rest of us should be eating. And before you decide to tell me how bad that is for him, it's what the doctor told us to do. So... we'll go with it for now.

After we left UF he said he wanted something sweet. I told him I'd stop wherever he wanted. On our way home he had four donuts from Krispy Kreme, 2 hot dogs and an ice cream cone. We pass by a little dairy freeze place every month so Josh wanted to try it this trip. It reminded him of Zesto's back home in Jeff City. I couldn't believe how much he ate! I told him I cannot hang out with him if he isn't going to choose REAL food!! I wanted a salad from Applebee's. Maybe next time!

SO... back to the doctors. They were very pleased with the weight gain and the o2 sats so they are giving us a 6 week span between our next visit. At that time, we will be scheduling a second heart cath. This makes me a little nervous but at the same time I am cautiously optimistic. I want to believe the meds are finally working and all is fine but at the same time I think I am in self preservation mode with not wanting to be let down next month.

His doctor also wants him to double the distance he covers during his 6 minute walk. Right now he's at 432 meters. So we'll see how he does. This will be great to see him start being able to challenge himself and start being more active!

Thank you for your prayers. It truly is uplifting for us to know so many of you are praying for our family.

To close, I'll share this picture with you. It's my favorite of the year, maybe.