Surgery Date

It's very late and we've had a busy weekend but I wanted to get this out to keep you all updated.

I received the call from UF Friday! The nurse was great to work with and was patient while I asked my 1000 questions. I have a much better understanding and am excited for Josh to get down there.

We will be traveling to Gainseville May 27th for his clinic appointment. At this time we'll get to meet the doctors who will be treating Joshua. I was very happy to hear we'll also meet with a pulmonary hypertension specialist. They will do his work up, chest x-ray, etc also that day. We should be there about 4-5 hours.

The next day we will travel back down there unless we stay over night. He will have his surgery for the heart cath that day. We will not know until we speak to the doctor as to what extent or exactly what type of cath will be done. The nurse was very kind to answer all my questions about the different types, which I won't go into here, but I feel very comfortable in my understanding of them and am ready to get face to face with the heart specialist there. I did find out also that the doctor who will be doing Josh's cath is the head of the cath lab there. That makes me feel much better.

If they are able to repair the PDA, he will be kept overnight. This is my prayer. I pray they will be able to fix everything and keep him to watch it.

Lord, please give these doctors wisdom to do what is exactly right for Joshua, specific to him. I know you already know exactly what the plan will be and you have it all under control.

Amen and good night.

Patiently Waiting ....

So... I called down to UF and am still waiting for them to call back. I want to make sure Joshua's file hasn't gotten lost or stuck under a pile on a busy doctor's desk.

I feel like I need to keep heavily pestering, I mean checking on things to make sure the ball is still rolling.

I hope all of you have a good weekend!! We're glad it's Friday. We love our weekends, it's the only time we get to have all of us together at the same time for more than a couple hours.

Blessings!!!!!

Joshua's Prom

Josh had his junior prom this past weekend. He looked so handsome and had a great time. Thought you'd enjoy some pics of my handsome boy....

With his beautiful friend and date, Eva... he was such a gentleman...

I can't believe he's going to graduate next year, my how time flies.

PDA ... Does Not Mean Public Display of Affection ...

Well, it looks like we're taking a trip to Gainesville, FL sometime in the very near future. Too bad it won't be for a sporting event!

Joshua's doctor called asked if we could bring him in.... TODAY. Since when do specialists call and want to see you, now?

We arrived, they did his O2 stats in all extremities. Then they gave us the results of the cardiac MRI. He has an added diagnosis of Patent Ductus Arteriosus, or PDA.

You can read about it here, http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/350577-overview.

Basically, to keep it short and sweet, all infants are born with this. After 2-3 hours, it closes on it's own. It's a bypass in utero for the blood since the baby gets O2 from the placenta. Josh's didn't close on it's own and while at MU, they administered meds to make it close. Which it did.

Well, it's popped back open. Not sure how long it's been this way.

The defect connects the aorta with the pulmonary artery, allowing oxygen-rich blood from the aorta to mix with oxygen-poor blood in the pulmonary artery which means he does not have good oxygenated blood throughout his body.

Which explains a lot. Like why he has gray feet all the time, and his varicose veins, his attention span issues, and fatigue, and poor ability to exercise.

And most of all his pulmonary hypertension. Which the doc said today is "severe."

He also used words like "this is major" and "I have already sent his file overnight to UF" and "will definitely need a heart cath."

So... once again we wait and see what the next doctor is going to say. I'm thankful for our cardiologist here, Dr. J. He has his little quirks, but he is extremely thorough and was not going to stop until he had an answer. In fact, the radiologist missed the PDA. Dr. J asked for the pics from the MRI and he saw it himself. So... for that I'm thankful he has his quirks.

I ask you to please keep us all in your prayers. Josh has a great attitude about this. I know him though and in a couple days it will start to sink in.

I am going to trust in my God who already knew all this was going to happen. This is not a surprise to Him. He will lift me up when I am weak and walk beside us the whole way.

Diamond D Ranch Field Trip

Today we had a field trip with our homeschool group to Diamond D Ranch. It was a beautiful day to be outside and we had a great time.

Waiting for everyone to get there...

They got to ride ponies, feed goats, rams, and catfish, see wild pigs, pet horses, go on an educational nature walk and ride upside down on a drum.

The ponies...

Feeding the catfish... Alex was SOOO wanting a fishing pole!

Then they fed the goats...

Then it was the cow's turn...


They loved the cookies... Check out that tongue....




Then they rode the drum-roll... I didn't get to take Alex's picture doing this since he ran ahead to be first... go figure!

Micayla and one of her best friends, getting ready to roll...


Upside down...

It was a great day. Micayla wanted to come home with a pony... of course!

WHY????

Why do teenage boys do things that stress out their Momma's? Brandon bought this for himself a couple weeks ago and I'm just able to post about it ...

It stresses me out to no end. I'm worried about him hurting himself or worse. We have a couple in our church whose son was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident and is now in a wheelchair with a long road ahead of him and requiring his parents to care for him. Every time I see Brandon on his bike, I think of them. It makes me so nervous. Yes he wears a helmet but that doesn't guarantee anything.

I know he is so excited about the bike, but I'm not. I want to be happy for him but I'm not. I was a little happy for him watching him ride it, because he's wanted one forever, all the while jumping in my seat every time he turned. I drove behind him so other cars couldn't but I can't follow him all around town. I just pray he gets home safe every night.

I'm thankful he is in his own house now, or I'd never get any sleep!

Please keep both my big boys in your prayers, that they are safe and healthy.

Joshua's MRI's

I am having computer problems so I haven't been able to update. Hopefully they will be resolved soon.

Joshua had his MRI's done this week. Wednesday they did the run off's. Thursday they did the "main" cardiac MRI. When Josh came out after THREE hours, my never complaining son says "I don't ever want to do that again." He looked spent, worn out, exhausted and was freezing. He said he had a headache and was hungry. He wasn't allowed to eat lunch so he was ready to eat. I took him to Panera's and he had soup and a sandwich. He loves his soup.

The cardiologist returned my call late yesterday. I was really hoping to hear something before the weekend. He said the run off's looked fine, there seems to be no blockage in his lower extremeties from the vericosities to the heart, but that doesn't explain WHY he has them. It was good news I guess.

We are still waiting to get the results from the cardiac MRI. Hopefully we'll hear something Monday or Tuesday.

The doc also told me there was no change in the ECHO that was done a couple weeks ago from the first one he did. He was hoping to see lower pressures but that was not the case.

I'll update more when I know more.

Thank you for checking in on Josh and our little corner of the world.