Parker’s cardiologist just called.
He wants to schedule Parker for a right heart cath. Yesterday.
I very calmly told him that our family needed a little Christmas in our lives right now.
More than anything else, we need some family time, looking at Christmas lights, making gingerbread houses, and sending our wish lists to Santa.
I agreed to a clinic appointment in January where we could then discuss right heart caths.
But until then, we need a little joy. A little magic. A little time to remember the gift of a Savior and prepare ourselves for a brand new year.
We’re decking the halls:
You have no idea how many times this tree has been redecorated. Seems as though a certain Brave Hero thinks it’s his job to swipe and hide as many ornaments as possible.
Remembering what the season is all about.
Reed’s Dad made this entire set by hand.
Believe is our family motto. You’ll find reminders stashed all over our house, especially during the holidays.
See that red plate?
One of my many Christmas decorating yard sale scores. My favorite kind!
Each year the Blue Eyed Girl counts down to the big day using this Santa Advent Calendar.
It’s a simple set up. Little red hearts set on little nails. Works for us!
Beginning with our first Christmas as a married couple, I’ve collected Santas. One a year. I try to date each one. Memories, baby. Memories.
I plan on our family experiencing lots and lots and lots of this in 2011.
One of my favorites.
The Blue Eyed girl had a flute recital on Saturday.
She rocked the house! Kenny holds second chair in the Jr. High band. She’s working hard to dethrone the 9th grade that keeps the first chair warm. I have no doubt she’ll do it. This girl is serious about her music!
So, what about you? Are you in need of a little Christmas right now too? How are you bringing a bit of the season into YOUR home. Feel free to leave a comment AND link in the comment section below.
Tammy, why does Dr. D keep insisting on a cath? I thought I remember you saying a while back that his last echo showed good pressures. What does that man want?
Lacey and Jax recently posted..More fun with Santa
Oh no, Lacey.
The last cath showed awful pressures.
Even though the echo AND ekg showed almost normal results…..the echo came back depressingly bad.
Worse than the previous one.
Then we found out they over sedated him and mucked up his blood gasses. Day should have switched out Parker’s trach (which was leaking at the time) to a cuffed trach, but refused.
The anesthesiologist brought Parker’s blood gasses back via meds, but the whole cath should have been stopped once his Co2 had been mucked with.
Daftry took one look and said that there was something metabolic going on with it and he’s the one who ordered the lung CT, bronch, etc.
I mentioned the refluxing that Parker had been doing to Day and he got the Nissen scheduled.
The bronch showed that he had been aspirating.
So….we went NPO, got the Nissen and then last week’s surgery for the aspiration.
Pfeffer took one look at the cath results and said something was off. She said that just by looking at Parker she could tell his results weren’t that bad.
Day wants to see if the Nissen, Foldover, etc. made any difference and see if the oversedation did, indeed, muck with the results.
I HATE heart caths. HATE them.
But I’m going to go ahead and let him do it because it would be just my luck, that even though via x-ray Parker’s lungs and heart have NEVER looked so good, his PH would be getting worse.
Bailey is getting married in April and I don’t want this hanging over me.
sigh…..
Twitter: therextras
says:
Oh.my. Never just a simple little situation at your home! And a wedding coming?!? Congrats and empathy. Thanks for explaining all that again and thanks to Lacey for asking.
Now that Parker is assisting with the decorations, well *bigsmile*.
Your decorations are beautiful – you have such a good ‘eye’ – artistic really!
Barbara recently posted..Having choices is wonderful
Was his last cath the one in September, the same day Jaxson’s was? That would be funny because he messed up Jax Co2 levels as well and didn’t get accurate results! He didn’t even tell us his pressures because they hyperventilated him at the beginning! Lovely!
So it sounds like his pressures probably aren’t as bad as they showed in that cath. Although it is probably a good idea to get accurate pressures in a cath, I also wonder because everything else looks good, if its a good idea to get into those veins again. Because you know that everytime you go into those veins, scar tissue is forming, and its going to get more difficult each time!
Lacey and Jax recently posted..More fun with Santa
Lacey,
YES! Same cath! Holy cow! I didn’t know he had issues with Jax’s cath too.
At first Day swore up and down that what he did had no results on the outcome. But I have a sweet friend, who’s husband is an anesthesiologist that said the cath should have been stopped once they over sedated him and his blood gases came back with his Co2 high.
Holy snot. I had no idea.
Pfeffer said that she would be in no hurry to get Parker back in the cath lab, that he didn’t look like a kid who was having issues. But Day told me that he’d like to try again in case he could lower some of Parker’s meds because there are a few that are rough on a kid’s lungs.
How did you and I not know this about our last cath day?
I know, its crazy! I just remember being ticked because this was a big factor in us traching Jax, so when he couldn’t give me accurate pressures, I wanted to strangle him!
Oh the love/hate with that man! I think he is such a sweet guy, and I know he loves Jax, but somedays I still want to strangle him!
Lacey and Jax recently posted..More fun with Santa
Good for you for just taking some time to enjoy Christmas with your family. It sounds like some time off is a great idea! I love your decorations, they are beautiful!
I have decided to not be stressed out this Christmas. I am going to make everything be “good enough”, not perfect, and I am going to let so many things slide. Somedays are harder than others, but I am going to make this work!
Debbi Henry recently posted..Spread the Cheer
To simply “Believe” is a powerful thing, isn’t it? I love your photos and your cute Santas & am glad your daughter is doing great on the flute!
We were tweeting a little bit earlier and I wanted to stop by. Not that either of us might need one thing more than the other, for who are we to know what exactly someone needs? I hope my last tweet didn’t come off to you in the wrong way, for I so did not mean it to. (@pricousins)
I hope you find Joy in 2011, and I hope my family does too.
Merry Christmas to you and your whole family!
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Sorry- I’m just catching up after a spurt of upheaval at our house. I know I’m a broken record, but I can’t see how a cath yesterday is so advantageous. I’d sooner see his lungs heal up a bit and then consider a cath. There’s just nothing to be gained from it unless you’re a certain doctor who wants to redeem himself.