Pre-Op Day Success!

For those interested in the specifics of tomorrow, we are scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 5:30 AM, they plan to take him back around 6:15 AM and should begin the procedure at 7:30 AM. It should take about 6 hours from that time.

Here's a summary of our day of pre-op. Chase was all ready to go this morning!







EKG? No worries! It literally took longer to put on the stickers than complete the test!





Chest x-ray was next. It was one of two hard parts of his day. He fought us on the chest x-ray big time!! But it was over quickly and we moved on to the next thing.

Oh, the next thing turned out to be his blood draw. Daddy held him down on his lap while they got it done. He was NOT a fan. Again, it was over fairly quickly.

After a quick escape to the cafeteria for lunch, we went back upstairs for his echo. He did awesome, per his norm.





After all of this, we waited to see the important players for tomorrow, including the surgeon, anesthesia team, cardiologist and more! All of our questions were answered, and we were pleased that we didn't have any surprises and that everything is as we expected it to be. It's weird being in this place again. Four years seems so long ago, but at the same time, it feels like we never left. Maybe because it's our reality 24/7, whether it involves surgeries or just the day-to-day life of loving a child with half a heart.

After the "fun" of pre-op, we went back to the house to grab our other two and my mom to grab dinner. These two! Love!!





After dinner it was time for some go-kart fun! This is one of Chase's favorite things of all time!!




A motorcycle ride later, and it was time to head back to the house.





But not before one last "pirate" pic with Blackbeard! Chase didn't get the pirate memo.





Then of course it was time for ice cream!




Considering it's almost 9:00 PM and we still need to get this guy a shower, I guess I'd better get back to work! I'll post updates tomorrow as we receive them during surgery beginning at 9:00 AM.

Thank you so so so much to all of you who are praying for us, texting us and thinking of us. We especially covet your prayers over the next 24 hours!! We are blessed by your love and prayers!!!

As a reminder, you can send cards, notes, etc. to Chase (as well as LO and E) at the address below:

PO Box 12406
Charleston, SC 29422

The End of Quarantine!!!

Quarantine ended today! Yay!! Grandparents arrived today to help us as we prepare for Chase's surgery. The kids were SO excited to see them!!! We had a productive day, including some errands, a home haircut for Chase and a dinner date for hubs and I! While we're no longer officially in quarantine, we still must be diligent in keeping Chase away from germs and sick individuals. But hugs & squeezes from grandparents are a-okay!!

Tomorrow we have a full day of pre-op scheduled: temp, o2, BPs (x4), chest X-ray, echocardiogram, EKG and a blood draw. We will meet with the anesthesiologists and our surgeon, Dr. Bradley. We also plan to take Chase to the Atrium (ginormous play room) for a bit as well. It'll be a long, exhausting day, but we're bringing plenty of distractions to help Chase get through the day.

Please pray for us tomorrow as we work through the pre-op requirements. Please pray they don't find anything that could potentially delay this surgery... elevated temp or white blood count (signs of a possible infection), etc. We need a clean bill of health to sign off and make Chase's Fontan a "Go!" As much as I'm dreading this, I know it's what he needs and we just need to get through it so he can be stronger & healthier.

Thank you for your prayers! And don't forget -- you can send well wishes to Chase at the address below! Thank you for your support!

Chase
PO Box 12406
Charleston, SC 29422

Quarantine: Day 16

Short & sweet.

Woke up to kisses and giggles from this one.




Road-tripped with these three:







Nobody napped a wink. E did some light reading and lots of eating!







Contacted by our credit card company. Three fraudulent charges had been declined. Our card has been compromised. Cancelled. New cards coming. Need to get that PO Box set up in the morning.



Dinnertime. Pizza and juice boxes ftw.







My pet horse, Princess.







Love this smiley one!







Now to get kids settled in for the night. And make fun plans for tomorrow.



Overall a very nice birthday!

Mail Time!

If you would like to send cards, notes, get well wishes, etc. to Chase (or notes of encouragement to LO or E), please send them to the address provided below. We will keep everything we receive in a scrapbook for Chase to have as a keepsake from this surgery and as a reminder of the many friends, families and blog readers across the world who have been thinking of him and lifting him up in prayer.

Chase
PO Box 12406
Charleston, SC 29422

Thank you in advance for following along on this journey with us! We don't know what we'd do without your support!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quarantine: Day 15 (The One with Lots of Randomness)

Day 15 of quarantine. Donezo. This'll be short and sweet 'cause we've got a long day tomorrow and I need some rest! So here goes!

I love mornings with this silly guy!

Today LO and I started our homeschool journey. She kept begging me all day long to get started! I wonder how long that will last? Anywho, one quick story from today. We were working on math and there were a few shapes to identify: sphere, cone and... what I thought was a cube was, per Miss LO, actually a "rectangular prism!" She never ceases to amaze me! LOL!

Working away! I'm so already in love with homeschool if it means pajamas and crazy hair at 2 o'clock in the afternoon!

All these guys happened to be downstairs at the same time -- a very rare event! It's LO's Teddy, Chase's Monkey and E's Elephant. The kiddos have all had these lovies since birth. So sweet!

These are the very blue nail beds that are certain to be much more pink following his Fontan! It's seriously breathtaking just how blue his fingers and toes are in real life. I'm so looking forward to being post-Fontan and saying "c-ya later!" to this cyanosis!

After dinner tonight it was CRAZY windy so we busted out the kites again. LO's Dora kite was so high!!!

Love this crazy girl and her crazy sense of style (complete with Rainbow Dash wings and tail from last year's Halloween costume)!

And yes, Chase in his pajamas at 6:00 PM (thank you, quarantine!), sunglasses and brown Timberlands flying his Superman kite. Guess the crazy sense of style thing runs in the family?

This boy! Oh, this boy is so close to taking his first steps!! We're working on his balance, as evidenced by this pic. He's so fun and so silly at this age... I just love him!

Before the kids went to bed tonight, they surprised me with early Mother's Day gifts since we'll be quite preoccupied on the actual big day. What a beautiful necklace! The other side quotes 1 Corinthians 13:8, "Love never fails." So perfect!

And hubs, who knows me so well (and can also access my many Amazon wish lists), picked me up one of the books I've been eyeing. I love me some Clinton Kelly!

Thanks again to everyone for keeping up with us. We really love and appreciate all of our supporters out there!

Oh, and just a heads up... we're getting a PO Box while we're in Charleston and I plan to share the address here as soon as we have it. I know it would mean a LOT to Chase to receive a special note or card from one (or more) of his faithful prayer warriors during his hospital stay! If it's not too much trouble, please consider it! I'll post the address later this week.

Love to all!!!

Quarantine: Day 14

Day 14 of quarantine has been a slow, quiet day. This guy showed up in my room and proceeded to chat away about all sorts of things! It was wonderful waking up to this silly boy!

I just love him -- bed head and all!

After breakfast we set up a makeshift photo studio to take 1st birthday pics of E with his cake. We have the exact same shot of the older two and of course had to do one with E as well. It definitely wasn't my best work, but it'll do! It helps that I had an adorable subject to work with!

See these other two 1-year-old cuties with their cakes?

Of course I can't just share one pic from the shoot today... here's a few more!

Haha! Love him!

So I finally started packing today. Three kids' worth of clothes, toiletries, shoes, toys, books, activities... whew! It's quite overwhelming! I must admit that folding up those hospital gowns I made along with the rest of Chase's clothes and loading them up into his Super Mario suitcase was quite a reality check for me. This is really happening. Really.

Packing, playing with the kids, napping (seriously, I had The. Best. Nap. Ever. today!) and that was about it. Oh, Chase did decide to run outside in his pajamas this afternoon to hit the sprinkler hubs had set up to water the new sod that went in last week...

I called him inside for dinner and he proceeded to strip down out of his wet pajamas and enjoy his meal in nothing but his skivvies! He's seriously such a riot, this boy of mine!

And please excuse the horrible lighting, but I had to include one more pic of this guy. My baby!

I've noticed I don't have any pics of LO today. Weird! I'll be sure to make up for it tomorrow. ;)

Thanks again for reading these ramblings as we prepare for Chase's 3rd heart surgery in a few days. We are so in need of the continued prayer support of our family, friends and blog readers! Please keep us in mind as we make preparations for heading down to Charleston and getting Chase through everything that is coming his way. We just love our rock star so much and we just know God is going to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine! To Him be the glory!!!

Quarantine: Day 13

Sorry for the delay in posting Day 13... Honestly having Chase's surgery date change unexpectedly has thrown me for a bit of a loop! I was just about to the end of the "holding pattern" before I could start packing, only to be hit with an extra two days of waiting!

But first, a few quick additions from Day 12 (Friday). That afternoon the kids had a blast flying kites before dinner.

Here's a little video of Chase having fun with his kite. :)

After the kite excitement, it was inside to watch Friday Night's Feature Presentation, Walking with Dinosaurs. The kids really enjoyed it! Along with the popcorn and juice boxes, of course (please pardon the mess).

Now on to Day 13. It is truly a blessed day when I get to sleep in... especially on a Saturday!!!


I guess there really isn't too much to talk about here. It was a typical Saturday. Some laundry, some cleaning, some grocery shopping and napping. Overall a lovely day!

We had a "picnic" outside last night for dinner. Hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans, pasta salad... lots of the kids' faves. Not surprisingly, E just about ate his weight in food! He especially loved the hamburger! We've definitely got a carnivore on our hands. A cute one at that! ;)

Yes, he's counting down how many bites he has left. Yes, he still has remnants of hot pink fingernail polish on his fingernails.

This girl has mommy's wild hair when it isn't properly cared for, but she seems to handle the afro much better than I do! I think she looks much cuter than I do anyway.

We followed dinner with ice cream cones, of course. There's an interesting story I'm calling "The Ice Cream Incident of 2014" that I must document here on the blog for my own memory purposes.
LO takes AGES to eat dinner. Literally, AGES. Everyone else is done and she's barely touched her plate (talk much?). Chase finished his dinner, so hubs went in and made him an ice cream cone. I'll be honest: it was ginormous. Way bigger than anything I would've made for a 4 1/2 year old less than 2 hours before bedtime. But whatevs, it was awesome. I ran out of room on my phone (no surprise there) and couldn't take any pics of Chase with his ice cream cone, but suffice it to say it was a large, chocolatey mess. So cute!
Ten light years later, LO finally finished her dinner and of course, was expecting an ice cream cone of her own. I went inside and prepared a modest 2-scoop sugar cone of deliciousness and brought it outside to her.
Her immediate response (complaint)?
"Why does Chase get a bigger one?"
I turned around and walked back inside with it. She immediately went crazy and followed me inside saying she really wanted it. Feeling that she was way too greedy with her behavior, I removed the top scoop from the cone and set it on a clean plate on the nearby counter. I tried to return the rest of the ice cream treat to her, but she was upset and complained again.
This then prompted a face-to-face conversation about how the world doesn't owe her anything. That she can't just expect everything she ever wants to be handed to her on a silver platter. That she has to earn things with hard work, good behavior, etc. And that if/when she does receive something, she had darn well better say THANK YOU and be GRATEFUL for what she does get, instead of complaining about what she's lacking. More or less, I felt like I had turned into my mother. ;) IMO it was a great heart-to-heart and I truly felt like I had made a difference in her world by teaching her a very important life lesson. I then offered her the ice cream cone again, and she sheepishly said thank you. Then I forced a hug from her, causing some giggles.
Before she turned to walk back outside, she turned to me and asked, "Can I have the other scoop back now, too?"
In complete and udder shock & disbelief, I walked over to the counter, picked up the scoop of ice cream, walked toward her and dropped it into the trashcan 2 feet from where she was standing. The look on her face was priceless! She then said she was glad for the ice cream she does get to have and headed outside to join the boys.
It was classic! I honestly think watching that scoop of ice cream hit the trash made the exact point I had tried to make with her using my words. She even mentioned it to me again later last night, and wrote about what she had learned in her diary for us to talk about at bedtime.
Classic LO.

Quarantine: Day 12 (The One Where Chase's Surgery Date Changes)

What a day! I'll start with the most obvious point of interest: we got a call today that Chase's Fontan needed to be moved to accommodate a more critical surgery. It's only going to shift by two days, and our preferred surgeon is still performing the operation, but he will be away (not on call) for several days following Chase's Fontan. That doesn't give us a warm & fuzzy, but we've got to go with it because the only other option was JUNE, which obviously isn't very conducive to the plans and details we already have in place. My thoughts and prayers are with the family whose child is in urgent need of Chase's original surgery time slot.

So whew! That's gonna take some adjusting to, but I'd guess we just adjust our entire game plan by two days and just hope and pray that it doesn't get moved again!

Today was a pretty busy day for me. E had his 1-year checkup, which of course meant I fed him his first PB&J while we waited. You know, so if he does happen to be allergic to peanuts, we'd be in the right place to care for him.



But he passed with flying colors while scarfing down half a sandwich not long after he had eaten breakfast! All was well with his checkup.




Two vaccinations and one finger stick for a CBC later, and we were on our way!

After dropping him at home, I then went straight to LO's school to see her prized Subway lunch reward in action. She chose her (boy)friend (?!!!) celebrate with her. She was surprised that I came to join them for lunch, and she told me about the many other surprises she had that morning, including getting to celebrate her summer birthday today with her friends. She wore a pretty pink dress for her last day at school.



After lunch with LO, I came home for a bit before it was time to head back to the school as a Computer Lab volunteer with her class. She insisted I take of picture of her with her (boy)friend.







After Computer Lab I made sure all of her library books were returned, filled out her withdrawal papers, grabbed my girl and made a run for it! Haha! She was pretty happy about her last day. I'm glad she was so positive about it.

While I had planned to spend the afternoon packing, I now find myself chilling with my iPhone while the boys are napping, writing this post instead. I don't imagine there are any big plans tonight, but if anything spectacular happens, I'll be sure to mention it in tomorrow's quarantine update.

Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Quarantine: Day 11

My sweet LO was ridiculously adorable for her next-to-last day of 1st grade! Seriously, I love her so much, and this go-to photo pose of hers? Adorbs!

Today was a pretty quiet day. Laundry pretty much sums up my efforts. And I set out like 2 or 3 items to be packed. Pretty impressive, huh?

Babies in overalls ftw!

I seriously cannot get enough of this boy!!!

After school, LO and I played some iPad games (My Horse, anyone?) while I painted her nails. She was much more excited about it than she looks...

I spoke with her about the many transitions coming her way right around the corner -- her last day of 1st grade, beginning homeschooling, temporarily relocating to Charleston, her little brother's heart surgery -- and how she's sure to have many thoughts and feelings about all of it. She understands that I'll be at the hospital a majority of the time with Chase and I told her it makes me sad that we may not have the opportunities to connect with each other to talk about the thoughts and feelings she may experience in the coming weeks. Then I surprised her with a My Little Pony diary (complete with lock and key!) for her to journal the things on her mind for us to share and discuss when we do have the chance to be together. She was so stinkin' excited about it! Apparently she's always wanted a diary... although she's never said so to me before! LOL! Then the sweetest thing happened: she wanted me to have the extra key. That way I could read it and know what she's thinking and feeling. I was speechless at this extraordinary girl of mine!! I love her so!!!

We had a pretty quiet night. Tomorrow is a big day! A special breakfast of Krispy Kreme donuts (she says she'll eat 3!)... Last day of 1st grade at her current school... A big Subway lunch reward for her and one friend (she picked Logan, her "boyfriend")... I hope she has a spectacular day! I'll also probably put some effort into starting packing for our trip and cleaning the house (who wants to come home to a dirty house? Not me!).

Thanks again to all of you who are following along on our journey... even in these "mundane" quarantine days leading up to Chase's surgery. We really appreciate those of you who have been our prayer supporters and have offered to help us during this time. We cannot tell you how much this means to us! Thank you!!!