Monday, February 4, 2013

Cardio check up

Gavin met with his cardiologist for his surgical follow up and it couldn't have gone better. He has bounced right back from his surgery and it is such a relief that we don't look at him with the haunting thought, "Is his conduit failing right now?" His heart is repaired and we can rest for a few years now. While anything can happen and Gavin is the example of that, the direct danger is gone now and we can now focus on him and how he is developing into this amazing, loving child. He was such a big great big brother today, showing Owen how all the tests are done. He loved that Dumbo was playing while Owen had his echo today. Gavin returns for an echo in six months, a big change from what we are used to. Dr. Tim asked if I was going to be alright not seeing them every few weeks or 3 months. We will be alright, although they are all awesome up there, our family would like to plan fun outings rather than our afternoons around echos. While this seems like a lot to go through, I am always reminded that we have it extremely easy compared to what other families and little children are going through. Gavin has healed really well from his surgery and we are all looking forward to a few months off from the doctors office. Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support with Gavin and his journey.

Friday, January 4, 2013

2 Week post op

Happy New Year! Gavin had his surgery a little over 2 weeks ago and it's really hard to believe that is behind us now. No longer do we have to look at him wondering if his stents are holding up, if he's going to through a blood clot, if he's in congestive heart failure. He had his 2 week post op follow up January 2nd, both his chest x-ray and his incision both look great. His chest tube stitches came out December 24th, a few days later than expected due to the fact that they didn't look ready. All and all, Gavin has been a trooper. He still complains of pain from time to time, he is at least at the age where he can tell us he is uncomfortable. He still makes us nervous, that's for sure and surgery or no surgery I'm certain that is a fact of parenthood. His next cardio appointment is January 30th. Time will tell when he needs another surgery, but we have been given hopes that it may not occur until adolescents. We did have to take him to Mott on New Year's Eve/Day. Over the course of a week, he had been breaking out in hives/welts/severe rashes and I thought it may have been the Motrin or pain meds but out of nowhere they developed but seemed to go away with time or the Benadryl. Well New Year's Eve, his feet swelled up so bad they were completely stiff, red, hard as bricks. Weird, I know. They said it was a virus, which every parent loved to hear, it's viral and must run it's course, with the help of allergy medicine to help with the random welts and swelling. We are truly blessed and fortunate to share such great news and a wonderful recovery story, so many times it doesn't turn out that way. We thank you for your continued prayers and support. Love the Aikey's