Cardiology and catching up

Well...just to spread the word, Callie is participating in Hoops for Heart again this year! The past three years she was top fundraiser of her school - all thanks to you! We have been able to raise a lot of money each year for the American Heart Association! :) We're asking again for donations. If you'd like to donate money for Hoops for Heart we would be so appreciative! We're kind of behind due to Callie's trip last week (more on that in the next post), so we're trying to get money collected this week if possible. Please let me know if you are able to donate -- and ANY amount helps! You can send me an email at jkbradley44@gmail.com, and I'll send you my address to mail a check or cash. This is going to a great cause - obviously raising funds to find cures for heart disease is VERY near and dear to our hearts! :) Thank you!

Also...girl scout cookies have arrived! If you ordered some cookies, expect them soon! :) And thank you so much for all the cookie orders!

Okay, so we had a cardiology appointment yesterday. This was just a pre-cath appointment to make sure Ethan is looking good and ready for the cath. His EKG was good and we didn't even do an echo. :) Ethan was happy about that! We went over the plans with Dr. G (cath doc) for Monday. He's going to insert a covered stent (very similar to the one that was placed last time). This one will go in his left pulmonary artery though - this is the one that continually clots off. We hope that by putting in this covered stent it will stop the closing off of the artery! That would be amazing! The concern with this is we don't know how the ends of the stent will react. His cells have been growing through the open stents that are there, which is why they keep clotting off. This covered stent will stop the cells from being able to grow through the stent and clot, but the ends are a concern. The doctor doesn't know if his cells will wrap around the ends and clot off on the sides instead of in the middle. I asked what we do if that happens, and his response was "That's a good question." Then silence. Well, apparently he's not too sure what to do in that case yet either. Please just keep Ethan in your prayers that his body accepts this without a problem and doesn't have any growth around the edges!

Ethan did so well for his EKG! :)

Daddy and Ethan playing on the computer waiting for the doctor

Dr. G once again reminded us of the fact that surgery is approaching. He said we have exhausted all options for working on his conduit - especially since last time was so dangerous and it cracked. He said we're not even going to touch it again. The next step is the open heart surgery to replace it with a new larger one. We've been expecting this (that was actually supposed to happen back in June and then again in September), so it's just something to know is coming.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a very smooth and successful cath on Monday! I will keep you all posted as the day progresses - and even more so on Facebook if you follow me there.

Other than that, things have been going well. Ethan has been feeling well thankfully and did not end up getting the sickness that went through our house last week. I had some nasty stomach bug for 2 days, a sinus infection, and lots of congestion and headaches. I'm still not back to 100%, but I'm doing SO much better than last week thankfully!

Ethan finally got his new glasses! He loves them, so that's a relief!

Mid-blink :)

We took a trip to Chuck-e-Cheese before Callie's trip. Here are some pictures of that!

*Note the small child on the games in the background. This kid was climbing on EVERYTHING without any parent in sight! John helped him get off countless games all while his mom ate pizza and chatted in a booth with her friend. Grrr!

The kids all had a dance party and ticket grab :)

Callie shooting baskets

My dad's birthday was this past weekend, so we had a little ice cream cake to celebrate. Ethan had to help Grandpa blow out his candles though!

Also we had a little family bowling night. We met up with my dad for a Chinese buffet, then headed over for bowling - and met up with my cousin who was playing there in a league that night. :) We had a lot of fun!

Ethan is not the most focused bowler. :) Here's a video showing a bit of how his evening went. LOL After rolling it towards me, he managed to bowl in the wrong lane!


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hnRGd1mcbCk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts, prayers, and support! It means so much to us! I will keep you all posted with the cath updates. I will also be posting up about Callie's trip last week - but that might be broken up into a daily log... Still working on it :)

CHD Awareness and busy busy busy!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last updated! We've been running around super busy lately, so I am sorry I never got back to everyone with the cardiology plans. Here's a bit of what we've been up to lately.

Cardiology:
Our cardiologists all discussed the ideas for surgery versus cath. They decided that we should do one last cath attempt before the open heart surgery again. What we'll do is place a covered stent (just like the last cath) and scope out each of the other collateral arteries. If any of the other stents need ballooning then we'll take care of those at that time. I do have concerns obviously since placing the last covered stent was so traumatic to Ethan's body - his bleeding issues were so difficult to stop since the catheter is so much bigger to use for this type of stent. We'll be discussing all the specifics at our pre-op appointment on Feb 28th. Please just keep Ethan in your prayers for a very smooth and easy cath - with no bleeding issues this time! The cath is scheduled for Monday, March 4th.

Pulmonology:
We've been dealing with a nasty cough that just wouldn't go away for a couple months this winter. With breathing treatments and time Ethan is starting to do so much better! I'm so relieved that his lungs seem to be clearing up so well - especially with this cath coming up so soon! Hopefully he'll continue to stay clear!

School:
We're still working on this. Ethan loves going to school this year - thankfully that's much better than last year. But he still doesn't seem to care about actually "learning". He just wants to go to play with his friends, the toys, and do art projects. His teachers comment that they're still having to work with him on his concentration and focus on schoolwork. He just seems to struggle so much in paying attention to schoolwork! He does still do much better when doing work on an iPad or computer as opposed to a worksheet or flashcards. He's also excellent at doing work like building letters out of blocks, solving puzzles, and hands-on things like that - even if they involve the same things that a worksheet would be showing. Oh well, hopefully he'll improve with his attention and ability to focus on things on paper soon. I have a feeling kindergarten is going to be rough for him next year...

Callie:
Callie's been keeping VERY busy lately! She's been busy having fun with her Girl Scout troop. One activity we did was attend a K9 unit show at our local library. The girls loved it and had a great time!

Callie's in the pink all the way to the left

She's also finishing up her basketball season and doing so well! She has improved so much this year, and actually starting scoring baskets, stealing balls, and becoming quite aggressive on the court! :)

She also was invited to help her friend's indoor soccer team play some games this season. She played last weekend and this weekend (doubleheaders each Sunday). Indoor soccer is a totally different game than she's used to with her outdoor team, but she seems to really like it. She's going to participate in an indoor soccer training program starting in two weeks. That will also improve her outdoor game I'm sure, but I think she's wanting to sign up for winter soccer with her friend too. *sigh*

In addition to all this, she auditioned for the children's Honors Choir. The kids had to individually audition in front of the music teachers, and the top 7 students from each school in the county were selected for this choir. We are so proud of her that she was selected and will perform at our Community College in March!

Softball and spring soccer seasons are fast approaching, so things don't look like they'll be slowing down soon. Oh well, at least there's not much time for boredom!

CHD Awareness:
Onto the big week! Ethan is one of the Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital (our hospital) Littlest Heroes for the week! He was able to have a photo session at the hospital and they used one of the pictures to make a poster and explanation of his heart journey! It is so exciting! :) Here is a picture of the poster they made.

Here are some of the other pictures that were taken - these are just some of my favorites from the shoot.

 

 

Here's a picture of Ethan showing off his muscles and scars to promote CHD awareness!

And once again I haven't made a new video. One of these years I need to start much earlier than February! Here's the video that I made when Ethan was 1 all about his first year's journey with heart defects. I guess it'll just have to do. :) Just click this link below to watch the video - and there is music so make sure your volume is on.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=7f65c3ff418f1ce42ccd29&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url


That's about all I'll update on for now! I will have a Callie post coming up later this week about Callie's big trip! Please continue to keep Ethan and our family in your prayers!

Ethan's Journey at OneTrueMedia.com

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com