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I cannot believe it has already been two years ago today that we handed our little Braveheart over to Dr. Austin for repair for Tetralogy of Fallot. Last night I was thinking back to the night before and how we took pictures of Evan all day long and told him he was going on a mended heart trip. I remember when we left pre-op that day that we let him have ice-cream and took pictures with his pumpkin in his costume since we would be in the hospital for Halloween. I remember rocking him to sleep and singing to him and once he had fallen to sleep rocking him and praying to God to please protect him and to let the surgery be a success and to protect the surgeon and Eric coming in and telling me to lay him down and us both sobbing once leaving his room at what tomorrow would hold. Worrying that he would wake up after midnight and want a bottle and what in the world we would do. Thankfully he slept that night. I remember trying real hard to be strong walking into the hospital that morning and looking around the waiting room and wondering if everyone else was as scared as we were. Things went fast after we went back and they anesthesiologist came and said we'll be ready in just a few minutes and all I wanted to do was run with my baby. They came and I thought I would collapse watching them walk away with him. Heart families also have their own waiting room so we went there where friends and family were waiting for us and we waited. The first update I will never forget, the nurse came in and told us that Dr. Austin had rocked Evan to sleep, that meant so much to us to know he was being cared for in such a compassionate way. We held our breath for the hourly updates from our nurse and when they came with news we prayed and then began the wait again. Seeing him for the first time after surgery was scary. I looked beyond the wires and tubes and saw my little baby and began to sing our song that we always sang to the tune of "Que Sara, Sara", "When I was just a little boy, I asked my mommy what will I be, will I be handsome, will I be bright and here is what she said to me, Hey Evan, Evan, whatever will be will be, the future's not our's to see, Evan, Evan what will be will be." The next few days were rough and I became addicted to the monitors and drove the PICU crazy and then just six days later we were headed home.
Eric and I watched the HBO film, "Something the Lord Made" last night and after the movie was over I just kept thinking, "Wow, we have those two men who innovated heart surgery that our little braveheart is alive today." Great movie and I highly recommend you heart families out there to get it. Tomorrow I have the day off and Evan and I are delivering muffins and cupcakes to the Doctors that are over Evan's care. Evan is excited to see Dr. McOmber, his beloved cardio.
Today is an important day for another reason, It is Eric's 33rd Birthday!!! When they called 2 years ago and told us the date I just looked at Eric like ??? and he instantly said, "This will be the best birthday present ever!" That is him, my unselfish husband that thinks of Evan and I before himself always. So tonight we are celebrating with his favorite dish and cake and then tomorrow night with his extended family. Happy 33rd Birthday Eric, we love you!
Finally uploaded some pictures from our Boo at the Zoo trip last Sunday. We DID NOT go to Waverly after trick or treating!!! Not only am I a chicken but I also see no need to go somewhere where I know all that will happen is that I will scared to death and cause myself to have nightmares. I just decided that there was no point in putting or opening myself to that scariness to just say, "I toured Waverly" and although everyone else still wanted to go their dreams got shattered when they called and they told them they were sold out for tours until next year!!! I've been pretty emotional this past week, no I'm not pregnant, just thinking about what was happening 2 years ago at this time. Evan will be 2 yr. post-op this Thur., Oct. 26th. We carved pumpkins tonight, Evan wanted one big one and one little one and on the way home he told the little one, "Don't be scared, we are going to take good care of you!" He asked if we could keep the little one inside so we just painted it, much fun! We are planning a very special day this Friday to celebrate! Be sure to look for some cute pic's this Friday!
Evan has not been feeling well. Woke up last Sat. night coughing and couldn't stop. We took him into the bathroom with the shower running on full hot to try to help things, it really sounded like his airway was shutting off and I was debating on a trip to the ER. He could not lay down, even reclined, if he was on his back in any way he was coughing. I ended up sleeping from about 3:00am, holding him in his bed leaned up against the wall, hard to do now that he is 37 lbs. I tried to take him to the recliner but he cried (which made the coughing worse) wanting to stay in his room. We made it to morning like that and I called our emergency # at the pedi. office and they opened to see him. It was croup and they put him on a 3 day steroid and Benedryl. Poor little guy, he really had me worried. Sat. night my mind was spinning thinking about how this is the first year since his birth that we haven't had RSV shots during these months and then the what if's and what should I do's started. I was so thankful for our pedi. office opening up Sun. morning to see him! He is doing better, still a little cough but lots better. We have our local Arts & Crafts fair this weekend so I believe my DH is going to keep Evan and let my mom and I have some fun shopping so I'm really looking forward to that. The zoo here is opening at nights on the weekend for Boo at the Zoo where you can dress up and go trick or treating there. We had planned on doing that this Sun. evening with some friends but we will have to see how Evan is doing. He is going to be a T-Rex for Halloween and is so excited about that. We (Eric and I) have been asked to find a baby sitter after the zoo trick or treating and all us adults go to Waverly Hills Sanatorium for a tour. I'm scared to death but Eric thinks it would be really neat to go tour it. For those that aren't familiar it is an old hospital that was built for the tuberculosis epidemic in Louisville in 1926 you can read some about it here; http://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html. I haven't made up my mind as to if I'm going but if I do I'll have lots to write on Monday because I'm already terrified just thinking about it. Have a great weekend!
What an awesome day we had this past Saturday down on the river for the 2006 Kentuckiana American Heart Association Heart Walk. I would say we had about 50 people wearing our Team Brave Heart's t-shirts, representing 7 different families whose children have been born with a congenital heart defect. The Courier Journal talked to myself, Lucas' mom and Ben's dad and did a little write up in Sundays paper
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061001/NEWS01/310010006&SearchID=73258632327851 although I don't remember saying exactly what she wrote and I'm also not 30 (yet), she asked me how it is having a child with a CHD and I think I said, "You try to live as normal as possible but in the back of your mind their is a constant worry that something might be wrong" and "We are here to raise awareness and funds for congenital heart defects to help other families like ours and hope that they can find out why this happens." It was crazy though and she did a good job. We were also approached by WHAS 11 News and went over what questions were going to be asked and then the reporter said, "Okay, we go live in 15 minutes" and I was like "Ummm, the walk starts in 5 mintues" so she wrote down some stuff, not sure if she talked about it or not but we really wanted to be a part of the team and walk together so we went on. Our team raised over $16,000 and we raised $1825.50 and were awarded the #1 Friends and Family team in Kentuckiana, what an honor! Thanks to everyone that donated! The walk is such a wonderful way for us (Team Bravehearts) to raise awareness and just honor our little ones.
