A Little More Sunshine

I woke Olivia up bright and early this morning and was surprised to find her in a good mood. This kid is usually pretty cranky if she's bothered before she's ready to wake. But, she rolled over, smiled and said, "Can we go to Trudy's house now?" We had been talking about going to see Trudy or Natalie and Dr. Law all week. We told Olivia they would listen to her heart and talk with Mama and Daddy. She kept telling us, "Doca Law will listen to my heart and I have to hold really still!"

After an early morning ride, we made our way to The University for Olivia's Cardiology check-up. They took us right back and got all of her vitals taken care of. Even though we had talked about going to the doctor all week and Olivia seemed perfectly okay with it, she went into panic mode the minute someone with a white coat walked in the room or if anyone tried to touch her. Heck, I don't blame her. The poor kid has had her share of traumatic experiences at that place...

After they took her vitals, we went back into the exam room to wait for Eulie, the EKG tech. Olivia drew on the chalkboard and climbed around on the chairs.





In walked Eulie with her big machine and her white coat. That was the end of play time. Olivia began crying and clinging to Mama and Daddy. Steve ended up laying on the table, holding Olivia in his arms. We were able to get her calmed down and distracted enough to perform the EKG. After she was done, Olivia still clung to Daddy and ate some Teddy Grahams to make her feel better!



Then Natalie, ARNP (The Other Trudy) came in to chat with us before Dr. Law made his appearance. Again, we had some serious panicking, but once Olivia discovered Natalie knew who Mickey Mouse was, she was okay! After entering Olivia's new data into her computer we took a look at Olivia's growth trend. For weight versus age ratio, Olivia was in the 50th percentile and for height versus weight she was in the 75th percentile! We were all ecstatic with this. These numbers are stellar for a heart kiddo. I asked Natalie why were weren't doing an echocardiogram today since we had been doing one every six months or more. She said that between the first and second surgery they do them more frequently and with Olivia's battle with Chylothorax things were also a lot more unstable. However, they usually only do them once a year with single ventricle kids once they are more stable.

After this, Dr. Law came in to check Olivia over. He was very pleased with the way things sounded and with how she looked. He felt that although her saturations are a bit lower, we will continue to see this trend until she's ready for her next surgery. She was running 85-90% and now it is closer to 80-85%, which he is still very happy with. We talked about her next surgery and Dr. Law felt that we would be able to wait until Spring/Summer 2011, maybe even a bit longer.


Here's Miss Livi-Pie stealing Dr. Law's seat!

Thank you all for your many thoughts and prayers for today's visit. They definitely worked. It was a great appointment with no negative news. Praise God!

March Madness

We have had a great start to March! It has been so nice to see the rain washing away the old, dirty snow and the sun peeking out from the clouds once again. Before long the flowers will be budding and green grass will make its way back to the yard. Livi and I have just started to break out from our winter bubble and have been going to see Melissa (OT) in Iowa City again for therapy. Although it’s an hour drive there and an hour drive back, and takes up half of our day, Livi just adores Melissa and vice versa. Melissa is able to “trick” Livi into thinking she's playing rather than doing actual therapy. She spends a lot of time with her and we've seen big improvements since we've been going to see her this past year. It's definitely worth every mile and every minute.



Here's Miss Livi-Pie grabbing some grub at The Melrose Cafe after one of her therapy appointments. This was her first out-to-eat experience this year and she loved it! People are drawn to this kid, I tell ya. Wherever we go they stop and talk to her.



We've still been trying to have our weekly play dates with Ellie (cp:elliejoschmidt), although we've had to miss a few with the weather. The girls really enjoy playing with each other and will even skip nap half the time to get in an extra hour or two!


Please keep Miss Ellie and her family in your prayers, as Ellie's Grandpa Joe passed away last weekend.

Springtime in Iowa is always hit or miss. One minute it's 65 degrees and sunny, the next it's pouring down rain, then just when you least expect it, 6 inches of snow comes crashing down (Unfortunately, the forecast is predicting 3-4 inches of snow this weekend. I know, never a dull moment in Iowa)! We've learned to take full advantage of these beautiful days.

So, we got out our chalk and drew on the sidewalk...


Then we got out our wheels and took a spin...


Then, we played in the sandbox...


And after that, we went for a swing...


To top it all off, we had a nice, fat chocolate chip cookie while we roamed around the yard!


Things have been going really well for us this past year. Olivia has been growing physically and mentally by leaps and bounds. She's in the 26th percentile for weight and the 50th for height. She also has a very extensive vocabulary. She knows well over 100 words and can say pretty much any phrase you teach her (which we have to be very careful of), sings along to many of her children's songs, counts to 14, and talks non-stop! It's such a blessing to see, especially since the doctors had warned us that with lower oxygen saturations, Olivia may develop much slower than other children. Although her left arm still needs work, the therapists (and many others who talk with Olivia) say how advanced she is with her speech and cognitive abilities. We know that with time and hard work her left arm will advance to where it needs to be as well. Compared to the two years before this, it has been nothing but pure sunshine. It's hard to believe it's already been 6 months since Olivia's last Cardiology appointment. This Monday she has her check up with Trudy, our nurse practitioner, and Dr. Law, our Cardiologist. They're planning on doing an EKG, X ray, and check-up. For the first time, they're not planning on doing an echo at all. I was very surprised by this since we just started extending our visits every 6 months and they have always done an echo at least every six months. I guess this means they think she's doing well enough not to need one at this point in time. We will also be discussing Olivia's next surgery. When Olivia had her first two open heart surgeries we were told she would have her third open heart surgery around three years of age. But now, new research has found that as long as the child is stable, waiting longer is more beneficial. We're hoping they tell us we can put off her surgery until next spring. Please keep us in your thoughts on Monday and pray that this ray of sunshine continues to shine down on us.

You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.


You make me happy
When skies are grey.


You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.


Please don't take my sunshine away…