Introducing...

.... the newest member of our family, Molly Jane, a Scottie. We just got her last night from a friend. She will be eight weeks old on Tuesday and the cutest little thing. I know, I know... we don't have enough challenges in our life so why not throw a puppy in there??? I haven't been able to catch up on everyone's blogs either, so I will be doing that over the weekend. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Counting My Blessings

1) The weather is getting warmer ~ yeah! It means spring is coming! I am SO ready!



2) Brady had his first Drop Off Playgroup on Friday. I dropped him off at the Early Intervention Center at 9 a.m. to his Education Therapist Julie, where he was under her care for two hours. I went back to pick him up at 11 and she gave me a report on his time at "school". He played, went outside, had snack, did puzzles.... he had a great first time! It was really strange to drop him off and go. I only managed to go to Target, but next week I will get to the Y and work out. He came home and ate lunch then crashed... he definitely played hard! I am so thankful that it went well.

3) I am VERY grateful I went to my friend's house for an all-day scrapbooking day. I think I haven't been there in a year so it was much-needed and a lot of fun. The girls who are there are a blast and I got a few pages done. Tom and I trade off here and there so we can each have time to do the things we like -- he knows the golf season is coming up! LOL.




4) I am thankful that we had over Tom's sister and her new husband for dinner this weekend. It was great getting to know him; he is very upbeat and friendly and we had a fun time playing games after dinner.




5) I am very blessed to FINALLY be reading a good book: it took awhile to get interested but now I am gung ho. I find my life always flows better when I am reading something good. Not sure why that is ~ maybe it's a little treat for myself each day. Whatever it is, I am glad to have it. :)

Wow - is it Friday already?? This week has been crazy, although I am noticing I am always saying that. Maybe I need to redefine "crazy".

Last week, we went in for Brady's echo needed for cardiac clearance for his eye surgery this past Tuesday. After we got the clearance from the cardiologist, we went down to Pre-Op to find out if we had to hand in our little piece of paper marked "CLEARED". Nope ~ they sent us back to cardiology for the cardiac anesthesiologist. After the nurses discussing for a few minutes, they said we were all set and Brady would be taken care of on Tuesday. Great!

Friday came and went with no phone calls asking us to do anything different before surgery, so Monday morning, before I went in to work, I called Pre-Op. Just checking in... the nurse looked him up, saw he was in the system and said we'd get a call in the afternoon about what time to be there the next day for surgery. Great! I kissed Brady Bunch on his head, said bye to my mother and left.

About 10:30, I get a call from the surgical coordinator at the Ophthamologist office. She said, "Umm.. I Brady needs to go to Pre-Op today before 1:30, when they close. If you don't go he won't have surgery tomorrow" WHAT?!??! Of course this is also the Coordinator who DIDN'T coordinate the need for the echo last month, when we were SUPPOSED to have surgery and it got bumped a month. So, I called cardiology and a nurse there spent almost 10 minutes researching the whole thing. (They always help me :)) She comes back to the line and says, yes we did have to go and explained he needed to see anesthesiology, and get his vitals.

ARGH! Obviously whatever needs to be done for Brady is fine, but couldn't we have a little more notice than this? That's why my mother and I trekked around the hospital last week, why I called the morning before. I wouldn't have gone to work if I knew I had to be at the hospital - I only work one or two days a week as it is, and luckily they just go around my schedule. I then had to call in more favors so someone could pick up Michael (Thanks, Stef!).

My mother drove to my work, picked me up, then we drove into the hospital. When we finally saw someone, they mentioned Brady would probably be staying overnight after the surgery. WHAT!?!?!? Everyone who has this surgery goes home after, even those with worse cardiac issues than Brady. The nurse said it would be up to cardiology after the surgery, but pack a bag just in case. Again, whatever is best for Brady, but I didn't even know this was a possibility. I spent sometime on the phone then juggling where to send Michael off to now. I got home that night at 7:30 after hitting the store on the way, exhausted.

The next morning we headed out, and everything went smoothly, more or less. They had to wait for a cardiac anesthesiologist which put us about an hour behind schedule, but the anesthesiologist we had was FABULOUS and spent extra time with him. Brady himself did great - with no food for eight hours and only an ounce of apple juice three hours before surgery, he was not crabby or cantankerous. He sailed through with flying colors and recovered very well, sleeping most of the time in the recovery room and eating a popsicle or two. We were able to be cleared to go home 4-1/2 hours after surgery when they saw everything was fine cardiac-wise and anesthesia-wise. He actually does very well with the anesthesia, not getting sick or crabby. He just slept. We got home about 7:30 again, he drank a little juice, then went back to sleep for the night. I was so glad to be home!

He was a little constipated the day after surgery - I didn't realize it could be a side effect to the anesthesia (you remember, the surgical coordinator did not do a great job). I will just remember to give him Glycolox after he wakes up from surgery in the future. His eyes were only a little red after, and three days later they are still red in the center, and will be for another week or more. His eyes seem rounder for some reason, maybe just because he is more aware of what he's looking at now (my girlfriend said, "yeah, now he sees how ugly we are all now!" LOL). Every day I notice a little more interest in him and his surroundings. We go back to ophthamology in two weeks for a follow-up, but I think it turned out great. (except trying to get this ointment in his eyes twice a day - ack!!! Impossible!!)

Funny how the biggest pain was the day BEFORE the surgery. Just aggravation~ especially since it was all stuff I COULD have known beforehand. I can work with whatever is thrown at me, but if you KNOW I have to go to Pre-Op, can you give me more than three hours notice when I am 45 minutes away from my house? All that matters, of course, is Mr. Brady and see how great he is:

Hey folks~ thanks to ALL who have been praying for the little Braidster. We are home and doing great. I will post pictures and the whole story tonight, including my AGGRAVATION factor the day before ;). But the little man is back to himself and we are all doing better. Thanks Mom, for coming with!!!

Counting my Blessings

1) I am very blessed that Brady's echo went well enough on Thursday to pass him for his eye surgery this Tuesday. It wasn't 100 percent fabulous news.... the gradient in his SVAS did increase slightly, from 35-40 to 50 since last September. We have been lucky that for the past two years it has not been going up and we have avoided having a cath. Now, instead of going back in six months for another echo we are going back in June. Our cardiologist said if it goes up even a little we will probably have a cath. I knew it would come at some point, so I wasn't really too surprised. And, again, I do feel lucky that it is not at some horrendous number that he isn't cleared for surgery. I can't wait for this surgery to be done so we can see what differences will happen in Brady.

2) I am very grateful that the new temporary permanent (LOL) pastor at our church seems to be a great guy. We met him today for the first time; and while he is not as charismatic as Father Dennis, he is upbeat, energetic and friendly. He came right over to Brady when he saw him and talked to him (Brady has that way with people!). Later on, during coffee hour, Michael took Brady up to him and we were able to speak to him a little longer. I spoke about Brady's upcoming surgery and Father Moroney blessed him. He was asking questions about Brady's health so I said he had Williams Syndrome, and he said knowingly, "Ah, yes, Williams syndrome." Turns out he has spent much time in Children's hospitals and knows the syndrome quite well. How bizarre! I said, "Well, you're one of the few!" We have Father Moroney until June at least, then our permanent permanent pastor will be named. I think it will be a good spring.

3) I'm grateful for the friends where you can just kick back and be yourself, including those we were with on Friday to celebrate our friend Jim's 10th birthday! Actually, it was the big 4-0 but since his birthday falls on February 29th, he is REALLY only 10. :) We went out for dinner and gambling and even the 15 minute ride there and back was a hoot and a half (...and a little smelly). I am thankful that there are as strange people as we are out there :)

4) This week I had a Fourth Grade Activities meeting (Michael is a "senior" at his elementary school and they get a bunch of fun activities this spring) and a Den Leaders Cub Scout meeting. I am thankful that we have such great volunteers in our community... but more important I am thankful I am able to do these things for my son, and Tom understands how important they are to me. I am big into the motto "Our kids are only little once" and I would like to help where I can. I know that time is ticking away and pretty soon Michael will not seek me out at the halls of the school to give me a hug as he does now, but instead turn his head and ask me NOT to be around so much LOL.