What a year weve had in 2014. Christian had a year of incredible highs and lows. He was hospitalized 3 times for illnesses (twice locally and once at Seattle Childrens via lifeflight). Heavens I wish that kid could grow a spleen. He broke his arm, and had the nastiest case of hand foot mouth but was cheerful though all of the blistering and took it like a champ (unlike his 3 other siblings who were miserable through it). He graduated from being the worlds fastest bum scooter to a wicked speed walker of a toddler. He made it through countless procedures, lab draws, and other pokes and prods and he cries and fusses like a typical kid would but with his stuffed dog Woof Woof at his side, hes able to brush it off and hell even give IV team members fist bumps after its over. Hes started off with a few words and signs this year and hes advanced to surprising us with new words every day. He got to travel this year and we went on lots of trips and family vacations. He went to Vancouver and Portland, Lopez Island, and St. Maries Idaho. We went to the Moses Lake water park and took our family dream vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. Christian looooves playing in the water. The biggest challenge this year was leaving our older kids at home with my mom and going down to Palo Alto, CA for Christians 3rd heart surgery at Stanford Childrens Hospital. This was the most invasive surgery hes ever had and he had to have his heart stopped to go on bypass for it. Heterotaxy hearts are designed differently and sometimes they just dont recover after theyve been opened up. Electrical problems are not uncommon. Clotting problems are not uncommon. Other organs dont always react well to changes made in the heart especially because of the malformed organs and messed up vasculature that heterotaxy creates. Christians valve repair went well. His surgeon once again did incredible work and we were reminded why we travel so far for him. He did exactly the best procedure for Christians half heart and he will now qualify for the last staged surgery the Fontan in a few years. Christian got through his hospitalization like this is normal stuff for an average toddler. He loved the preschool and child life department and he kept me chasing him around the halls of the hospital while carrying his chest tube drainage box and a giant tank of oxygen. As soon as his tubes were all out he was dancing and climbing as much as his little heart had energy for. He loved visiting other patients and felt compelled to check on all the babies on the unit. He is an amazing kid. He doesnt just survive it all, he thrives through it. Heres a little year end video I made to show how this year was for our family:
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 01:27:44 +0000