Merry Christmas!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...

and I'm sure we're going to have one! We've had more snow and cold weather than I can ever remember...it's snowing as I type this and it is beautiful. (Don't tell my family--they have to feed lots of cows, break ice, shovel bunks, and the snow only creates more work for them!!) It sure gets me into the Christmas spirit though. Living on a hill has shown it's perks too...lots of fun sledding for the boys. Yes, we're enjoying this winter wonderland!

"kissmas time"

I love seeing Christmas through a child's eyes. Maddie is loving this time of year...she's referring to it as "kissmas time" and admires each decoration, tv commercial and Christmas card with lots of oooh's & ahhh's and then remarks with how cute, beautiful, coldy or "windy" (aka snowy) it is. She's got Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Coming to Town down and sings throughout our days, although she's a bit afraid of Santa and kindly says, "No Santa, no Ho, Ho, Ho" when we speak of him. No offense Santa, she's just not keen on the mascot types. She loved decorating along with me and has really spread the Christmas spirit around here. But I did have to invest in more super glue since some of the more breakable decorations magically found themselves on the wood floor. I guess this pretty girl adores pretty things!

thanksgiving

We enjoyed having Thanksgiving this year in our new home. It was my family's year and my mom had already done all of the grocery shopping, so she just brought everything up and we prepared the meal together. It was lots of fun and the turkey turned out great. She gave me some "lessons" on cooking a Thanksgiving meal, I really enjoyed the time we had together. I especially loved setting & decorating the table. (This has always been my job).

I made Maddie's dress and headband, she looked so cute in it and it reminded me of a calico dress I wore as a little girl. The boys enjoyed sledding with cousin Jett after our big meal....I can't recall having this much snow on Thanksgiving! Wished I'd gotten a picture of them.




We finished off the weekend with an overnight stay in Portland for the Duke vs. Oregon basketball game with Bryan's sister and husband. So we braved the roads with Mike & Lesa (only took us 7 hours) and enjoyed some great shopping too! We stayed at the historic Benson Hotel, which was so beautiful. We were fortunate to have missed the "near bombing" at the Xmas tree lighting in Pioneer Square...while walking through there, we kept wondering why there were so many reporters. Good thing the FBI was on the case and busted it far before it was planned to happen and lucky us. It was a fun weekend and we got most of our Christmas shopping done, with no tax! Yay :)

Good-bye Funky Heart

I've been lucky to have been in contact with some wonderful advocates, parents and survivors of CHD. Steve Catoe, author of Adventures of a Funky Heart, was among my favorites. He passed away yesterday at the age of 44, living his life with only a half-heart but to the fullest. I have faithfully followed his blog, posted links to his, always appreciating his great humor and remarkable knowledge of CHD. His perspective has helped form my outlook, given me a wide-variety of cardiac knowledge, and he's been a guide on the "do's and don'ts" of raising a child with a special heart. Steve, you will be missed in the heart community. May your legacy live on in all of the hearts you've touched!

Email from Steve Catoe, August 12, 2008

Thank me? No, thank you!!! Not only do I appreciate your kind words, but you have a TON of readers. I average 15-20 readers, but yesterday my count was 78! Major wow factor!

Maddie is going to live well past her thirties, I bet. You'll dance at her wedding. What happens is, when someone gives you an estimate, they can't predict what the technology is going to do between now and then. The technology will advance and EVERYONE'S life expectancy will increase. Now there is always a chance- I asked my cardiologist how long she thought I would live and she basically said "We're off the page here...BUT I can see you living for a good long time." I like the good long time part, but there is always a small chance.

I had my Glenn first, back in 1967. If you read that, I'm sure you read that it isn't the same operation as the Bi-Directional Glenn. With the bi-Direction, the Superior Vena Cava is cut and then sewn into the Pulmonary Artery. In the old version (my version) the Superior Vena Cava is cut but the Pulmonary is also cut, and the vessels sewn together. The right side is sewn in, the left is usually not. So my right lung handles all my blood flow. (I think...I'll write that down and ask my Cardio to make sure.) They had to put my pacemaker in my abdomen because of this. Pacemaker leads usually enter the heart through the Superior Vena Cava, but if you go down *my* SVC, you go into the lung.

My second operation (in 1988 at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, or UAB) was the modified Blalock-Taussig. But they found a good vein and didn't have to use the gortex connector tube the "book" calls for. That's why I try to tell folks to find out what they did to YOU-- it might deviate from the accepted plan!

I was at UAB for my third operation, (1988) the Fontan, but it never happened. Scar tissue from operation 1 and 2 stuck to the back of my ribcage, and when they opened me up, it tore. (Complete surprise, it didn't show up on the X-rays.) Suddenly there was blood all over the place, and they were basically trying to keep the boat from flooding. (Bail faster, Doc!) So they had to abandon the operation and save my life. So I got all of the misery of surgey and none of the results!

But I'm doing well. I've had bumps in the road--all heart patients do--but overall, it's been good.

Why don't you join the ACHA? It's free. Access the member boards, and post a message saying that you are the parent of a child with Pulmonary Atresia and would love to communicate with an adult who has it. I bet someone--several someones--will answer! (Hint: Post on the General Forum, it sees more visitors)

I'm not going to say anything about PA to you, since it's a different defect. And if someone says "I have PA and I'm not doing well at all..." it does not apply to you. Two people can have the same defect, but have completely different symptoms. One's ASD is bigger/smaller than the other persons, or it's in a slightly different area, or a number of differences. Your defect is your defect, and it is going to affect you in a number of ways. So when someone says, "My cousin has that and ..." feel free to ignore them. (Especially if they have a horror story! Horror stories belong at the movies; the ONLY way you will pay attention to a horror movie is if you have a big tub of popcorn!)

Thanks again for your kind e-mail (and the connection to your blog!) and I am always here if you need me. Write anytime!

Always yours;
Steve
--
Adventures of a Funky Heart! blog:
http://tricuspid.wordpress.com/

being thankful

photo by Stacey Paysee
We have so much to be thankful for this year...growing, thriving kids, a relatively healthy year for Maddie, settling into our home and making new memories here, having opportunities to help others, and the love and support of so many in our lives. Blessed doesn't sound adequate enough for the gratitude we feel in our hearts.

Especially to God.

These two...

They are the best of friends, most of the time. They're 7 and 5. They play constantly...the usuals are: legos, star wars, football, matchbox cars, dragon slaying, building blocks, detectives, imitating and re-playing any movie or game they've recently watched on tv. You name it, these guys have probably played it. During their make-believe playing, they ad lib and change the course of the game which includes on going commentating, sound effects, and NOISE. They just go with it and watching them reminds me of an episode of the tv show, "Whose line is it Anyway?" but they're probably more entertaining.

As I was making dinner tonight, I overheard them scheming their next choice of play. Here's how the conversation went...

Jace: "Cade, who do you want to be now?"

Caden: (In a mono-tone, disappointed sounding voice) "I'm just going to be a regular guy, who doesn't have a job or even a car. He's just a guy that doesn't do much Jace!"

Jace: "Ok Cade. Just remember, you're my biggest fan."

Too funny! I couldn't help but laugh out loud :) I love these boys.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween Preschool Party... Maddie got to stay with Grandma Allred as her helper, and Caden and I enjoyed fun centers with the preschool class.
I was able to help with Jace's 1st grade Halloween party...he made a great Indiana Jones.
Getting ready to go trick-or-treating...Jace- Indiana Jones, Cade- Jake Sully from Avatar & Maddie- Strawberry Fairy.
We met up with our cousins at the grandparent's houses...here's Savanna, Braydon and Nanna's friend, Reilli at Grandpa and Grandma Allred's.
Maddie and Kylie Rose at Nany and Ba's. We enjoyed trick-or-treating in Symrna with Kylie, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Jess and Nany and Ba. We only stopped at 4 places but had plenty of candy to share!
Jace holding a crawfish at Uncle Donny and Aunt Shannon's...they did a crawdad dinner the night of Halloween at their home. Jace loved catching these in the bucket and "playing" with them. Luckily, he never got pinched... they're cute but creepy little things!

Harvest Ball

Early spring, Maddie was asked as one of 25 Seattle Children's hospital patients from our area to be featured at the 25th Anniversary Harvest Ball. The Harvest Ball is an annual event presented by nine Tri-City guilds that support Seattle Children's Hospital. Mom, Maddie and I went down to the ball last night to enjoy a 5-course dinner, auction and dancing in the Tri-Cities. Bryan has been very busy with harvest and opted out (not really his thing so he and boys had a fun night at home together). These photos were taken back in March of the patients and were used to decorate with as well as on the invitations and pamphlets for the event. Photos by Brittney Kluse.Maddie and her heart sister, Teagan, were the cover of the calendar given at the event as well as the the month of February with the cute kissing picture. We missed having the Maxwell's there last night. I would have loved seeing these two together!Many of the patients spoke last evening, giving short stories of their health issues and how Children's has changed their lives. It was touching. We were very proud of Jackson...he did a great job (not pictured in our photo session).
So, to gear Miss Maddie up for this big night, we kept telling her we were going to Cinderella's ball. We often call her our "princess" and she surely lived up to her name last night! She was given her own special dinner of elegant but tasty kid's food. She had manners just like a princess by...
sipping her chocolate milk from a beautiful glass...
to posing by charming boys like our friend Jackson (this is as near as she'd come to him or any young man, I hope she's this way in her teen years with boys!) We enjoyed sitting with Noftles, Andersens, Courtney and Jenks. It's always nice to have familiar faces at an event like this. to having many adore her, especially her Nany. She was pampered! But once the band started, our princess perked right up and wanted to hit the dance floor! Dancing with Nany and Mama, as well as sweet little girls who'd come and take her hands and whisk her away

She came right out of her shell! She loved, loved, loved the live band. More dancing, or shaking her "booty" as she calls it It was an evening fit for a princess and this little girl had a grand time at the ball! It was precious and just watching her brought many smiles, tears and a big sigh in our hearts. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine she'd be this healthy and living life so fully. It was magical.

birthday boy...belated

Recently, it was this guy's birthday. To really appreciate Caden and all that he brings to our family, here's to a half-decade of memories and pictures of Mr. Cade. We love you so much Caders and thank you for being YOU! You're a very special little boy who's definitely, one of a kind :) Cade's our fall baby, born September 29th. I was induced with Cade and his labor and delivery was fairly quick. He's our biggest baby and was the chunkiest and the easiest baby of our 3.

Cade is known for his long eye-lashes (which he's even trimmed once) and his beautiful curls as a baby. After his first haircut, those baby curls disappeared. He walked early on at 10 months old and has always been able to keep up with the big boys.

His favorite movie before Spiderman was introduced to him was, believe it or not, Nacho Libre. In fact, he was Nacho for Halloween when he was only two...here he is, doing his best Nacho impersonation. He'd even make the "fart noise" as he dove off the couch. He was an adorable little boy (still is) and he can still make some gross noises.

When Caden decides to put his mind to something, it's over. He has more will power than anyone I've ever known...like when he wanted his training wheels off, he had just turned 4 and in a few hours, conquered riding his bike like a big boy. And when he was called a "baby" for sucking his thumb at preschool, it was over. That night, he quit, cold-turkey, his thumb sucking habit he'd had since birth. In fact, we have an ultrasound picture of Caden sucking his thumb. When he felt the urge, he'd bite his blankie (which I worried would become a new habit) but this only lasted a couple of nights, accompanied with tears of frustration. It was really amazing and he's one strong little boy. Another time is when he wanted to only wear "underwears" like his big brother and be potty trained, he initiated it himself and pretty much trained himself. I was pregnant and in the midst of my grief of finding out about Maddie's heart and the last thing I wanted to do was work on potty training but Cade forced it and achieved, once again. He's also our little fish...loves to swim and isn't afraid of the water, deep end, going under water, diving board, not scared one bit. It's a little scary to watch sometimes. We don't call him our little super hero for nothin'!
Cade also has his own sense of style. He used to only wear anything red, then only superhero costumes or apparel with the like splashed all over it, then it was only long sleeves, the layered look, and now it's this. A baseball cap, turned backwards on the very back of his cute little noggin. He's a trendsetter!

He's also a very passionate little boy. He cries hard, talks loud, plays hard, loves lots, laughs loud and sleeps hard. Everything he does, he puts 110% forward. It's a wonderful trait and we can't give ourselves credit for any of this, this is just Cade. He definitely has likes and dislikes and negotiating with him is tough. When he's mad, watch out. He's usually on a mission and don't get in his way! He can also be the kindest boy. He's observant and doesn't let much go unnoticed. We're so proud of his determination and I wish I had more of Caden's will-power!

Here's to our creative, sweet, fun-loving boy! Happy 5th Birthday Caden Larry!!!