Get Your Kleenex Ready!

I came across this poem on another families blog a couple of weeks ago. I had never heard this one before. It is absolutely beautiful and pretty much sums it up for us. It is titled "Half Of An Angel's Heart".

It's a beautiful day up in heaven. Jesus is rounding up his tiniest angels to go live on earth and be born. One of the sweetest angels says to Jesus, "I don't want to leave, I like it here, and I will miss you." He reassures the scared little angel that everything will be okay, and that she is just going for a visit. She is still not swayed on this idea. So Jesus kneels down, and says, "How about if you leave half of your heart here with me and take the other half with you, will that be okay?" The angel smiles and says, "I guess that will work." But the little angel is still a little scared. She asks, "Will I be okay with only half of my heart?" Jesus replies, "Of course you will, I have other angels there that will help out, and you will be fine." Then Jesus gives the angel more details about His plan. He says, "When you are born, your mommy will be scared, so you have to be strong, and when you feel weak just remember that I have the other half of your heart." "Enjoy your time with your family, play and laugh everyday." "And when its time to come back to heaven, I will make your heart whole again." "Always remember that you are not broken, just torn between two loves."
-Author Unknown

Poem for Jackson

Here is a very random post but I wrote a poem almost a year ago to be displayed with Jackson's 4 year old portrait and I've never shared it with the "world". (I am NO poet, but I think it sums us up!)

You were created by His gentle hand.
A special heart, He had in His plan.
He sent you to us with a kiss on your chest.
For what lay ahead, He knew would be best.
We know every heartbeat is a sign of His love;
You are a MIRACLE, a gift from above.
-Kristin Boyd-

PRAISE REPORT!!!

We went to the the cardiologist Wednesday for the first time since his fenestration was closed in April by heart cath...and drumroll please!!! I am very ecstatic to report that Jackson's o2 sats were 99%!!! (Sorry for all the exclamation marks, but this is a very big deal in "heart baby world"!) If you remember Jackson's o2 sats have been as high as 92% and as low as 50%.(A normal healthy person's o2 sats should be in the high 90's!) Dr. L also said that his ECHO looked great and that he couldn't be more pleased with the way things are! Two little side notes...(we tend to hold on to all the details no matter how small and especially the good ones!) Ok, here we go, so before the Dr. came in to check out Jackson he was walking in the hall with a resident and a medical student (his 2 shadows for the day), Jackson and I were headed to have his ECHO done, Dr.L asked the students...Jackson is 4 years old, if you were to pick out 4 kids that are his age, would you ever be able to pick him out as the single ventricle? The students were floored that my little man is the single ventricle! He also said that now when he diagnoses new babies with a single ventricle, he thinks of Jackson and knows that one day these babies can look as good as he does! Sorry for rambleing on... but as you can imagine, this appointment nearly had me in tears! I am so PROUD of how far he has come...THANKFUL...and TRULY BLESSED!!!

My Favorite Things...Being Outside, Baseball, and Dirt!

Summertime...

Well, it's been a while since I last posted an update so I thought that I would do it all at one time! We've been staying pretty busy...seems like there is something to do all the time. Jackson continues to do really well. We have had no issues since our last trip to MUSC. We go back to the cardiologist next week for our first check up since his heart cath. I'm anxious to see how that goes! Jackson starts k4 this year. He is so excited to finally get to go to "Emma's school" aka Hickory Tavern Elementary. We've already got his bookbag and school supplies, so looks like it's official now! I hope everyone is enjoying there summer! Stay Cool!

My Favorite Place To Be...

This is actually a funny story...At the beginning of the summer we were literally having to pry him off of the steps kicking and screaming! We're talking a full blown panic attack!! Now you can't get him out of the water, especially out from UNDER the water! We're still working on swimming but he has several "tricks" that he can do...cutting flips, hand-stands, and jumps!

Random Pics From April

Here are some random pictures from April!

Batter Up!

We started our spring off with Wee-ball, which Jackson LOVED!! Darrin was "nominated" to be coach! Needless to say there was a lot of picking flowers, catchin' catepillars, and diving in the dirt! Too cute!!

As Promised...PICTURES!!

Here are a few pics from April 26 (heart cath day).

Let The FUN Begin...

The Entertainer

Assuming The "ECHO Position"

This Is How It All Started...
(Jackson ended up with 10 tatoos by the time it was all said and done...
1.race car-R leg,2.dinosaur-R leg, 3.baseball-L leg, 4.monster truck-R arm, 5.spider-man-L arm, 6-10. 5 little monkeys in a variety of colors dancing across his chest! Plus they drew smiley faces on both feet and big toes!)

Paintin' In The ATRIUM

Ahoy Matey!

Bob The Builder

Someone Was Hit By The SANDMAN!

(Did I mention that this child does not take naps, so how he managed to fall asleep in this setting is beyond me!)

High On LIFE (aka versed)

Back From The "Magical Place"

Good Mornin' Sunshine

Where Are They Taking Me!?!

Free At Last!

Home at last...

We just rolled into town at about 4:30pm. Feels good to be back!!! Jackson is doing really well. He hasn't complained of any pain. Poor guy just walks like he got off of a horse. Both of his legs are taped from his waist to mid thigh. I have one thing that I need to correct. I tried so hard to explain in English what a fenestration was and still didn't get it right!) I obviously was in "mommy mode" or out to lunch when I heard the explanation, so here goes again...They connected the inferior vena cava to the pulmonary artery by a gortex tube during his last surgery. The fenestration is the hole that they placed in the side of the tube. I stand corrected! Once we get settled I'll try to post some pictures. (Little man got a lot of tatoos to show off...10 to be exact!) Until later...

Back to Charleston

We'll yesterday was the big day...so why am I just now posting you ask?!? EXHAUSTION!!! We got to MUSC about 7am, got checked in, and headed on up to same day observation. We already knew that he would be 2nd case which meant he wouldn't go back until around 11am. As we got settled into our little cubby, Jackson started...I wanna go home. I don't like being far far away from my house. Poor little guy was in familiar territory!! He finally warmed up to the idea, but not without giving everyone the cold shoulder. (By the end of it all, nurses were asking him to be there boyfriend!) At about 9am, they decided that the first case was going to run long so they let Jackson have some sprite for a whole 10min.(He had not been able to eat or drink since midnight.) Next he went for an echo...he assumed his usual position-hands behind his head watching cartoons, and didn't move until it was all over. Then they let us go to the atrium-if you remember from before, this is the play room that has EVERYTHING including the kitchen sink! Of course he had a ball!! Unfortunately they close at 1200pm for a couple of hours, so back to same day we went to hang out. After about 30min of being there Jackson took him a good ol' nap (did I mention that he hasn't taken a nap in the past 2 years!!) At about 2pm they called back and told the nurses to get him ready, which meant it was cocktail time!!! Once again they gave him some versed...the good stuff! He was drunk as a skunk, hiccups and all! He left at around 2:30pm. The first hour was spent getting him prepped...breathing tube in, iv's in, under anesthesia, and catheter access obtained. The whole point of this heart cath was to close his fenestration. What the heck is a fenestration you ask? Well, I'll do my best to try to explain it in English...

Because of Jackson's particular heart defect the whole purpose behind the 3 heart surgeries is to "reroute the plumbing" so that his heart doesn't have to work as hard. Each time they have changed the plumbing,the pressure in his heart has changed. The final surgery that he had in July 2009, connected the inferior vena cava to the pulmonary artery (the large vessel that carries blood from the lower half of the body was connected to the lungs). Of course, this made another change in pressure, to help with that they made a "pop off valve" aka fenestration. A fenestration is a small gortex tube that branches off from the "new connection" into one of the chambers of the heart.. So, if the pressure was too high the extra blood would have a place to "pop off" instead of trying to go to lungs (which could potentially cause problems). After the body has had time to adjust they go in and close off the fenestration.

So, back to the heart cath...They first go in and check the pressures in his heart, then they do a "test close" to make sure that he would tolerate them permanately closing the fenestration. He tolerated it fine so they went ahead and closed it by plugging it. No extra vessels were seen! (sometimes vessels will grow because of the change in pressure...these are bad and have to be taken care of because they make his oxygen levels go down.) He did extremely well. He stayed asleep for the whole 2 hours that he had to remain completely still! Because it was so late when he got back from his cath they decided that it would be best for us to spend the night. As they were fixing to move him to his new room they noticed some new blood on his sheet. One of his cath sites was bleeding (they went in his right and left groin). After about an hour of holding pressure it finally stopped bleeding, but once again he had to lay completely still for 2 hours and now he was awake!! He did amazingly well. After being awake for a little he was in a really good mood, no pain and has been very cooperative. Darrin and I were able to sleep (if you call it that) with him. I slept in the bed with Jackson and Darrin slept on a vinyl couch that was about 3 feet wide! Jackson seems to have slept really well. Hopefully we will be heading back to HT really soon! Thank you so much for your prayers, calls and cards!

New Game Plan

MUSC just called and we have been bumped...by jury duty!! Can you believe it!?! I couldn't either but it's true, the Dr. doing his cath has jury duty that day that he can't get out of! They can't do it any earlier because he is going out on paternity leave with his soon expected new baby! What are the odds!?! Sorry for all of the punctuation marks... but I think this situation calls for lots of them! Praise God that we are in a situation that we can be bumped! I remember a time when WE were the ones doing the bumping! Not a good feeling!
Anyway, the new date is set for: April 26

On Our Way To Watch The COCKA-DOOS Play!

We took Jackson this past Saturday to watch the Gamecocks play. This was his first time watching them play, and I think he had a pretty good time! Although we lost, it was still a good afternoon!

I'm Ready To Go!

Go Cocks!

Me And "Mr. Photogenic"

How Does My HAIR Look!?!

Tuckered Out!!

Jeff Foxworthy Material...

You Might Be A Redneck...

...If You Wear 2 Walmart Plastic Bags On Your Feet As Snow Boots!

...If You Use A Storage Bin Lid And A Dog Leash As A Sled!

Let It SNOW! Let It SNOW! Let It SNOW!

As I promised... these are some pictures that I took when it iced in January and snowed in February. Of course, Jackson had a ball! Plenty of bicycle ridin', 4-wheelin, sleddin', and snowball fightin'! We ALL loved every minute of it! Here you go...

Home Sweet Home

My Favorite!

Man's Best Friend

Gunner

This is our sad interpretation of a snowman. We COULD NOT get the snow to stick together, so Jackson had the idea to draw the snowman. Pretty good idea if you ask me!

I LOVE That Little Mouth!

We Can't Forget the 4-wheelin'...

...And More 4-wheelin'!

Whatcha' Doin'!?!