Shaina

When I was in college, I went on a mission trip to Jamaica. While on this trip, I met a 13-year-old girl, Shaina, who was there with her family and we became friends. She was like a little sister to me and I just loved her. Over the years we kept in touch even though we didn't get to see each other very often. But we had a special connection that I really valued.

She ended up moving to Spokane where she went to college and now she is working there. She is married now and doing very well. I've gotten to see her a few times over the years when I was in Spokane visiting my sister. But I hadn't seen her yet since I had moved back to Washington state. Since I was going to be in town for more than a week on this trip I figured it was the perfect opportunity for us to get together.

After we finished our appointment with the endocrinologist, we drove out to Shaina's house. She has a dog and Kyler had so much fun playing with the dog and giving him orders. He is a very well trained dog and Kyler LOVED being able to tell him what to do and have him obey! Caden, on the other hand, was terrified of the dog. This is pretty typical for him. He is scared of most animals even when we try to explain to him there is nothing to worry about. 

L-R: Kyler, Shawn, Shaina, Caden

The kids also had a really fun time playing with Shaina's husband and playing games she had. It was a fun visit and I am so glad we were able to spend some time together and catch up. Love you girl! Let's get together again soon.

Endocrinology Update

Friday, August 3 we had our regular follow-up appointment with the endocrinologist. I knew before we went that Caden had gained some weight (finally!) so I wondered if she would increase his growth hormone.

The medical assistant weighed and measured Caden and confirmed he truly is gaining weight (yay!) and getting taller. So when we talked to the doctor, she increased his dosage slightly to account for his weight gain. Hopefully this will help him continue to grow well and start catching up to his peers. I'm glad for the good report.

Riverfront Park

After the echo appointments, we went to meet some friends at Riverfront Park in Spokane. My friend, Heidi, used to live in Sacramento while we were there, but she grew up in Spokane and moved back there a couple years ago. Heidi's mom takes care of her niece and nephew during the day so we decided it would be fun to get together and have the kids play together while we were there.

L-R: Caleb, Caden, Kyler, Payton

At the park, there is a little amusement park and Heidi's family has season passes. It was so much fun for the kids! I think Kyler could go on all the rides, but Caden is still so little he was only able to go on a few of them. Most of them had a 36” minimum height and he is only about 34 1/2”. :( He was so sad to have to sit and watch while Kyler and the other kids rode the rides. However, he was able to ride the bumper boats and as soon as he saw them, he begged to ride them. I was very relieved to find out there was no height restriction on that ride. He would have been devastated if he couldn't ride them!

The beloved bumper boats!

Silly boys on the train

Caden riding the giraffe on the carousel

Kyler on the horse on the carousel

It was such a fun day and I'm so glad we got to go. Thank you to Heidi and her family for spending the day with us! :)

Echo Time

Since we established ourselves with a new cardiology group in Spokane after we moved to Washington, we needed to have echocardiograms done on both of the boys. Someone from the cardiology group typically comes to Walla Walla once/month to see patients there. We saw one of the doctors there back in April and she said they could do the echos with their mobile unit in Walla Walla. But since we would be in Spokane for other appointments for Caden anyway, she preferred to do them in their office there.

 

So, August 2 is the day. The boys had appointments right after each other and they did great. The awesome thing about these cardiology offices is that they have DVD's for the kids to watch while they are having the echo. The kids were both super excited to select their own movie to watch while it was their turn. Kyler was first up and he chose to watch “Cars.” No real shock there! He did a pretty good job staying still for his echo but he kept getting distracted by the movie and would start fidgeting. I was constantly having to remind him he needed to not move. Overall he did a good job though! 

Kyler having his echo

Then it was Caden's turn and he chose to watch “Monsters, Inc.” He's never seen it before and I was a little unsure if I should let him watch it or not, but it ended up being fine. Caden did absolutely amazing for his echo. He held so perfectly still and only moved when the tech asked him to. I couldn't believe how well he did. I remember quite vividly how stressful it was for both kids to have their echos when they were younger and would not remain still. It was a nightmare. So now that we are at this stage, it feels so good! I was slightly concerned because Caden's echo was about 20 minutes longer than Kyler's and since he was behaving slightly better I didn't know why. I hope it doesn't mean there is something more wrong. I'm sure it's nothing but it's one of those things that makes me worry.

After the echo, we went to the far side of the building so the kids could look out the window. It's quite a view from there. So pretty! 

 

We are supposed to follow-up with the cardiologist next week to find out how everything looks in the echos.

Catching Up

Wednesday, August 1, the kids and I got to visit an old friend of mine from college, Olivia. She lives in Spokane and we have been wanting to get our kids together to play. We were roommates one summer during college and we have remained friends since. I have two boys and she has two boys. And the craziest thing about this is that both of our younger sons have the same heart defect: Coarctation of the Aorta.

When I found out her son was in the hospital having his surgery, I was in Spokane for Christmas and was able to come visit them in the hospital. It was so great to see Olivia, but sad under the circumstances. I wanted to help them process through some of their feelings about the situation and be a support for them on their journey. It was so worth it to be there for them. I only wished I lived closer than three hours away so I could get together more often.

Being able to go to her house and have our boys all play together was such a a fun time! Her little guy was doing so amazing, you would have never known he recently had heart surgery except for the scar on his chest (in addition to his coarctation, he also had a VSD which required surgery so he had to have two surgeries). These heart kiddos are truly incredible! They are so resilient and come back stronger than before. 

L-R: Carston, Kyler, Caden, Henrik

 My dear friend, Olivia!

We all had such a fun time and the boys became instant friends! We need to get them together more often so they can play. It was so much fun! :)