John Parker Update

WE ARE HOME!!!!!! Last night John Parker was pretty sick. It took a while for the anesthesia to leave his system. He didn't sleep much. He got sick again this morning but finally around noon he perked up started eating and drinking and keeping it down. So we got to come home around 3:00. Since then John Parker has been playing and really feeling better. He should sleep great tonight and so will we. We are so relieved that this surgery is over. John Parker always surprises us with his timing but he always comes out better than expected afterward. Before this week we knew surgery had to be close but today we can relax knowing the clock has reset and we have a good while before our next. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. NOW we can get ready to welcome Katherine into our family in 12 DAYS!!!!

John Parker Update

dear friends and family, I am sitting in recovery right now with my dear sweet John Parker. He is still sleeping and they will keep him asleep for another hour or so. Steven and I are just happy and relieved to be back with him. When he wakes up, he will need to stay flat until 5:00 pm. Sometime between now and then, we will be admitted and go to the room where we will stay overnight. Recap: JPL's stent was around the size 7mm and Dr. Doyle thought 10 mm was possible. The bigger we get the stent, the better the blood flow. John Parker was ok this morning in the holding area. There was a moment when he started shaking due to the anxiety of where he was. The doctors gave him oral versed and within 10 mins he was VERY calm ad relaxed and was able to seperate us with no problem. This is typically the hardest part for me but I felt good about the situation and all of the doctors and nurses that were with him. We got an update rightoff the bat, saying JPL was asleep and on the ventilator. Our second update was that Dr. Doyle had access to the artery. JPL has access points in his groin (artery) and his neck (jugular vein). At this time, Dr. doyle began using different size balloons to see how far he could start stretching the stent. He started at 9mm, then moved to 10mm, and By the end of the procedure, Dr.doyle was able to get the stent to about 12 mm!!!! John Parker's left pulmonary artery was bigger than expected past the stent and really this is what allowed for the stent to be opened to its max (which is wonderful). Dr. Doyle was extremely pleased with the size and function of the artery and the new size of the stent. He said the plan is to let John Parker go home and be a normal active little boy for the next probably 3-4 years (how wonderful is that)!!!! John Parker's right ventricle is enlarged but that is to be expected because of his history and that he still lacks a pulmonary valve. The next steps will be to essentially break or pop the stent completely open (cath lab), or resection the stent from the artery (open heart), or replace his pulmonary valve (open heart).... But today's surgery is allowing us more time before making those decisions, so for that I am completely grateful. We are so grateful to our doctors and to our friends and family. Thank you for your support, thoughts, and prayers. I will update the blog again when we get settled in the room after he is awake. Again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!

John Parker's Heart

John Parker will be having heart surgery this Friday at 6 am at Vanderbilt Children's. The procedure will be performed in the cath lab...thus it is NOT an open-heart surgery. We are not discussing this with John Parker until after school on Thursday.

Here is a history of John Parker to catch you up. John Parker was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetrology of Fallot. He had an open-heart surgery in Michigan that repaired most of this defect when he was 3 months old. At one year of age, Dr. Doyle, at Vanderbilt, placed a stent into John Parker's left pulmonary artery because it was so stenotic (closed or small) that blood flow was essentially 0%. Then at one-and-a-half-years-old, Dr. Doyle, opened the stent to make it bigger. We got to 30% which was a GREAT success. Most of us have 40% of our blood flowing to our left lung and 60% to our right. Thus 30% for John Parker was wonderful.

We went for our 6 month cardio check up on Monday and based upon the lung scan that we did in March and the eco, Dr. Parra feels like an intervention now is worth it. Dr. Parra estimated a 4% drop to 26% which does not sound like a lot but is significant in this respect. Once the blood flow starts to diminish, it does so more rapidly. Dr. Doyle (our interventionist) estimates that the stent is around 7mm in size right now and he wants to get it to 10mm (which will max out this stent but should carry John Parker longer before planning on our second open heart surgery). So, John Parker will be taken to the Cath Lab on Friday morning where Dr. Doyle will insert a catheter through either John Parker's groin or neck in order to reach the stent in the left pulmonary artery. He will inflate a balloon to see if he can make the stent bigger. We are the first case of the day. After recovery, John Parker will be admitted and we will spend the night and come home on Saturday.

We appreciate your thoughts and prayers. I will send an email and blog post with the results once John Parker is awake on Friday.

Many new posts

Today I think I posted 4 new posts. So you may have to go back 1 page on the blog to see all of the new posts....go back to "getting up-to-date"

Katherine's Room is Ready

Katherine's room is ready. It was so fun to do a room for a little girl. I love it because I think it is a room she can grow in to and the style and decor will last her a long time. Now we wait for Katherine to be ready....less than 1 month!!!!

Baby Girl Shower

Thank you to all friends and family for the wonderful baby shower. The day began with a traditional shower with wonderful food and pretty pink gifts. The weather was perfect and we were able to gather inside and outside.
After lunch, KJ, ShuShu, Grammy, Ce, Yaya, Doodle, Kate, and went to Robin's Art Gallery and painted artwork for Katherine's room. It was so much fun and the paintings turned out to be perfect for her room. (See the next post.)

Easter 2012

The boys had a great Easter. Like I said in the last post, the screen porch is finished and landscaping is finished (pics to come). You can see pics of our front porch with the pretty flowers and ferns. These were taken on Wednesday. We had Easter dinner on Thursday with completely different weather. Wednesday was mid 70's and sunny and beautiful! By the time Thursday evening arrived so did the 50s and the rain. Everyone came over and Steven cooked a Boston butt on the big green egg. It was wonderful. Marla, Joe, Heather, Donnie, Bryson, Emerson, John and Sarah came over along with Poppy and Grammy and Abby. The kids egg hunted on the screen porch and the "big boys" braved the rain. We also got a surprise visit from my best friend Kara from Charleston and her little boy Rawls. They were driving through and stopped for dinner and a visit.

For the actual weekend, me and the boys went to Memphis while Steven worked. KJ, Pop, ShuShu, Pax, Madi, and Mimi all had dinner together Saturday night. Then Easter morning the Easter bunny left another round of eggs to hunt. William found the first egg right out the door and decided that was enough. He just carried that one egg around the yard. JPL found LOTS of eggs and Madison had a blast too. After the egg hunt, we all went to church. Now we are back in Nashville to sit tight and wait for Katherine's arrival.