Heart Surgery, Round II

Lucy had a cardiac cath procedure yesterday to help explain the continued oxygen requirements and the handful of heart medications that she has been on since her heart surgery in August of 2009. Unfortunately, a significant Atrial Septal Defect (a hole in the wall that separates the right and left atriums of the heart) was found, causing oxygenated blood returning from the lungs to mix with deoxygenated blood. Also, there is a minor hole in the repaired patch of her ventricle wall from her first surgery. The mitral and tricuspid valves also have slight leaking which will need to be repaired.

Lucy's surgery date is scheduled for June 20th. We were afraid that she would need another heart surgery, but we didn't expect it to be so soon. It's a nice relief to finally have an explanation for her complications and luckily it's something that can be repaired. Putting Lucy through another open heart surgery is the last thing we want to do, but if it fixes her heart and takes away her continuous oxygen requirement, then it's obviously something that has to be done to give her the freedom she deserves. We just hope this surgery goes better than the first one.

Sanibel Vacation

We visited Sanibel Island in Florida for a much needed getaway vacation. It has been three years since our last vacation before Lucy was born and we have never taken a family vacation together before. Lucy has never rode in the car for longer than two hours, so we didn't know how well she would do on a 17-hour car ride. It was definitely a journey for everyone. Surprisingly, Lucy did very well and absolutely loved the beach and water. We had no idea she was such a water baby.

We enjoyed 9 long days with beautiful sunny, 90-degree weather. We had daily bike rides and visited the pool every day. It was definitely just like paradise and we didn't want to leave.

The trip was extremely liberating. If we can travel 1,200 miles by car with a toddler on oxygen, there's nothing we can't do and we're already looking forward to returning next year.






Relaxing under the Sun Smarties beach cabana tent.


Enjoying the beach!


"I don't want my toes to get wet!"


OMG!




Water Logged Sausages


Ready to go for the daily bike ride.


"Not quite sure what we think about this."

Paradise

Sanibel Island at sunset.