Our Lil' Hero: Happy 2014!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy 2014!

A new year, a new adventure. I cannot complain about 2013 because we were blessed in so many different ways, and I know 2014 will be just as great! We leave in 9 days to Boston, and I am glad we are. Mason is showing more signs everyday that his body is ready for the next surgery. He is a lot more tired, his oxygen keeps dropping down into the 60's, and he just isn't quite as happy as he normally is. I emailed his Boston cardiologist about the changes and she said good thing surgery is already scheduled or else it would be put on the schedule in a quick hurry. He isn't needing oxygen all the time, and actually up until today I haven't put it on him at all because when his oxygen drops he usually recovers back in the high 70's on his own within 5 mins. Today he wasn't recovering so he got to wear it. At first he was mad at me that I put it on him and within a few minutes he was laughing and running around, his body could tell the difference having the oxygen on and I could tell it really made him feel better. He will more than likely get to wear it more often as these next 9 days go by.

We have kept him inside away from other people this last little bit and so far we have all stayed away from the nasty bugs that are going around. Quarantine is crappy but it pays off to have him healthy and in his best shape going into a major open heart surgery. For this next week we will enjoy a lot of time with each other watching movies and eating popcorn(one of Mason and Ryder's favorite things to do). Thanks for all the continued support, the next update will most likely be from Boston!

Mason aka Hulk rocking his oxygen this morning

3 comments:

Trav and Britt said...: i'm always so glad to see your updates on little mason! i think of you and your family often and hope this next surgery goes well! i will look forward to the next update! good luck!; January 3, 2014 at 9:05 PM
Petersen Palace said...: Oh he is so stinkin' cute!; January 6, 2014 at 9:51 PM
Rachel and Mike said...: He is such a cutie! Good luck in Boston, we'll be thinking of you and praying for you!; January 9, 2014 at 8:51 PM

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A little about Mason

This is a journey through Hypoplasic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Mason was born on October 1, 2010 as what we thought was a healthy normal baby boy. At 3 weeks old we found out when he was life flighted to Primary Children's Medical Center that he was born with an Unbalanced AV Canal Defect that caused him to have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. He also was diagnosed with 2 Large ASD's a VSD, a CoArch of the Aorta, and a small leaky Mitral Valve. He had his first open heart surgery, the Norwood, in the end of October 2010. After surgery his chest was left open and they surgically closed it a few days later after the swelling went down. He had his second open heart surgery, the Glenn, in January 2011. He did great with recovery and got discharged 1 week later. We had him home for 1 day then he was rushed back to the hospital where they found he had a sternal infection and had to open him back up and wash out all the infection and he had a picc line placed for 6 weeks for antibiotics. He had a couple of heart caths during that time, and echo every 3-6 months, and eye surgery.
In February 2013 we sent his records to Boston to explore different surgical options for him. We found out he was a candidate for a surgery called the Staged Left Ventricle Recruitment to the BiVent. With this surgery it would grow his left ventricle to normal size and then give him normal circulation to hopefully avoid him having to have a heart transplant. (if we didn't go this route we have been told with his anatomy he would need a transplant in his teens). With the help of friends, family, and strangers we went to Boston where he had the first of hopefully only 2 surgeries. He had his 3rd open heart surgery in June and right now his heart is growing and conditioning to be able to handle the load of the work that a normal heart does. He is due to have his 4th open heart surgery in the first of 2014.