One year ago today...

The party is Saturday, but the day is today! Athan Ryan Strebeck is ONE!

Part of me wants to dance in the streets. But most of the celebration I'm feeling is more quiet. Even trying to write about it this minute feels too "public."

I guess the best I can say would be to emphatically and joyfully whisper that Athan Ryan Strebeck turns one today.

a fun visit

Uncle Layne is here! It was nice to let someone ELSE read "If You Take a Mouse to School." :-)

almost

We started planning a party today for Athan's first birthday. Wow. :)

Our boy is turning ONE in a few days!!

almost forgot

Dr. K said that his heart looked so good, we can totally stop the Lasix. Yeah! One less med to give! Now we're down to just his endocrine meds - Cortef (3x/day), Synthroid (1x/day), and Genotropin (1x/day), all of which will probably be life-long.

no swelling

The ECHO this morning showed that there is not any swelling around Athan's heart, and his lungs look clear of any fluid build up. I was so relieved! He still has a yucky cough - probably a virus. We just have to wait it out. No big deal.

my favorites from this week

wary sister:sibling smiles:
a glimpse of our future?:

PT report and more appointments

PT went well Monday. Athan worked really hard for the full hour, and only complained a little when she insisted on making him use his arms. :) We still have hours and hours of hard work ahead, but I'm encouraged about his progress.

We went back in to see Dr. Coburn yesterday because the last round of meds (antibiotic, etc) didn't seem to help this cough at all. He snapped a chest x-ray, and recommended that we see cardiology. He may need a higher dose of Lasix if there is fluid build-up left from surgery or something. We'll go in to Lexington this morning for and ECHO and appointment with Dr. Kakavand.

busy

Last week was nuts around here. I think Morgan was the only one who remained 100% all week. Athan has a cough. Ryan hurt his back. I hurt my foot trying to take care of Ryan's back. It was crazy. Ryan and I were both so far out of commission (him unable to stand up and me hopping around one one leg) one evening that we had to ask a friend to come over and rock Athan to sleep (thank you again, Jason). Then when we had recovered a little, the kids and I left for Nashville to pick up Grammy and bring her home. Whew.

But we're better and more settled now. Ryan's back is better (thank you, Lance!). My foot is fine. Grammy's here. We're all just relaxing a bit. All except for Athan, who is still trying to kick this silly cough. Yuk. He had a bad reaction to one of the meds, so things have been better since we stopped giving that.

Laurie will be here again tomorrow for physical therapy. Athan has regressed a bit (as we expected) since surgery, but we are beginning to be able to work with him to catch up again. I think he is beginning to be frustrated by his lack of mobility, which will be good motivation for him to work hard and learn how to overcome that.

Stay tuned for info about celebrating Athan's First Birthday at the end of this month! :)

back in a couple days

The kids and I are heading to Nashville to pick up Grammy Tammy. Be back here Friday. Will post more then. :0)

the post- post-op blog post

An illustrated summary.

It was difficult to really believe that my son needed heart surgery when he looked like this:
Still, we knew he needed the surgery. The procedure itself was difficult time to endure, but the toughest moments were these:
With much prayer from family and friends, plus lots of help from some super-skilled nurses, there were more and more times like this:
We knew Athan was in good hands:
And when our boy went from feeling like this:
to feeling like this:
we knew it was time to go home:to play in the floor (with Papa!):
and outside with Morgan.
and to resume the life we are so grateful to share with him every day. I am swirling in gratitude for my son right now. There are no more words...

back

We have internet again! :) Whew...

I still haven't loaded the pictures, though. Sorry. Will do soon

We saw Athan's surgeon this morning. Dr. Plunkett said that from a post-op stance, all is well. The chest x-ray looks good. He took the steri-strips off the incision, and it is healing perfectly. We can bathe Athan now (maybe we'll finally get all the adhesive junk off!). Unless we have reason to seek them out, we don't have to see Dr. Plunkett again. Yeah!

We did not repeat the ECHO today. That will probably come when we see his regular cardiologist again in a few weeks. That will tell us how the valve is doing, and whether the leak is still there or if it has changed in any way. That appointment is the end of this month.

Again, I just wish you could see him. Our Athan is back in full swing. I think I can already tell a difference in his energy. He is moving his arms more and just seems to feel better most of the time.

Ryan and I are starting the feel the full force of relief of being in the land of After-Heart-Surgery. We have long spoken of life in this land, but it seemed only a dream. :) Ryan has a busy few weeks ahead to finish up the semester, but still we are glad to have such a big hurdle behind us.

quickly

Our internet at the house should be back up tomorrow or Tues. I'm visiting a friend and stealing signal for a sec. I'll update more soon. For now - Athan is doing great. I wish you could hear the giggles I can hear at this very moment. We have our follow-up with surgery tomorrow morning, and I'll post and update as soon as I have signal again. :)

(Morgan's home. Thank's Nana and Papa and Uncle Brent. I'll post some fun pics soon, too)