Grant's Journey

Happy Birthday Grant! For your second birthday, we had a very low key celebration, but that didn't make it any less special! Both Grandma's joined us and we played all afternoon. Be prepared for picture overload.... I am definitely feeling a little bit nostalgic about Grant's 2nd birthday and I want to have all of these pictures to remember the fun day that we had (click to enlarge the photos, especially the collages)! We started off the party with a little game of fishing. I knew that Grant would probably not get the concept, but we did have fun with him trying to peek over the blanket and eventually he figured out that his make shift bungee cord pole could catch something! Grant caught a squirt gun! Grant loves shaking water on us, splashing us in the tub, and anything else that gets mom and dad wet, so this was a great idea! He wasn't quite strong enough to use his index finger to squirt us... ... but he did learn how to use his thumbs. The only problem was that natu...

Happy Birthday to the little boy who made me a mother. You are two today and as your parents, we can't imagine life without you! Today has been an awesome day. Two years ago, we welcomed our first son in the very early morning hours (12:23 am to be exact!) and our lives will never ever be the same! This year has been awesome for Grant. He has continued to grow and develop and catch up in almost every way. We were able to have a year without major surgeries, huge strides in oral eating, and have been able to watch Grant's personality develop into an absolutely charming little boy. This was our attempt at his two year old photoshoot. Unfortunately, despite Grant being born on the technical first day of Spring, it was still pretty cold in Idaho and so we chose the warmest day this week and gave it a try. Grant lasted about three minutes before he was so blue I had to try and bundle him up and see if we could get him to pink up. It didn't work, so we were home within...

We have been doing a lot of scheduling and rescheduling around here with everything going on, but I finally got that long anticipated phone call today. As long as Grant is determined to be a Fontan candidate, we are scheduled: MONDAY, MAY 16th!!! A few hours after they scheduled his surgery, we found out that the new Chief of CT Surgery at Primary Children's was announced today (we have been without one since a few days before Grant was born since Dr. Hawkins retired for health reasons). This news has me encouraged since they have anticipated that Grant's Fontan might need a little extra creativity to pull off. The new surgeon is named Peter Gruber and he is coming from Children's Hospital Philidelphia. He is supposed to start between May 1 and June 1, so our timing should hopefully be ideal. I have total confidence in Dr. Burch and Dr. Kaza, but it is always nice to have one more opinion in the OR. This news has been really great for me to hear today... the timing of sched...

We are all sick. Don't ask me how the germs found us since we have been quarantining ourselves all year, but it did. Grant showed the first symptoms a week ago and though he was not tested, the doctor believes that it looks and sounds like RSV, so it probably is. Thankfully, his Synagis shots (the very pricey monthly shot he gets to protect him from RSV) seem to be doing their job and are minimizing the effect on Grant. Unfortunately, Grant shared his germs with the rest of us and it has been miserable. My cold has deepened into a sinus infection and Kyle isn't feeling too hot either. Bummer. The worst part is that we had to reschedule his cath since they don't want to put Grant into surgery until his body is fully recovered. They told me he needed to be 4 weeks past his illness, so we had to reschedule for April 4th. I was ready to get some answers, but I would rather make sure that Grant will be safe, so 4 more weeks it is.