Music to my ears!

The Melody Valve. A play on words? Yes.

Ethan's routine cardiology appointment was Wednesday morning with the fantastic Dr Kaine.
EKG-same as previous
Echo-essentially the same as his previous. The donor valve that was put in in 2011 is still showing moderate amount of leakage, however Ethan's right heart is not showing any significant back-up from it. In fact, the donor valve, over time, has narrowed, allowing less leakage to flow backwards through the valve. This is good news.
The pressure across his pulmonary artery is normal. Yep-normal!
The pressure in his right ventricle is normal. Yep- that word again-love it!
No need to start back up on Lasix, but probably will need to before years end.
Stay on same dose of Digoxin.
Next Cardiology appointment?? 6 glorious months!!!! Woo-hoo! That's a long time for us!

And-the most fantastic news of the appointment......
When Ethan needs this pulmonary valve replaced, he is now a candidate for the Melody Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve. What is so awesome about this?
NO OPEN HEART. Yep, read that again. NO OPEN HEART!
This valve is placed by way of femoral catheter-or through a vessel in the groin.
The post-op stay is about 1 day, and usually only need 1 week to resume normal activities!
AND they are doing them at Mercy now!
We looked into this option for the bald kids PV replacement last time, however, since he didn't have any conduit in place, he was not a candidate. Since the donor valve has provided a conduit, it can now be done. This does not mean it is in his immediate future, but no doubt that it will need re-done due to the leakage. Could be 1 year, could be 10. We've heard all that before, and we stopped worrying about time frames a long time ago. When it's time, it's time.

There would be a few hurdles to cross, but Dr Kaine did not seem deterred by them. The main one being the valve is placed by a 23 French catheter, which is way too big for our little guys vessels. This could be overcome by having the CV surgeon acquire access.
Or, if that is not possible, there is another Transcatheter valve that does not yet have FDA approval that only requires utilizing a 14 French catheter-which the bald kid could handle just fine. That is a few years out, but an option should it be FDA approved by the time he needs a replacement.

Lots of medical mumbo jumbo, and sorry if this makes no sense to most of you. But know this-it is all fabulous news for us. We are so fortunate for the medical advances available to prolong our sweet boys life!
Being this is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week, we found it to be rather fitting to finally receive such awesome news about our little guys heart.

For all our heart warrior friends, keep up the good fight, and know we are fighting alongside you! For those families whose heart warriors have lost the battle, know you are never far from our thoughts.

One Year Ago....

12 months
2 surgeries
3 procedures
8 chemotherapy treatments
Countless shots, needle sticks, pills and doctors appointments.

And where am I a year later?
I'm here.
Sitting in my living room.
With my husband and my kids.
I'm alive.
I'm cancer free.
And I'm thankful for all this last year brought me.

Some days were harder than others. Some still are. And some still will be.
But with each new day I know I am a fighter.

I am stronger.

I am a survivor.

Funny hair story; many of you have seen my hair as it's growing back and that it is crazy curly and totally mousy gray. I've been using some of my mad closet hairstylist skills and coloring it. I just have to use the root touch-up stuff cause my hair is only about an inch long. So, I come home from work one morning with the intention of putting the color on, wait 15 min, rinse, go to bed. Well, I popped an Ambien, which I sometimes use to help me sleep, and know that I have about 30 minutes before it kicks in and causes me to act like the equivalent of a staggering drunk. Well....I got a little sidetracked reading mail, messing with the dogs, making Parker breakfast, and getting Ethan dressed, that by the time I got in the bathroom and got all the color on my hair, I was literally a staggering, stuttering, slurring drunk. There was no way I could stay up 15 more minutes to wait to rinse the color out. So I grabbed a towel, wrapped it around my head and went to bed. I awoke 4 hours later hearing my husband in the shower, and couldn't figure out why the blankets were over my head and I couldn't see. Ummm, not blankets, the towel was all discombobulated around my head! I flew out of bed and into the bathroom fully expecting that if I had any hair left on my head, it was now going to be completely fried, and probably yellow. Thank goodness it wasn't, just a way lighter shade of reddish brown than I had expected! Lesson learned-the Ambien bottle should read "this drug may impair the ability to drive, operate machinery, AND color hair properly"

I've been sporting some cute new headbands to help keep the curly under control, and I was thinking I may have gone a bit far the other day until a little 9 year old girl told me she loved my sparkly headband.
40 year old women can still rock a sparkly headband, yes we can.
Ok, 41.
Ok, ok, just shy of 42.

Lance, Manti, Taylor, oh, my!

I wrote this post last week, but just realized I never published it.
So, just my thoughts on some of the latest "celebrity" news.

Lance, oh, Lance. Where do I start? We drank your kool-aid for sure. And based on your snarky, arrogant attitude in your Oprah interview-you still kind of expect Americans to keep guzzling. You were the golden boy; nice looking, amazing athlete that beat cancer to win 7 Tours. I guess money really can buy anything. Almost.
...Everybody was doing it.... Ahem. Did your Momma teach you nothing of following a crowd? Good thing they didn't cycle right off a cliff now, huh?

... I only used EPO, testosterone and blood transfusions... I read something every single day about how sugar, caffeine, processed foods etc can cause cancer. Ya think maybe that crap had anything to do with yours?

Yes, Lance Armstrong did a lot for cancer research. No one can take that away for him. But was it his way of justifying what he knew was wrong? His way to ease his conscience? Like a former boss once said to me- "Kari, how hard you work, and how well you do your job does not justify being tardy every day". ( yes, I used to have a tardy problem, imagine that!) yep, late is late. Wrong is wrong now matter how you slice it, or inject it. (BTW, Dad, I've corrected that problem)

.....I can somewhat justify doing the testosterone because of my cancer.... Sure, I smoke crack, but hey, I had breast cancer.

I guess what bothered me the most was when Oprah asked him about what his most humbling moment was when the news began to break. He began talking about how he felt when Nike called and dumped him. And Trek. And all the other multi-million dollar endorsements that told him to take a hike. Or a ride. Elsewhere. But when the Livestrong foundation asked him to step down was the most humbling. Seriously? Not when the news broke and you had to look in your children's eyes who now know you are a liar? That wasn't the most humbling? I guess we all have different priorities.

Some of you will feel I am being too harsh and judgmental. We wanted to believe he beat all odds and did something NO ONE ELSE could do. Not once, but 7 times. Hmmm, again, a lesson from the parental units, if it sounds and looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Then again, we all believed that maybe two huge media machines such as ESPN and SI might have actually verified Manti Te'o's heartbreaking story of love and loss.
Two words: Fact. Check.
Oh, and a third-Heisman. So sad, even the story didn't boost you to a win. The trophy or the national championship.

Are we teaching our kids to win at all costs? That's what I think Americans really need to think about in regards to these two athletes. No doubt, lots of God-given talent and determination. But where did the drive to succeed override their moral compass? Or do they just think we are stupid? Cause a turd covered in chocolate, is well, still a turd.

I'm sure by now you are wondering how Taylor Swift fits into this equation of doping and lying. Well, I happened across an article about how Taylor might have eyes for Michael J Fox's son, and he responded to the story asking if she was the one who wrote songs about her ex-boyfriends, and once confirmed, stated she needed to stay away from his son. And as I read some of the comments from the general public about Ms Swift, I was kind of appalled. They all but called her a whore, said she was the problem her relationships don't work out.
Hello? Anyone heard of Jennifer Aniston??

Well, Mr Fox would you rather he hook up with the likes of say, Lindsay Lohan? One of the Kardashian disasters? Miley Cyrus? Crazy Britney?
I have yet to see any box-baring, vehicle exiting photos of Taylor Swift.
Any pot smoking, falling down drunk videos of her.
Any sex tapes of her and said suitors released.
Did she force all those guys to date her?
She is only 22 years old. If she ran off and married one of these douche bags, there would be Vegas odds on how long it would last. Say, 72 days?
Isn't this the stuff you are supposed to do when you are 22? I guess in Hollywood though, her life is half over. Don't grow up too fast sweet girl. It's not all its chalked up to be.

So she writes cheesy love songs when there's a break up. I have yet to hear anyone's name be specifically mentioned in any of those songs, and believe me, I've heard them all. A few thousand times. And she's made a fortune doing so. What's she doing wrong again? Please, fill me in. Cause if I could write and sing like her, I have a few choice words for some imbeciles I wouldn't mind making a few million off of. I'm guessing if those guys are feeling singled out and can relate to some lyrics in a song, can we say guilty conscience? I sure know I would have liked to have her songs to relate to when I was 17 years old and thought I was in love and then he drove back from college without telling me so he could take that whore out. Oh, wait, never mind.

And I would sure rather have my little girl admire the tall blonde who writes all her own music, can play multiple musical instruments, doesn't say a single cuss word or refer to drugs in her lyrics than the girl who gets Botox on her reality show.

Besides that, the bald kid loves him some Taylor Swift. And that's good enough for me.

So, if by chance you need a date to the Grammy's Ms Swift, the bald kid looks smashing in a tux. And this Momma would be happy to let him go with you!