5.29.10 - Blood donation success story!

Well, I didn't pass out or throw up like I expected I would. My blood safely made it out of my body and into the bag, and is now safely being transported to a hospital somewhere to hopefully help save a life...Feels great! I just want to thank everyone for supporting us. Even if you are not able to give blood, just knowing you are praying for us and thinking of us during this time really means the world to us.

We are enjoying a nice quiet weekend before the storm of the week hits us. Tomorrow, my parents are going to come watch Liam for us so we can go to church. I will be so excited when Liam is all better and we can finally take him with us! There are so many of our great friends and family that have yet to meet him...I can't wait!!

So as far as the plan for next week, Liam will officially be admitted to Medical City on Wednesday morning. We have to be there at 9:00 am and the heart cath procedure is scheduled for 11:00 am. I am not sure how long that will take - I am thinking probably an hour or two. Then sometime after that on Wednesday we will be meeting with our surgeon to go over the details of the surgery. We are praying they will be able to repair all of his defects with this surgery. As I understand, they will be building a new pulmonary artery conduit, new pulmonary valve and then closing the hole between his left and right ventricles. After this surgery, if all goes as expected, Liam's heart will function like a normal child's - his oxygen levels will be at normal saturation and he will not have to take any daily medication. He will only need a valve replacement every few years until he is full grown, as the valve does not grow with him. We will stay the night in the hospital Wednesday night and the surgery should be scheduled for first thing Thursday morning.

Liam continues to stay strong and healthy. He is sitting up like a champ - only falling over when he gets too giggly!! We are up to feeding him baby food 3 times a day and still giving him formula via the tube. The speech therapy and physical therapy will start again in July, so we are hoping that he can pass his swallow study by the end of summer and we can start the process of weaning him off the tube. What a life story our little guy is going to have...and so much in just the first year of life! What an amazing testimony... =)