11.17.10 - On the up and up

Liam is recovering well from whatever respiratory infection he had.  We still don't know what the test results revealed, but thankfully we seem to be on the other side of it now.  If only we can keep it this way for the next few weeks!

Liam is down to three breathing treatments a day and sounds better each day.  He is still getting wheezy whenever he is playing hard and gets out of breath, but no more coughing or congestion, so that is a good sign.  We also went through the entire weekend without any alarms from the oximeter going off, which meant Liam stayed above 90 throughout the night and for spot checks throughout the day.  All in all it seems as though he is on the up and up right now.

My dad is currently watching Liam for us while I finish out the year at work to help train someone for my job so I can stay at home come January.  We are so blessed to have someone close to help us out in this way, especially now that we are house bound with Liam again for the germy season.  We had no idea what to expect as far as Liam's immune response post his repair surgery, but clearly he is still very fragile.  I am already getting anxious about the holidays regarding the germs.  But I know above all, the Lord is even in control of germs and I'm praying that we don't have to sacrifice some needed time with our family in fear of them....but I will have our sanitizer ready!

We have very busy weeks ahead.  I have an appointment scheduled with a feeding clinic on the 29th that I am really excited about.  I have heard wonderful things about their program and it's an all-inclusive, intensive program.  I am at the point right now where I can tell Liam is ready to start oral eating more and drinking, but I am TERRIFIED to handle things on my own.  We have been introducing some puffs and a few bites of soft small table foods occasionally which he is handling great.  But I know I really need to work on the drinking thing, but I have NO idea where to even begin.  We only had a short month or so where we were offering Liam the sippy cup, but since then have stopped due to fears that he was still aspirating.  I feel really guilty for not moving forward with the thickened liquids and being more aggressive with his therapy.  But to be honest I am SCARED to even try anything.  I guess being in the hospital for suspected aspiration pneumonia is a cause of my worries....It is going to be great to have a new evaluation of where he is at and hopefully I can get the training I need as well!

We also have Liam's synagis on the 29th coupled with a check up with the pulmonologist to hopefully get a clearance for his cath that Thursday, Dec. 2.  And I'm not sure if I mentioned this in an earlier post or not, but we did get a chance to speak with the cath doctor, Dr. Lashus, for a while prior to his scheduled cath last week.  After having reviewed Liam's case, Dr. Lashus thinks that his stenosis will not require immediate intervention.  He said he would be very surprised if his findings revealed the need for an immediate repair.  Although he did say it is always a possibility because the Echo is limited in the details it can provide (especially for this particular issue), he said other cases similar to Liam's have been able to postpone intervention for a period of time, whether it be 6 months or a year.  He said the cath would give the cardiologist better information for a baseline comparative, so they could monitor Liam and decide when the best time for surgical intervention would be.  This was a blessing to my ears.  With all of this happening so close to the holidays, I was fearing we may be having Christmas in the hospital this year.  Although we know it is still a possibility, we are encouraged that there is a good possibility we have some more time before another surgery is needed.

Next week, we have the Turkey Trot run Thanksgiving Day as a precursor to the big marathon Dec. 5!  Team Liam has already been such a huge success as we have raised over $6,000 so far for the Children's Heart Foundation!  There is still time left to make donations - You can visit our website at www.teamliam4chd.com for more info!  Thanks to all of you who have supported our cause!  T-shirts and jerseys will be coming soon!