Saturday, August 27, 2011

A Good Weekend (Followed by a Lukewarm Week)

Sam’s cardiology check-up earlier this week revealed both good news and bad news. The good news: Nothing on his heart echo has changed in the last month. This means that there have been no new growths, no extra valve leakage, nothing new to earn our concern. The bad news: Nothing on his heart echo has changed in the last month. This means that his left pulmonary artery and descending aorta are still too small, and as Sam continues to grow, they will start causing problems if they don't start growing.

The first line of attack to address this problem would be a heart catheterization to try to “pop” the artery open with a balloon. While this is a relatively minor procedure as far as heart procedures go, our doctor doesn’t feel particularly confident that it will work. The second line of attack is much more aggressive: Yet another open heart surgery to “revise” the problematic pieces of his heart. Boo. Neither Jason nor Sam nor I are willing to face this possibility yet, so we are holding onto the hope that Sam’s artery and aorta will grow in the next few months.



On the happier side of things, Sam has made a new friend, and his name is Max!



He is the very cute son of a very close friend of mine, Julie. While both Max and Julie live in San Francisco, they came out to visit us last weekend, and Sam and Max had many adventures. I’m pretty sure that Max, who is a whopping eight months old and an expert roller, is the one who inspired Sam to start rolling. Sam and Max also enjoyed taking turns whining at stoplights as they sat in their side-by-side carseats in the back (until they both fell asleep).






We took them on a walk around Washington Park, and then stopped by Waffle Bros for a little brunch. At Waffle Bros, Sam enjoyed lying on the table (I wasn’t sure what else to do with him while I ate my waffle) while Max enjoyed a little breastfeeding with Julie. It worked out pretty well until Sam kicked his foot into the Nutella on my waffle. As a man walked by us with his baby strapped up in a stroller, he remarked, “Those babies are having a good time!”


We all had a good time. Below is a picture of Sam charming Julie, as well as a picture of me giving cute Max a big kiss.









Sam misses Max, but he still has his old friends to hang out with, including our cat (who has taken up residence in Sam's pack & play). Other news? In addition to his new skill of rolling from belly to back, Sam also likes to spend his spare time babbling, blowing saliva bubbles, and, most importantly, giggling.







9 comments:

  1. Oh my ... two adorable young men you have there. How wonderful to see Sam so well and happy! Here's hoping and praying the operation won't be needed!

    Hugs for Sam :)

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  2. They are adorable! Praying he won't need either procedure. Thanks for the update and such wonderful photographs!

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  3. What cuties! Friends are such fun. Glad and sad for the check up news. Praying for Sam's little artery and aorta to get busy and start growing, so that surgery will not be necessary. NKL

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  4. love you guys! we don't know what to do with our new found fame : )
    xoxo, j and m
    ps going to optho next week and thinking the whole pink eye diagnosis was false, fyi

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  5. Just got back from a heart cath / 'balloon' treatement with our 1-year-old, today. His first after an open-heart @ 5 days to repair his CHD... Judging by what our doctor said yesterday after the procedure, how conservative (or aggressive) the treatment can well depend on your Dr.'s approach... of course, taking in account specifics of any one baby and their anatomy. The whole thing was slightly terrifying (he ended up with double angioplasty on both pulmonary arteries) but apparently worked as expected.

    Don't know you guys personally but stop in to check in on Sam whenever you post! He's absolutely adorable.

    Anya @ fairyandbug.blogspot.com

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  6. I am so glad things are still going well. Sam will be in my prayers and also a lot of people here at APU! They read your blog now too! Missing you Ms. Leclaire! I am going to see a production of Falstaff for the Honors program here in a couple of weeks! It reminded me of you.

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  7. Love the pics of Sam with his friends - Matt and the cat! ;-)

    Will be praying Sam doesn't need either procedure and that his artery and aorta will grow on their own.

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  8. Oops! I meant his friend, Max, not Matt.

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