One is
that Tyson has been discharged from the Wee Talk program! We said a tearful, bittersweet ‘good-bye’ to
his speech/language pathologist this afternoon.
We’re very sad because we LOVED him and will surely miss him. This is a
man who would lay on the floor beside Tyson as they played their ‘boy’ games
together. He knew exactly what made
Tyson tick, he knew how to push Tyson’s
buttons to get him to focus, to get him to continue on with the learning. Most of all he made learning fun! As hard as good-byes are, we are SO THANKFUL
that Tyson no longer needs to see a speech therapist and will not be referred
to CCAC for speech therapy once he starts school! This means we have one less therapist and one
less appointment every month! I’m so
proud of Tyson and how hard he’s worked on his sound and word articulation and
how well his language skills are developing and improving.
The other
thing we’re celebrating today is that Tyson has also been discharged from the
Infant-Child Development Program.
Obviously, once a child starts school, they would be let go from the
Infant Child program as the name suggests.
But to top it off, Tyson will not need further referrals to any other
programs. He definitely has some areas
we need to work on with him, particularly his social skills, self-help skills,
attention span, memory, impulse control and mood changes J But we’re getting there. One step at a time. The psychologist who signed off on Tyson’s
report did indicate that, considering his complex medical history and the
number of procedures he has undergone, she is impressed with how well he’s
doing. Man, that’s music to a Mama’s
ears J Tyson’s Infant-Child Development Worker,
Chris, will visit us one more time in the fall, and we will indeed be sad to
say ‘good-bye’ to her too. She has been
coming into our home almost monthly since Tyson was 10 months old. She has poured out her heart and soul for
Tyson’s well-being, monitoring his development to make sure he’s on the right
path, and giving encouragement and support where needed. She has showered Tyson with love and with
gifts, and she even visited when Ty was hospitalized in March/April. She also facilitated “The Spirited Child”
workshop that I attended to learn how to cope with ‘spirited’ kids like
Tyson. We both love her. (And I happen to know she reads this blog…so
to Chris: THANK-YOU FOR EVERYTHING!
Thank-you for loving Ty, and accepting him, and working with him when he
wasn’t always willing to work with you.
You will always have a special place in our hearts and you will be
greatly missed!
One
last thing we remember today. Today
marks 18 months that Tyson has been free from any heart procedures, surgeries,
or interventions. Of course this doesn't include his regular tests like
the ECGs, Echoes, x-rays, etc - those are very common still and will very much
be a part of his life forever. But we also pray that someday we can celebrate
18 months hospital-free, or 18 months oxygen-free! If the LORD wills it,
we'll get there someday too.
Eighteen months ago today, Tyson had his last heart cath procedure (his
‘last’ but probably not his ‘last.’) I remember that day so well. I
was 38 weeks pregnant with baby #5 and I'll admit it: I was a
STRESS-CASE. How could we possibly be having another baby, knowing that
the likelihood of Tyson needing a transplant was so high? For the first
three years of Tyson's life, there was *always* another surgery looming in the
future...always another heart cath needed to assess his heart status or attempt
a fenestration closure...always another hospital stay right around the
corner. What was I doing having another baby? And Brian and I were
both exhausted with all kinds of extra appointments for Tyson and for our
unborn baby. Stress levels in this house were an all-time high.
But look how God has so richly blessed us! Addisyn turned out to be the best thing for
our family (doesn’t He always know what’s best?) She was a very happy baby right from the
start, sleeping well though the night, and very happy during the day. Tyson was hospitalized when Addisyn was four months
old, but Tyson was able to stay at our local hospital so it was much easier for
Brian and I to take shifts at the hospital, and my Mom took some night shifts
too. So it all worked out, as it always
does. God has a way of doing that, doesn’t He?
Thank-you Father!
I’m getting side-tracked. Back to the 18 months.
Let's face it. Eighteen months without any
heart procedures is a long time for a kid with Tyson's complex anatomy.
18 months without a general anesthetic.
18 months without a breathing tube shoved down his airways. It's not just the HRHS which would be reason
for multiple heart procedures, but Tyson also struggles with pulmonary vein stenosis, which is our biggest concern right now. His extremely narrow
pulmonary veins cause high pressures in his heart and lungs, which is why his
fenestration can’t be closed. The high
pressures also cause his blood to ‘shunt’ through his fenestration
left-to-right instead of right-to-left as it should. The cardiologists aren’t really sure how or why
it seems to be working for him, but for now it is working for him. For the past 18 months, God has given Tyson a
'break' from any open-heart surgeries or heart cath procedures. And our whole family has been given a break
from that worry and stress. (Ok, so the
two hospital stays in the past year haven’t been very fun but at least he
hasn’t had another heart surgery.) We
are SO thankful.
Speaking of procedures….
UGH.
Tyson has to have a cardiac MRI at Sick Kids in
September. MRI gives a better picture of
how his blood is flowing in and out of his lungs. Compared to open heart surgery, this is a
cake-walk. But since Tyson is so young,
he will have to be intubated and under general anesthetic for this. I asked (begged) the MRI department if they
could just sedate him with chloral hydrate (same stuff they used for his echoes
when he was a baby) instead of intubating him.
The chloral hydrate makes him sleep for 4 hours and he wakes up a very
angry drunk…but at least they aren’t intubating him and messing around with his
airways! Tyson is very prone to
pneumonia, so anytime they mess with his airways he’s at risk again. But MRI department told me they need Tyson to
lay perfectly still and calm for over an hour, and at one point during the test
he’ll need to take a very deep breath and hold it for about 15 seconds. If he was sedated with chloral, he can’t take
a big breath. If he’s intubated, they
can control his breathing and can get the pictures they need. *sigh*
I can;t picture Tysonlaying still and calm as they slide him into a
tightly enclosed tube...and apparently it's very loud in there too. Tyson
would not be good in this situation at all. So it looks like on September
20th, he will be intubated and put out again. Which also means we have to keep him healthy
for the procedure, so if he catches a cold they will cancel the MRI and
re-schedule. He’ll likely have to miss a
week or so of school to ensure good health prior to the MRI.
Then in early November Tyson will go back to Sick
Kids for a bone density scan, some blood work, and an appointment with the
thrombosis team. Kids who are on
long-term Coumadin are at risk for bone density so they need regular scans to
monitor his bones. They usually start
scanning when they turn 5. The scan
itself is much like an x-ray, so he won’t need sedation or anything for it. Tyson won’t be too worried about that. The blood work is another story though.
Then late in November we go back to Sick Kids again
for his regular six-month cardiology appt, Echo, ECG, etc. We have to wait over two months to find out
results from his cardiac MRI. Last MRI he had (exactly 18 months ago!) he had 18% blood flow to his left lung. I am really hoping and praying that the
number does not get any lower. 18% is a
really crappy number. They did try to
repair his pulmonary veins when he had his last open-heart in December 2010,
but it didn’t go as well as planned, and it didn’t do much to improve his blood
flow. We’ll see what the next MRI in
September shows and I’m sure we’ll need prayers as we wait 2 months to find out
the results.
Not wanting to end this blog post on a sad note,
let me repeat again why I started this update today.
Eighteen months procedure-free! No more Speech therapy! No more Infant-Child Program!
God is good.
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