Thursday, November 17, 2011
A Mei Mei
YouYou will finally be getting a sister! I started a new blog if you want to follow along with us again...http://ameimeiforyouyou.blogspot.com
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Happy Family Day
I can't believe it's been 2 years since we met our sweet girl! It's amazing how much our love for her has grown. YouYou is doing so well and growing in so many ways. She is such a joy and we are so blessed to call her our daughter.
We celebrated tonight, but not in the way we originally planned. It rarely ever snows in our part of the south and when it does it usually doesn't stick around. Well Sunday night we got hit big!!! We didn't go anywhere yesterday...the city pretty much shuts down when there is any snow at all. But today some of the main roads were opened so we ventured out to the grandparent's house and went sledding on a hill my husband's brother created. We had THE BEST time! We also ate lots of yummy Chinese food...and YouYou's daddy bought her flowers (I think that was her favorite part).
Here's a glimpse into some of the "celebrating" that went on today...
We love you YouYou and we are so glad you are part of our family!!
We celebrated tonight, but not in the way we originally planned. It rarely ever snows in our part of the south and when it does it usually doesn't stick around. Well Sunday night we got hit big!!! We didn't go anywhere yesterday...the city pretty much shuts down when there is any snow at all. But today some of the main roads were opened so we ventured out to the grandparent's house and went sledding on a hill my husband's brother created. We had THE BEST time! We also ate lots of yummy Chinese food...and YouYou's daddy bought her flowers (I think that was her favorite part).
Here's a glimpse into some of the "celebrating" that went on today...
We love you YouYou and we are so glad you are part of our family!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
This picture says it all...
She loved every single bit of it!
***This picture was taken as we walked into the Magic Kingdom and she saw Cinderella's castle for the first time.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Cardiologist update
Here's a quick update on how YouYou's appointment went last Friday (quick because it's late and I should be finishing up packing since we leave for DISNEY WORLD tomorrow :)
Overall her cardiologist (Dr. R.) was pleased with how she is doing. She has grown 2 inches in 6 months and gained about 9 ounces. He did an EKG and an echo. If I ever get too laid back about the seriousness of her condition though, all I have to do is sit through an echo of her heart. I usually feel sick to my stomach at some point during the procedure. It was probably a little worse this time because there was a student Dr. with Dr. R. and so he was explaining more about YouYou's unique heart. There was a lot of..."insufficient" this and "leaky" that. But then as soon as it is over YouYou hops up and begins to explore the room and be her usual curious self and then I take a deep breath and whisper a prayer of thanks to the One who created her special heart.
I talked to Dr. R. about our concerns that we feel like we might need some more information about the Double Switch surgery. He listened intently, and as always I gained more respect for him during our conversation. He does not think YouYou should have this surgery (and I already knew this) but he does understand our desire to explore this a little further. Basically I just explained that I did not want to get to a point where YouYou starts having complications in a few years and then someone tell me, "Well, I'm sorry but your daughter is too big for the Double Switch now so her only option at this point is heart transplant."...when we hadn't even really researched the Double Switch as an option in the first place? I hope this makes sense? Dr. R. does not think that YouYou would be an ideal candidate for the Double Switch (and he still wouldn't recommend it if she was). But we don't know this for sure because we haven't had her records looked at by someone who performs the surgery. If I am completely honest, then I will admit that I want someone to tell me that she is not a good candidate for the surgery at all...because then our decision is easy! We will just continue what we are doing now (medicine's, monitoring her, etc.) and pray that God will sustain her heart for many, many years just like it is! But we just need more information...
So basically, we are on a prayer and fact finding mission. Dr. R. is sending out some emails and will be in touch with us within a couple of weeks and then we will go from there. I will keep you all posted!
Thank you all for your kind words, prayers, and support! Now I need to go pack... :)
Overall her cardiologist (Dr. R.) was pleased with how she is doing. She has grown 2 inches in 6 months and gained about 9 ounces. He did an EKG and an echo. If I ever get too laid back about the seriousness of her condition though, all I have to do is sit through an echo of her heart. I usually feel sick to my stomach at some point during the procedure. It was probably a little worse this time because there was a student Dr. with Dr. R. and so he was explaining more about YouYou's unique heart. There was a lot of..."insufficient" this and "leaky" that. But then as soon as it is over YouYou hops up and begins to explore the room and be her usual curious self and then I take a deep breath and whisper a prayer of thanks to the One who created her special heart.
I talked to Dr. R. about our concerns that we feel like we might need some more information about the Double Switch surgery. He listened intently, and as always I gained more respect for him during our conversation. He does not think YouYou should have this surgery (and I already knew this) but he does understand our desire to explore this a little further. Basically I just explained that I did not want to get to a point where YouYou starts having complications in a few years and then someone tell me, "Well, I'm sorry but your daughter is too big for the Double Switch now so her only option at this point is heart transplant."...when we hadn't even really researched the Double Switch as an option in the first place? I hope this makes sense? Dr. R. does not think that YouYou would be an ideal candidate for the Double Switch (and he still wouldn't recommend it if she was). But we don't know this for sure because we haven't had her records looked at by someone who performs the surgery. If I am completely honest, then I will admit that I want someone to tell me that she is not a good candidate for the surgery at all...because then our decision is easy! We will just continue what we are doing now (medicine's, monitoring her, etc.) and pray that God will sustain her heart for many, many years just like it is! But we just need more information...
So basically, we are on a prayer and fact finding mission. Dr. R. is sending out some emails and will be in touch with us within a couple of weeks and then we will go from there. I will keep you all posted!
Thank you all for your kind words, prayers, and support! Now I need to go pack... :)
Thursday, September 30, 2010
What we've been up to...
We've been pretty busy around here lately. Here are a few of the things Miss YouYou has been up to...
"Doing school" with her brothers...
Gymnastics one morning each week...
A visit to Ch*ck e Ch**se...
And several visits to the science museum...
A little bit of soccer...
We've discovered a few new things...like that she is allergic to penicillin
And that she loves ballet...
And she's pretty good at rollerskating...
And finally, that sipping Sprite through a "sour noodle"/AKA Sour Straw is lots of fun!
We will be going for a checkup with YouYou's cardiologist next Friday. Even though she is doing great (gaining weight, has lots of energy, etc.) I still get a little nervous about these visits. Aaron and I have been talking and praying about some specific things that we want to discuss with her doctor this visit. See, there are things we would like to just "pretend" aren't there because when you look at YouYou you would never know anything is wrong with her. Her condition though, is very complicated. There are two sides really...the side that says a child with L-TGA needs to have a very risky surgery called a double switch so that they will not need a heart transplant when they are older...and the other side, that says that the double switch surgery is too risky and has not been performed enough and is not even proven to increase lifespan so why perform it on a child that is doing well. When we first brought YouYou home, the double switch was not really an option because her lungs were in bad shape, so the immediate thing to do was to close the hole in her heart and try to let her lungs heal, etc. But now...should we be thinking about the double switch? It's hard to know? It's hard for me to even talk about this, much less write about it on the blog. I hope I will feel like sharing more once we have more information from our visit next week. Will you pray with us?
"Doing school" with her brothers...
Gymnastics one morning each week...
A visit to Ch*ck e Ch**se...
And several visits to the science museum...
A little bit of soccer...
We've discovered a few new things...like that she is allergic to penicillin
And that she loves ballet...
And she's pretty good at rollerskating...
And finally, that sipping Sprite through a "sour noodle"/AKA Sour Straw is lots of fun!
We will be going for a checkup with YouYou's cardiologist next Friday. Even though she is doing great (gaining weight, has lots of energy, etc.) I still get a little nervous about these visits. Aaron and I have been talking and praying about some specific things that we want to discuss with her doctor this visit. See, there are things we would like to just "pretend" aren't there because when you look at YouYou you would never know anything is wrong with her. Her condition though, is very complicated. There are two sides really...the side that says a child with L-TGA needs to have a very risky surgery called a double switch so that they will not need a heart transplant when they are older...and the other side, that says that the double switch surgery is too risky and has not been performed enough and is not even proven to increase lifespan so why perform it on a child that is doing well. When we first brought YouYou home, the double switch was not really an option because her lungs were in bad shape, so the immediate thing to do was to close the hole in her heart and try to let her lungs heal, etc. But now...should we be thinking about the double switch? It's hard to know? It's hard for me to even talk about this, much less write about it on the blog. I hope I will feel like sharing more once we have more information from our visit next week. Will you pray with us?
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