Tuesday Tidbits - Oh No Not Again!

It seems Faith was just getting over her last three-week cold when she started coming down with another one. "Oh no, not again," was all I could think. Yesterday I sent her to school even though I knew she was tired because she hadn't slept well all weekend. One of her aides said it had been hard for her to stay on task and stay focused. Last night she was up at 3 a.m. so I knew she wasn't going to do well in school and kept her home. She has been sneezing and sounds a little stuffy but I PRAY she has a good sleep tonight and she can kick this cold much faster than her last one.

Last week I took her in to see her pediatrician just to touch base with him since he was available. And of course she was perfectly fine then! He said she may have had RSV which can last three-four weeks. Hopefully that is not the case again this time. I told him I was concerned about her throat because she seems to get a sore throat a lot and was wondering if something was going on with her tonsils. He said as long as she is not snoring at night when she sleeps then her tonsils should be fine.

Last week we also celebrated Rob's birthday. I had bought him some miniature chocolate cupcakes and some ice cream. That evening, when we were having cupcakes and ice cream, Faith insisted that Daddy blow out some candles. I rummaged through the drawers and found a candle with the number 7 - left over from Faith's birthday that we didn't use. So we stuck that candle in one of the little cupcakes then Faith said we had to sing Happy Birthday. I guess she knows the routine!

Sure glad we had this one candle for Rob to blow out!

Last evening I received a phone call from my cardiologist at Mayo. He was filling in some information for a research study that Mayo was conducting with UCLA on women who have had the Fontan heart surgery and who have also been pregnant. The last time this study was done, which was in the 1990s - there were only about 15 women with the Fontan who had gotten pregnant. I'm very interested to know what those numbers are now.

Since I had hm on the phone I asked him about my official diagnosis since some paperwork I had showed it to be Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV) but on some of my Mayo documents it was listed as Double Inlet Left Ventricle (DILV). For a long time, I just sort of assumed they were the same thing and were being used interchangeably. Upon asking Dr. Cetta, he told me the DILV diagnosis was more accurate since I only have one functioning ventricle and with DORV, even though function is limited, there are still two working ventricles. My mom said when I was born they didn't even have a name for it!

Now as I do research, the DILV makes much more sense as some of its side effects can include arrhythmia and congestive heart failure, both of which I have had. I also found it interesting that with DILV there can be reoccurring bouts of pneumonia - which I have also had. So anyway, sorry to bore you with all of this cardiology talk!

And finally in other, more exciting news my brother, Todd and I are going to be opening our own Internet store on zazzle.com where we will be making and selling our own bumper stickers, t-shirts, tote bags and everything else you can stick a slogan on! Todd has been coming up with some good ideas for bumper stickers - especially for those in the oilfield. That's probably the last thing I need is another project but I think it will be exciting! I'll be sure to let you all know when it officially opens.

Faith's top front tooth was so loose I decided to gently pull it out. No tying a string
to her tooth and slamming the door shut for this little girl!