Hello all!!
Well its been a very busy past couple weeks. Last weekend all of us ventured with Uncle Scott, Papa Dave, Grandma RaRa and Megan and Torey Hamel to the Kansas State football season opener. The girls had a great time, Piper loved running around and spent most of the day yelling "Go Wildcats!" and "EMAW Baby!!" The Wildcats scored a victory and everyone was very happy!! Piper asks now on a daily basis when we are going back to the football game.
As most of you know from the last post Maizy needed an angioplasty to fix some thickening that appeared to reoccur. However what it turned out to be was thickening around the suture sit from her open heart surgery with the reconstructed her valve. However it was significant thickening, the cardiologist explained it by saying that they measure the pressure going into the obstruction and the pressure below the obstruction. Which then gauges the severity of the obstruction, the cardiologist said that an acceptable gradient is anything under 30...Maizy's gradient before the angioplasty was 70!!!
Happily not only was the procedure a success, it actually took less time then anticipated. We actually even got to see Maizy's heart on video because the catheter had a camera on it. We saw the before and after of the bloodflow throught the heart valve. Even to the untrained eye the difference before the angio and after was significant. The cardiologist said the Maizy's gradient went from 70...to 15!!!
They ballooned the area three times and it responded very well, the cardiologist said that naturally the area will just "remodel" itself so likely there will not be a need for another angio. Also he showed us on the video that Maizy's body had started growing new vessels to bypass the obstructed area, and that her heart was very muscular because it's had to work harder to pump blood! It's pretty amazing what the body can do. The cardiologist told us that her stamina would probably improve quite a bit and he wasn't kidding. Maizy's has been eating like crazy lately, and taking more formula at one time than she ever has!
After the surgery when we got her back she had a bit of fever that caused her heartrate to go up and when I say go up I mean at one point it hit 230! For those of you who aren't quite sure just how high that actually is let me put it into perspective for you....if your heartrate went to 230...it would probably burst like a pinata at an 8 year olds birthday party.
Thankfully it was just her body being a bit ticked off that another procedure had been done to it and after a dose of tylenol she was fine. Her heartrate came down and she was fine. Her color is better than it has ever been as well and she is doing well!
Piper didn't make this trip with instead she got to go play with Hadley Hamel who is Megan and Torey's daughter. The girls took off as soon as Piper arrived and I am guessing they didn't slow down till Piper left. At one point Piper told Megan and Hadley "I like hanging out with you guys!"
Piper stayed the night with Papa and RaRa and got to feed the bucket calf with Uncle Scott, and ride the gator with Papa and feed the horses. Also RaRa took it upon herself to sing "Soft Kitty" to Piper when she went to bed at night, so now when I put Piper to bed I have to sing "Soft Kitty"....awesome....thanks for that RaRa. For those of you who do not know what the song "Soft Kitty" is you need to watch "Big Bang Theory."
Today Piper got to see Aunt Bailey who lives in Florida who is in town for the weekend and hang out with Great-Grandma Dodo as well. Apparently Piper had such a great time that when Traci came to pick her up she told her she wanted to go back to RaRa's house and stay! Today was also the first time Bailey go to meet Maizy so we are glad that Maizy was able to come back so quickly so she could meet her!
All in all Maizy is doing fantastic, Piper was once again a fantastic and easy going little girl, and Mom and Dad are thrilled that everyone is back home and healthy. We have been handed alot to deal with the past few months, but we have made it through and I wouldn't want to be on this journey with any else but the three ladies I have been blessed to have in my life. And remember LIFE IS GOOD!!!!
