14 1/2 months

Sorry I have not posted an update in a while, Colt has been keeping me really busy, he had been taking steps here and there but, then all of a sudden he took off on August 20th. He runs from me now and thinks he is such a big boy since he can walk. So hard to believe how quick he is growing up and how smart he is. He is stubborn just like his dad, but it is a cute stubborn.

Health wise he is going great, we go back in October to his cardiologist for a checkup so maybe we will finally be off the lasik and only have blood pressure medicine and aspirin.

Bradley and I enjoy every moment we get to spend with Colt.

I just love to watch Colt when he hears Bradley's truck pulling in the driveway and he runs for the door yelling da-da da-da.

When it is just me, he is a mommy's boy, but when daddy comes home he is Bradley's shadow.

These moments are the greatest.

Thanks be to our God, who gives us every moment!

My Hero

It is never easy to lose someone you love and 3 years ago today my Papaw Swayne passed away from a massive heart attack. He was my Hero.

I wanted to send love and prayers to all our family especially my Mamaw who still has his pj's hanging on the back of the bathroom door. I have never seen a love like the 2 of them shared. She has never stopped thinking or talking about him even when people tell her that she talks to much about him. And to my mom, I am who I am because of what he passed onto you so he is always with us and has been with us through all the tough times. I love ya, Mom

Remember someone you have loved & lost. It is okay to cry, they have been called home and we will see them again when God calls us home.

God Bless!

Colt's 1st Birthday

He had a great birthday party thanks to all the family, friends, and neighbors that came to share it with us. We had close to 100 people show up to celebrate with us even though it was extremely hot.

Colt loved all the balloons and was excited to see all the people, but he wasn’t too sure about the green icing.

Special thanks to Stacia for Colt’s adorable cake and to all the people that helped with the setup & cleanup.

We are so blessed to have Colt and this past year has been the best year of my life, but the best is still yet to come as this is only our beginning.

Almost a Year Old

Hi All -

Can’t believe how great everything is going. I am a year older and now Colt is going to be 1 in 8 days, so hard to believe almost a year has gone by already.

He is trying to crawl but it is more like he is scooting on his behind, but he can go anywhere he wants, in the walker watch out he is dangerous, I wear tennis shoes everyday to keep from getting my feet ran over. He wants to walk but we still have to work on balance.

He loves to be outside and is really starting to talk, he is saying mama, dada, hi, bye, apple, and bird.

His doctors agreed that he is doing wonderful considering everything his little body has been through.

We will be having a cookout on Saturday - June 20th for his birthday, so if you would like to join us, send me an email bradley.miss.colt@gmail.com and I will reply with the details.

God Bless!

American Heart Walk 2009

The Heart Walk went great. Bradley and I pulled Colt in the Wagon 3 times around the traveling trail and he loved it, he loved it some much by the 3rd time around he was asleep.

Just the feeling of walking for meaning a a purpose felt great. I appreciate all our family and friends who came and walked or donated money to the American Heart Walk. Since there were so many of us walking for Colt, we got to form a Colt's Team and we donated over $400.00 to the Heart walk which was so wonderful.

Colt and Bradley got their picture in the paper, I think that really tickled Bradley especially now that Colt has been saying Da-da for about a month now. Bradley never thought he would say it and then for 2 days straight thats all he said.

http://www.winchestersun.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=19535&format=html

Colt is still not crawling, but that is okay, he still does not like to be on his stomach, we think he is uncomfortable since his brestbone sticks out quite a bit from surgery. Maybe he will walk before he crawls. Bradley's mom said Bradley never walked he RAN.... lol. So we will see. He already thinks he can walk, we put him in his walker and he goes everywhere and tries to run over me, he even pulled over one of our ice cream chairs and was dragging it across the kitchen. Kids are so funny.

We had another followup with his Cardiologist last week and they said he is the picture of health and he got taken off one of his lasixs completely. We don't have to go back till July.

So hard to believe he is going to be 1 next month. I am ready for a party and a celebration, god has given us Colt and what a blessing. 2 heart surgeries down and 1 to go.

I seems like I have received so many forwarded emails with almost the same saying and it is so true.

If God leads you to it, he'll bring you through it

9 Months Old

And 4 teeth later. Colt is doing really good, we had a 6 week checkup with Dr. Cottrill. All went well. It is so hard to believe he will be one before you know it. It has been really busy since we got out of the hospital, Bradley's dad (Pa Pete) had a mild heart attack March 3 and ended up having a Quadruple bypass the following surgery, we took Colt to see him when he got moved out of ICU to the floor and he said now I have a scar like Colt. Colt's Pa was so lucky he listened to his body and went to the ER when he felt like something was not right. He is now home recovering, thanks to the Lord for all these blessings we have been given.

The American Heart walk is coming up in April.

Colt, Bradley, and I plus all the family are going to be there too. Before we had Colt I started walking because of my grandfather (mom's) dad suffered and passed away from heart disease and my dad's dad also had heart surgery to replace his aortic valve.

Now Colt and Pa Pete are more reasons to walk.

I hope anyone who is able will come and walk with us. His Uncle Larry & aunt Missy got him a Radio Flyer wagon for Christimas that is loaded with a canopy, seats, and 2 coolers so we are all set, just waiting on our t-shirts to come in.

I believe in miracles, with God all things are possible.

Home

Sorry I forgot to post an update to let everyone know that we got dismissed Sunday evening and have been home trying to get back into the swing of things. Each day he gets closer to being back to his little lovable happy self.

It have been a pretty crazy week, Sunday morning Colt woke with a cough and for the first couple of days Bradley and I had been up every night with him trying to pacify him. So not only does he have a cold and an ear infection he had first tooth break through.

We finally got him into to see his pedtrician and they offerred to give him antibotics, but with him being so close to just having surgery I was worried that maybe it was something else.

His peditrician called Dr. Plunkett and he said that mother knows best and that if I felt like it was something more I could take him to the UK ER and he would take a look at him amd see if it was anything more. On our way to Lexington, I called Dr. Cottrill's office to let them know and one of the girls let me talk to Dr. Cottrill and I explained what all was going on, she said that instead of going to the ER and possibly waiting that I could bring Colt directly to her office and she would see him right away, so Bradley and I decided that would be best. Dr. Cottrill examined him and did a quick echo to determine all was fine with his heart and there were no complications, just an ear infection.

I have always been in the mindset that I would rather be safe than sorry.

We are so grateful to have such wonderful and caring doctors. Thanks be to God for each and everyone of them.

In Christ's Love & AmazingGrace,

Miss

Getting back to himself

Colt got all 3 chest tubes taken out yesterday and Bradley and I got to hold him for the first time since his surgery, it was kinda scary since he is sore and he can't be picked up under his arms, but he was really glad, everytime he seen us, he gave us that look like "Why are you picking me up?"

Over all everything is going as planned, he did have to get a blood transfusion last night and still have some feeding issues, but the doctors said that it was not uncommon. Colt's lab work came back today good, so we got moved to step down to the Children's Hospital today. Is that not amazing, only in the PICU for 4 days after surgery. We really did not want to move to the floor, the nurses in the PICU are so wonderful. Bradley, Colt, and I got really attached to them and I think they got attached to Colt.
These ladies are so very caring and compassionate, they treated Colt just like he was their own, which means so much.

~ Special thanks to Colt's favorite nurses : Kim, Jessica, Erin, Dru, Phyllis, Selena, and Erma. ~

Other than 1 IV line in his head that they put in yesterday after they removed his chest tubes. He is not attached to any wires or monitors, just getting his vitals taken every few hours, we even got to take him a ride down the hall in a wagon. Hopefully we will get to come home soon

The power of prayer and God's grace are witnessed again and again.

Love & peace to all,

Miss

Pictures:
Colt getting blood last night

Dr. Plunkett, Colt's surgeon (What gifted hands and knowledge the Lord has granted him)

Erma his PICU nurse pictured above Colt

2 Days Post OP Glenn

Last night Dr. Cottrill came in last night and checked on him and she said he was fussing a little bit and was saying MA MA MA...... and this morning he said again..... I am so happy and finally feeling a sense of calmness.

Today Colt is now off his oxygen and is still doing good and he is more like himself.

You could see the excitement in his eyes when we walked in this morning.

They are going to take 1 of the 3 chest tubes out some time today. I will try to post another update later today.

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Day After Surgery

Bradley and I are so happy to see Colt and be in the room with him, other than a little swollen and really tired, he is looking great. He is getting to eat an ounce of formula every 2 hours and gotten to eat some bananas already and now sleeping peacefully.

All his IV lines are out except one, he still has his 3 chest tubes, if all keeps going well they will be coming out maybe tomorrow. Still on a little oxygen, when he is awake he gets little upset and his blood pressure goes up so he is back on his blood pressure medicine but everything continues to progress smoothly.

Love to all and thanks to our lord above!!!!!!

Miss

After Surgery

Colt has made it through surgery wonderfully. He is doing very well, completely off of the ventilator and breathing on his own. He is on very little pain meds, his oxygen stats are running in the low 80's where is exactly where they wanted and his blood pressure is running normal so for the first time in 7 months he is not on blood pressure medicine.

Bradley and I got to go back to see him for a bit yesterday around 5:30 pm and then again 9:00 pm and he is doing great, we did not stay long because when he heard our voices and looked at both of us he got a little excited and they did not want him moving to much because it could cause the chest tubes to bleed more than they should. I wanted to just hold him and love on him so bad, but I know he needs time to heal and it won't be long till we are bringing him home once again.

He really needed his rest, it was so hard to leave him, this is the first night since we brought him home that he has not been sleeping right by our sides.

I brag enough about Colt's nurses his day nurse Kim and night nurse Selena have been so wonderful .

Again and again God blesses us with each little miracle, supportive family and friends, caring nurses and skilled doctors. I am so thankful for everyone!


God's Amazing Grace.....


I can't wait to go see him this morning.


Love and thanks to all!
Miss

In Surgery

These pictures were taken this morning before they took him into the O.R

His nurse Jane and anastegologist; Dr. Johnson, carried him back into the O.R., this morning at 7:15 a.m

A very special thanks to Pastor James Williams for coming and praying this morning at the hospital. He is scheduled to be in surgery until around noon.

We will post as we know more.

Please continue the prayers and thoughts.

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11:30 AM

As of about 15 minutes ago, Dr. Plunkett finished the repairs to Colt's heart and they have successfully taken him off the heart lung bypass machine....so far all is going great!!!!

Praising and thanking the LORD above.

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In Christ's Love & Grace,

Miss

New Surgery date

Our visit with Colt’s surgeon Dr. Plunkett went great, what a nice guy, he explained the procedures and explained what will be done during this surgery which is called the Bi-directional Glenn and that it will take about 4 hours.

Just an overview….

The bidirectional Glenn procedure is the surgery used to prepare the heart for a Fontan procedure. It is a surgery in which a detour (shunt) is created from the aorta to the pulmonary artery. The surgery is performed on infants and young children who are born with a congenital heart defect that reduces the amount of oxygen-rich blood circulating throughout the body. These infants often show signs such as a bluish tint (cyanosis) to the skin, lips, fingernails and other parts of the body. Although a successful procedure will improve immediate signs and symptoms of the underlying heart defect, the procedure does not correct the heart defect. Other surgeries are usually necessary in the future to repair the defect itself.

How is a BDG helpful ?
It decreases volume load on the single ventricle while improving oxygen saturation as compared to the pre-operative state. In addition, by being a low-pressure shunt, it does not carry the risk of causing lung blood vessel thickening and hardening.

His Nurse Korinne also provided us with a folder that contained a lot of useful information all about pediatric heart surgery. Since he will have to be put on the Heart-lung bypass machine like before, he will need a unit of blood to get the machine primed. I had read in the pamphlet that we can choose to have Directed blood from family member or friend that has the same blood type that wanted donate and the blood be specifically designated for him during surgery and after if needed. since we are both the same blood type A+. I wanted him to have my blood, it made me feel like I was doing something to help him. My little sis Lindsey was also going to donate but poor thing had got sick the other day, so Colt’s Aunt offered to donate and then his Pa since they are the same blood type.

How amazing people are, I am so thankful for Lindsey wanting to donate and so very thankful for our sister-in-law Colt’s Aunt (Missy Hardy) and Bradley’s dad Colt’s Pa(Pete) that went over with me to the blood center Monday to donate blood for Colt during and after his surgery. Special Thanks to them!
When we were at the blood center, one of the employees were saying that they are so low on blood due to the bad weather that prevented some of the mobile blood drives from be scheduled.

So I encourage anyone who can donate blood to please do so, it can help save a life.

Hebrews 10:25
Let us Encourage one another…


Due to scheduling Colt ‘s surgery had to be moved back a week, so we will have all of Colt’s Pre-op testing at KY Clinic on Monday Feb 2. and surgery will be Tuesday Feb 3, @ 7:30 am.

Please continue to keep our little Colt in your prayers.

In Christ’s Love & Amazing Grace ~
Miss

2 Corinthians 9:13-14 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you.