Christmas 2008:
Sam was proud of the tattoo on his arm and was trying to show it to the camera.

Sunday August 10, 2008 -- 3 years post-surgery
It has been three years now since Sam's heart surgery. It is mostly a distant memory these days except for the annual cardiology appointment and a few faint incision scars. We remind ourselves as the anniversary approaches of the blessing of Sam, the great people at Johns Hopkins and the wonder of open heart surgery. We've been watching the ABC special series called "Hopkins." One of Sam's surgeons was hilighted in episode 7 in the series. (Luca Vricella, MD.) Dr. Vricella assisted Dr. Cameron during the surgery. I just reread the August 2005 blog entries. It is truly amazing how far we've come in three years.

Sam is 3 years old now!

Sam had another routine cardiologist appointment a few weeks ago. All is well. Here's a picture from the day before his 3rd birthday.

Two years later:
It was two years ago today that Sam had his open heart surgery to repair his VSD. Sam is doing great as usual. He's talking alot now. We're waiting to hear what he's been thinking about these past two years since his heart surgery. :-)
We rented the movie "Something the Lord Made" again and were reminded of the great fortune we have in being the beneficiaries of ground-breaking cardiac surgery in the last 50 years. This is a picture of Sam last night. He is 2 years 4 months old now. (click picture to enlarge)

Sam is 2 years old now!
Sam celebrated his 2nd birthday at Rocky Acres B&B in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He had a great time on the farm and on our day trips out to Amish area and a ride on the Strasburg Railroad.

getting back to normal:
Sam is getting back to normal. He hasn't vomited probably since Wednesday. Looks like the ileus is passing as expected.

Hypoactive Ileus:
Sam's followup appointment with Pediatrician today. He was diagnosed with a hypoactive ileus-- a functional rather than mechanical obstruction of the bowel. The game plan for now is to feed him small amounts and watch to see it progress back to normal. There is already evidence that we're heading in that direction. Sam only vomited once today.
On happier news, the weather was warm today (near 50 F after weeks below 32 F), so Sam got out of the house for a while and enjoyed running around and splashing in the puddles left by melting snow/ice we had last Wednesday.

a rough patch:
Sam has had a rough time these past two weeks. At first, he was vomiting at night only, then would be fine during the day. Each day, we thought it was over, only to have it repeat. After a few days of this "night vomiting exercise", we got pretty good about changing him and the bed. That's when things took a turn for the worse and Sam started violent upper/lower GI distress every half hour last Thursday and Friday. That was the flu ravishing his little body until he was limp and listless. Sue and Janna both got sick within 30 minutes of each other Friday night. As the last person standing in the house, I pressed on with laundry (lots of dirty sheets, towels, clothes), tending to the sick, and other chores all the while wondering when it would get me. The answer was 3 am.
At 7am, Sam was feeling better but had a house full of sick people who couldn't take care of him. We made a distress call to Mark&Lisa who said they could take him for the day. Much to our surprise, Janna was also better and joined Sam for the day at their cousin's house. The day stretched into a 24-hour sleep-over. Sam did vomit up his lunch, much to our dismay. He also had a rough time overnight-- not sleeping well and vomiting again. When we got this news Sunday morning, we were well enough to resume parenting. Lisa brought Sam and Janna home. Sue immediately whisked Sam off to an impromptu Pediatrician visit at 11 am. Poor little guy-- besides the flu virus last week, he has an ear infection and rotavirus. He got two shots of antibiotics (half dose in each thigh) for the ear infection since it's doubtful he'd be able to keep oral antibiotics down long enough to be effective. Tomorrow (Wednesday) he goes back for another pair of shots. So the sickness continues here. Last night was a really bad one for Sam. We pray that Sam will be free of these bugs soon. He's lost a few pounds since this started, dipping back under 30 pounds. We're just watching to make sure he stays hydrated.
Special thanks to Mark, Lisa, Emily, and Hannah for hosting Janna and Sam from Saturday am until Sunday am. while we recovered.

22 months old now:
Sam had fun in the snow last week. It wasn't much, but an inch of snow is
better than nothing. He seemed to like it. He's pretty cute all bundled up
in his bright yellow winter jacket and the "Floyd R. Turbo" hat with built-in
ear warmers. He has matching mittens to complete the ensemble.

Sam is 22 months old now.

almost Christmas . . .
Merry Christmas from Sam and Janna (and Sue and Bob)

almost 20 months old
We've fallen way behind on postings for this blog. Mea culpa.
Sam got a 9-1-1 call a few weeks ago from our daycare provider. He grabbed the wrong cup and ended up with real milk instead of his soy-based formula. He ended up coughing for a while before emptying his stomach contents on the living room carpet at daycare. She had already called 9-1-1 right before that happened, but then cleaned up his face and chest with the milk-contaminated shirt he had vomited on. This caused localized skin reaction in those areas. The local rescue squad was in the driveway when I showed up to pick him up at 4:50 pm. He was inside being a good boy, sitting with a tiny little blood pressure cuff on his arm. He had no breathing problems and was treated with benedryl for ingested and skin-contact allergen incident. He was feeling pretty spunky when I showed up and was pushing all the buttons in the rescue squad. (lots of lights and alarms to play with!). Sam says "button" for all the cool things that need to be pushed. We signed the waiver and accepted him as is without a trip to the hospital. He was fine that evening.
When you ask Sam a simple question like "Who wants dinner?" or "Who wants to play?", he responds with a slightly feeble "I do" and raises his arm up. It's priceless.
Sam goes to the allergist tomorrow-- a follow up on antigen levels in blood from blood drawn last week. We're hoping to get baseline levels on his allergies to milk, egg, and beef. Janna is in the same boat, but at 5 years old, we're hoping for some drop in levels on her list of milk, egg, sesame, nuts. Still hoping she will outgrow some of them in the next few years.

Sam with Sue and his Cardiologist, Dr. Scheel at annual exam. Sam will continue under her care for the next few years. At this year's annual exam, Sam was too rambunctious to allow an EKG. He also started making heart echocardiogram noises with his mouth. :-)









Sam with Dr. Everett at Hopkins Heart Party, Sept 24th, 2006. Sam was under Dr. Everett's care while admitted at Hopkins for his surgery.











Sam with his Uncle Mark on Thanksgiving Day 2006.

17 months old today
Sam is 17 months old today. Latest milestones for him are beginning to talk to us. He follows pretty complex instructions even though he can't say them. (such as "Go into the family room and pick up your bottle and bring it back here").
He also rejected the high chair a few weeks back and insists on sitting at the table in a booster seat. He's still a very messy dinner guest. :-)
Here are a few pictures from early August. (click to enlarge) One is on the ferris wheel at the county fair. The other is of him getting into trouble by climbing up on the dining room table. (Sue said he was quiet for too long and went looking for him-- she had to take the picture as proof of his good heart function. )

16 months old today
Sam is full of energy...the proverbial "bull in a china shop." Sam can climb up on chairs and push chairs around the kitchen now. Nothing is safe any longer.
He's all over everything we don't want him to touch: plugs, lamps, fragiles, electronics. He is saying a few words and repeating simple phrases. He takes great glee in turning the TV on and off (many times per second!) while his sister is trying to watch a show.

These pictures are from our camping trip to Rocky Gap State Park near Cumberland, Maryland, USA. Click on pictures to see larger version.

We're nearing the one year mark since Sam's VSD surgery, August 10th, 2005. How do you celebrate or commemorate such a life-changing event?

We watched a movie tonight called "Something the Lord Made." It tells the story of the ground-breaking research and maturation of the field of cardiac surgery performed at Johns Hopkins, where Sam had his operation. The research work performed by Dr. Alfred Blalock and his research assistant Vivien Thomas centered around finding a surgical methodology to repair heart defects in so-called "blue babies". I highly recommend this movie. The movie also delves into racial issues of the times.

What a concept: Red paperclips and old rope

Check out the new sidebar link (under "Charities" section) labeled Money for Old Rope. As indicated on that blog,

I was impressed by someone in America who tried to trade a paperclip for a house via lots of small trades. I want to try this for myself but it will be for charity instead.

See the One Red Paperclip blog for what to expect. Good luck to Paul in his trades with proceeds to a good cause.