Immunology appointment today

Today was our annual appointment with the immunologist. Arianna had labs drawn a few weeks ago so we have been waiting to get the results. I knew we were going to get a good report but I wasn't expecting this....we were discharged from immunology!!! Can you believe it?!?! Arianna's immune system is functioning like a typical 2 year old. :) I just about feel out my chair when he told me that. We just have to get an annual CBC done, which her pediatrician can do, and if something looks suspicious we can go in to see him. Othewise...NO MORE IMMUNOLOGIST!

When she was born I was told how sick she was going to be and how she would probably need IVIG therapy every 4 weeks for the rest of her life. A common cold would put her in the hospital and who knows what else would happen. We have come along way since those day.

So I'm sitting here today just overwhelmed with emotions. Arianna WILL go to school and have friends and do all the things a healthy child should do. Yes, we still have to worry about her heart and lungs but we don't have to feel so isolated anymore. No I won't go around you if you have the flu or a cold but I will no longer live in a bubble.

So today was a GOOD day! :)

After that wonderful report we got to take Arianna's Holter monitor back to the hospital. I'm not sure how long it will take to get the results but I'm assuming sometime next week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend...I know mine has started out great!

Holter Monitor

We got it on! Just have to make it another 16 hours till it comes off. She is actually fine wearing it as long as I don't take her shirt off but I had to get at least one picture.

So thanks to a wonderful heart mom in our Mended Little Hearts group I have Arianna wearing a monkey leash to hold her Holter monitor. :) It works like a charm!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Arianna is helping me make NICU care bags for the heart families!

I just love her SO much!

So the tech today mentioned how much she loved the monkey backpack and how she wished she had some for her pediatric patients....so we our going out right now to buy some backpacks for the cardiology clinic at the hospital. It's working so great for us I want every family to have the option of using this for their child. So I gotta run...

My BIG girl!

Arianna has been kicked out of our room again..lol! Since she is doing so many new big girl things (potty training is going great!) I have decided to try putting her back in her own room. Last night was the first night and she woke up twice. The second time she woke up I let her stay in our bed because it gets ridiculously bright in that room in the morning. So we went out and bought her some pretty purple curtains, which she loves, and put them in her room tonight. Hopefully it will help. I know it will take time but she is going to be 3 years old in 3 months and my goal is to have her sleeping in her own room by then. We'll see...

I just love this picture so I had to post it. She was reading the ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet poster.


So the story behind this picture is that my mom bought Arianna a glass tea set, which she loves. Well as you can see I put a towel down so she could have fun playing with water. Well after she was done I went to pour all the water out and on my way back I slipped on some water and broke all 4 cups!!! I felt horrible and still can't find the same set to replace. Go figure it wasn't the 2-year-old who broke her glass tea set. lol!

Tomorrow we are going to get the Holter monitor for Arianna. She has to keep it on for 24-hours. I'll post pics tomorrow.

Cardiology Update

I am finally getting around to blogging about Arianna's cardiology appointment. I know some of you already heard a little bit about it on Facebook.

Well the night before her appointment we practiced doing an EKG because it's been since she was 5 months old since her last one. Arianna was a little apprehensive at first but at the end she was asking to do it again and again.

Practicing with some stickers and string

The night before Arianna's appointment we made cookies for the doctors and nurses. Arianna just loved handing them out to the nurses. Sorry the pictures are blurry.

We waiting for an hour and a half before the doctor came in and it wasn't even our doctor. Last time we had this guy come in our room I told him I wanted to see our doctor and that was that. Well I asked about Dr. K (our doc) and he said it could be awhile till we see him so I decided to go ahead and let him proceed with the visit. It doesn't hurt having 2 docs taking a look at her. He has never meet Arianna so he read over hear chart then did his exam.

He said her heart murmur sounds the same as is written in her chart from 6 months ago. Thank God! He wanted to get an echo but I told him "our" cardiologist wanted an EKG done at this visit so he decided to go ahead with that instead.

She did okay at first since we practiced but after 3 or 4 minutes she was ready for it to be over.

After the EKG was done the doctor reviewed the strip and said her QRS wave was a little bit longer than normal. However, children with a tetralogy repair never have a "normal" EKG anyways. I guess the QRS wave looks alot worse on paper than it measures out to be. That being said he wants Arianna to have a 24 hour Holter monitor done to see if she is having any arrhythmias because that is common in tetralogy patients. I'm actually really glad they are doing this because there are no major signs of arrythmias and alot of children with tetralogy have died from them. I'm still waiting for someone to call me about getting the monitor so I will probably give them a call tomorrow to make sure they haven't forgotten about us.

So we were leaving the clinic and about to walk out the front door when I hear someone yelling my name. It was the cardiology nurse. She said Dr. K (our doctor) saw Arianna's name on the board and he wanted to say hi to her. :) That made my day so we rushed back to clinic and spent a few minutes with OUR doctor!

Arianna just LOVES this man...and so do I! He asked how her summer was going and what she was doing. She told him about bowling, swimming and her cousins. lol! I told him about the EKG and the Holter and that I'll be emailing him when she gets it off so he could take a look at it. At this point there is no need to stress about anything since this is just a precautionary test.

As far as other things going on, we meet with the school district this week to have our transition appointment for preschool. Basically it was all about getting her paperwork in order and telling them about her medical issues. Now don't get too excited...she probably won't attend preschool but we wanted to see what the school would offer her for therapy since she is being cut off at 3 years old from the Arizona Early Intervention Program. We have to go back for testing in the next few weeks so see if she even qualifies for special education preschool. Right now we are just looking at possible speech therapy being the only need for her. :) Which by the way, this week was her LAST speech therapy session! So I'm not sure if she will even qualify. We will just have to wait and see.

Friday we see the immunologist so that will be interesting. I'm praying for a wonderful report!

I'm a major slacker so I'll have to download my pictures and update you all on her cardiology appointment tomorrow.

Potty Talk

I know it's been awhile since I posted but all is going well with us. Arianna has officially started potty training and she is doing amazing! She went all day today in panties and did not have a single accident. This week she has had 2 successful potties out in public and I'm realizing how much work this whole potty training thing is. lol! I'm just so proud of my big girl and wanted to blog about it. :)

Tomorrow is my birthday so my mom is going to watch Arianna in the afternoon so me and Robert can catch a cheap movie. :) Then we will have dinner at my grandparents house with the family.

Wednesday is Arianna's cardiology appointment so please keep her in your prayers for a good report. They will be doing an EKG and she hasn't had one of those since she was 5 months old. I'll have to practice a little bit with her tomorrow. We are also going to bake some cookies for the cardiologists and nurses tomorrow night so that will be alot of fun. :)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

2nd Post Today

I couldn't help but post again. You would of thought I had a boy with how much Arianna likes to play with cars. Arianna's cousin has outgrown this toy so he gave it to her. She was having a blast this morning!

Krista I thought of Seth right away...lol!

Nothing beats a sleepover!

Arianna had her 1st sleepover with her friend Alyssa this week. The girls had a blast. Did lots of crafts and then ended by watching Beauty and the Beast.

The next morning the girls did some hand molds.

Arianna just loves to paint!
Finished product
One proud little girl!

Not much planned for the weekend. It's just too darn hot to do anything that requires going outside. We don't have a pool but Grams is picking Arianna up on Sunday to go swimming.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!