toooooo cute!!

forget that this morning, after dropping the older kidlets off at school, asher and i got donuts. forget that asher is wearing shorts today (fyi, they're longer shorts, and he picked them out himself, and i didn't have time to find him actual pants before we ran out the door - late - to take the kids to school). forget that asher has two soothers that have mysteriously gone missing.

because i must be doing something right here.

so this morning, after delivering the heartbreaking news to asher that in fact, cannot find either of his soothers, i said, "know who loves you?"

his answer, "YOU!!!... and Jesus!!!"

then he rambled off a million other people who love him, too.

 

because i like to keep you in the loop...

i talked to the HSC surgical co-ordinator this afternoon, and she told me that asher's pre-op clinic will be on Monday, February 22. this will involve talking with the surgery nurse, surgery NP, surgery fellow, anaesthetist, and surgeon.

asher will also have to go for bloodwork, chest x-ray, and an ultrasound on his femoral veins and arteries, to check for clots. if they find clots, they'll have to deal with that immediately, because you can't have clots before open heart surgery. that would be bad.

he will not be having an echo (heart ultrasound) because he had one in november and it looked good.

in the meantime, before pre-op, asher will need to go to the dentist to make sure his teeth are ok. again, if he needs fillings or anything taken care of, that will have to be dealt with before the surgery.

so there you have it. it's getting close now. that means the surgery is really happening. i'll admit, it almost seemed like a dream, or something way off in the distant future. nope. it's really happening. asher will really be having this surgery. soon. less than a month. is anyone else freaxious right now, or is it just me?

why asher's awesome

ok, so i admit, i feel a touch guilty about yesterday's "my child is evil" post. lol so i'm going to now present you with 6 reason why asher is the coolest kid i know. and he's going to help.

exhibit #1
totally affectionate. right at this very moment, he's cradling one of blithe's baby dolls and is singing to her and giving her his sucky. and this morning, when the boys woke up, he rolled over and gave bram a big hug.

exhibit #2
he's musical. you already read about his drumming. he loves that. but he also sings. in fact, since he was just a baby, he could carry a tune. in key. the right key. for the whole song. he's still like that. in fact, he'll hear a song once, and be able to sing it almost perfectly. earlier this week, i wrote on FB that i was hanging out on the couch with asher, who was singing "Yellow Submarine." now, i don't actually remember the last time we listened to that particular song in this house (blithe's on an "abbey road" kick. the girl's got taste, what can i say?), but he remembered the song! he had the tune perfectly. rhythm, pitch, key, he even knew some of the words (he had a mouthful of food at the time, too). but man! this kid can sing!!!

exhibit #3
he's playful and imaginative. he just loves to invent games. one of his favourite things is to throw a blanket over himself and say "mooooooo" and then throw the blanket off and say, "it's ME!!!" ok, so he doesn't know the difference between a cow and a ghost, granted. but if you pretend to be scared of the cow-ghost, he laughs that big belly laugh of his and repeats this little game until he gets distracted by his tank engines or something.

exhibit #4
he loves books. nuff said.

exhibit #5
he loves to help. this morning i was getting him his cereal, and he went into the fridge and got out the milk. and after i came in with charlie (charlie can't pee alone, apparently - why is everyone in this house so high maintenance?! when ASHER is the easy one, there's a problem! LOL) asher ran out of the bathroom and said, "mommy, i put all the toys in the tub. come see!" now granted, no one was going to have a bath. i had forgotten to drain the tub after blithe's bath this morning. but still, he wanted to help someone - don't know who, exactly - have a fun time in the bath.

exhibit #6
toughest kid i know. and i'm not talking heart stuff. this is a "normal kid" post. nope, he is seriously the toughest kid i know. one day, about a year ago (you'll note, when he was sick), he was running through the house at full speed. he was laughing and not watching where he was going, so he ran straight into the dining room table, smashing his forehead on the edge. now, blithe would never have done this, because she's just not a runner like that. and bram, well, he would have collapsed onto the floor in a total melt-down, which you would no doubt have heard, wherever you are. sigh. asher? he jumped back, glared at the table... and kept right on running.

there you go. just some of the reasons he's awesome. i love this kid of mine.

oh, wait, a bonus one.

exhibit #7
he's smart smart smart. he knows where his heart is. he knows all his colours. he can count to ten. he knows how to use a stethoscope and a sat probe. (i know i said no heart stuff, but really, he knows this stuff!) 

and finally, 3 weeks and 6 days till the fontan.

oh. dear. me.

whatever happened to my sweet little boy, who was all cuddles and kisses and giggles? someone has taken him away, and replaced him with a hellian. sigh.

exhibit #1
he is now obsessed with drumming. on everything. the table. the floor. the couch. the dog. his siblings. the wall. the oven. his plate. his bowl. (and note: these two are WHILE THERE'S FOOD ON THEM!!!!) to give you an example, this morning i was changing his diaper, and singing him a lovely little song. ice cream by sarah maclachlan. cute ditty. anyway, i'm singing away, trying to get his wiggly legs into the leg holes, and i notice... he's drumming. keeping a perfect beat, doing creative little fills between lines - and keeping the beat at the same time, even! and what was he using as his drum, you ask? his bum. yeah. funny, granted, but still, HE DOESN'T STOP!!!!!!

exhibit #2
when blithe was wee, she got a little finding nemo riding car thing for her birthday. then it was handed down to bram. and now it's asher's. and asher loves it. i mean, LOVES it. he plays with it all the time. his favourite game is pushing the car around the house... chasing charlie. needless to say, charlie freaks out, running away from asher, fleeing for his life. you can almost smell the panic coming off my poor little doggie. asher, meanwhile, is killing himself laughing. to him, this is the funniest thing EVER! he only stops when charlie runs upstairs, which granted, takes longer than you'd think. charlie's absolutely adorable... and dumb as dirt.

exhibit #3
neither of my older children was a thrower. well, no, i lie. blithe used to throw her food on the floor when she was done eating. it was her little signal. lovely. and bram did the same thing. that's it. that's the extent of throwing in our house. until now. why, just 10 minutes ago, asher was throwing his cars and trains (all metal and heavy, mind you) across the living room. isn't that just special.

exhibit #4
this afternoon, i had to take care of some business at our MP's office. on the counter was a box full of chocolate bars to raise money for some charity. bram asked for one. i said no. so he went and sat down and read the book he had brought in with him. then asher spied the chocolate bars. he asked for one, very politely, mind you. i have to give credit where credit is due, and he does have very good manners. most of the time. anyway, asher asked for a chocolate bar, and i said no. now, forget everything i just said about his manners. because he flipped out. and i mean, he stood in the middle of the office and was sobbing. we're talking, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. tears flowing like niagara falls. unbelievable.

exhibit #5
right now he's stomping through the downstairs insisting that everyone follow him in some sort of military parade celebrating wonky hearts?? i don't know.

exhibit #6
last night at bedtime, asher made one little joke. not even a funny one. not up to his usual standards anyway. well, the other two, being very tired, thought this was the most hilarious thing EVER and were nearly falling off the bed laughing. i'm not even exaggerating. so, of course, asher kept it up. kept repeating whatever it was over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... yeah.



by the way... asher's surgery is 4 weeks today. not that i'm counting or anything.

you're gonna want to sit down before you read this........ BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ASHER'S TUBE IS GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i hadn't run a feed through that tube in almost 3 months, because he's eating so much on his own. so much so that, you may remember, he has actually gained weight since the fall. that's right! my little man, who didn't eat by mouth for 2-1/2 years, is eating everything by mouth now!!!!

and taking his meds orally, too!!!!!!

which means that, anymore, the only thing the tube has been good for has been collecting bacteria. boo!!! so this afternoon, after he'd been begging me for days, the tube came out.

for good.

it's all bandaged nicely now, and asher couldn't be more proud of himself. and the other kids are proud of him, too (just ask the cashier at wal-mart! LOL). and me... well, there are no words for how proud i am of asher. he's come a long way. it wasn't so long ago that eating and drinking was just too much for his little heart. and then with the nerve injury, swallowing anything could have killed him. and now look at him!!! growing and thriving and just being a NORMAL BOY!!!!!!!!!!

this is probably the most amazing day asher's had in a VERY long time. :) it just shows how absolutely miraculous this boy truly is. and now, how absolutely normal he is.

let the countdown begin!!!!!!

i got a call from the HSC surgical co-ordinator yesterday. there's a funny story about it, but first, the good news:

asher's surgery is scheduled for March 2.

the fontan.

asher's ONLY surgery.

no mention of arch reconstruction. just the fontan. i still want to vomit, but it's a happy vomit, so it's good. one surgery instead of two. ECMO (by-pass) instead of circulatory arrest. planned surgery only instead of fixing unforeseen problem AND planned surgery. it's almost too good to be true!!

and now the funny story:

ok, so she called yesterday as asher and i were heading in to emerg in london. asher had had several blue spells in less than 24 hours, which was a marked increase over his usual one every few days. so she asked if i had a paper and pen handy, and i said, "well, actually, we're on our way to the hospital right now, so no."

"oh, to sick kids?" she asked.

"no, children's in london. we're going to emerg."

"oh, no! what's going on?"

"oh, nothing big. just a few blue spells."

to which she replied... get ready for this... "ok, i'm writing all this down. now, these blue spells, has he ever had them before, or is this something new for him?"

i'll give you a minute to stop laughing. (don't feel bad. i literally laughed out loud when she asked that!)

so i said, "no, he gets them all the time, but he's had several more today than usual, so i'm taking him in."

"well," she said, "make sure they check him out thoroughly, do everything they're supposed to do. they need to get to the bottom of this."

i'm not going to tell her that we waited in the waiting room, then they put us in ambulatory care, where they gave him a quick listen, check his BP, and sent us home. (which makes it sound like a quick trip. we were actually there for 4 hours or so. and his sats were fine, his BP was a bit low in triage, but it was fine later before we left. and we're NEVER in ambulatory care. i think this was the first time asher's ever been in there.)

so there you go. surgery date and a trip to emerg. all in all, a normal day in our world. :)

hey! guess what!!!

asher's tube is infected again!

we changed the dressing today, and lo and behold, it was all things nasty infection. blech. so i called our paediatrician, who said, "ok, which med do you want?" i told her clyndamycin, since it's the one that works (she isn't the one who gave us clavulin). doc asked, "ok, no problem, but you've gotta give me some time, b/c i don't have the dose here, and i'll have to look it up."

would you be surprised to know that i replied with, "oh, i have it right here." LOL

so, i gave her the dose, specified PO instead of G-tube, which was a lovely specification. (for those who don't know, "PO" means "by mouth." that's right, folks, asher now takes all his meds by mouth!) then i gave her the number for the pharmacy, and we picked up the med tonight. LOL

anyhoo, just thought i'd let you know, b/c i promised that i'd post about the infection, when/if the clavulin worked. and it didn't.

and there's another fun post, but i'll do that tomorrow, when i'm not so tired. it's about asher's 3-year check-up, which was earlier this week. oh, wait, that was only yesterday. yeah, i'm going to bed now. goodnight! :)