Kenten's KC appointment 12-17-09

We visited with Dr. Hulse in KC today. The only test run today was an EKG. We talked in great length with Dr. Hulse and made the decision to go ahead with the procedure to correct Kenten's heart. We will schedule the procedure sometime after July 1, 2010 and before the school year begins. As it turns out, his diagnosis is not as scary as we thought. It is not life threatening. Kenten's heart may occasionally beat faster than normal, but the doctor gave us some things to do in case he has another episode. He is able to act as a normal little boy without any restrictions.

The procedure is very simple. We will be in KC no more than three days. The first day will be to visit with the anesthesiologist. The second day will be the procedure. We will be able to go home that day if we want to, or we can wait and go home on the third day. The only issue he will have after the procedure is tenderness and irritation at the catheter site in his legs.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Knowing there are so many people who have lifted our family in prayers has been a huge comfort!

We have an appointment!

I spoke with Dr. Hulse's office this afternoon! Dr. Hulse is the Pediatric Cardiologist we will see at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. We have an appointment for Thursday, December 17. As far as I can tell, Kenten will not have any invasive procedures done at that time. We will be visiting with Dr. Hulse and he will do another Echo and EKG. There may be other tests as well. At this appointment we should find out more information as to what caused Kenten's heart to beat so fast and determine a course of treatment. The appointment is scheduled for the afternoon and I was told to expect it to last 2 hours, so we will not be staying in KC longer than just the day.

For those of you that are in town and will see Kenten, I would ask that you not say anything about the trip to KC. We haven't talked to him about going to see another doctor. Kenten is one that will worry about what they might do. We will talk with Kenten when we feel it is an appropriate time. Thank you for understanding.

More waiting

The Cardiologist's office in Wichita called this morning to tell us the Cardiologist in KC will be calling us either today or Monday to schedule an appointment. The nurse couldn't tell me anything other than to expect a phone call. We're assuming that means they will be going through with the procedure to fix Kenten's heart.

I'll post more when we know more.

Kenten's Doctor's Appointment 11/24/09

Today we visited with the Cardiologist. He diagnosed Kenten with AV Node Reentry Tachycardia. Here is a link with a really good description of what it is. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartRhythmScreening/story?id=5244744

Dr. Allen, the Cardiologist in Wichita, is waiting to hear back from the Cardiologist in KC before we make a decision on a treatment. There are two things he is considering. One is the procedure described at the above website. The other is to change his medicine and monitor him more closely. At the moment Branden and I are leaning towards the procedure. We still need to visit with the doctor to have our questions answered. We feel, with the information we've been given, that it will benefit Kenten in the long run to have this procedure done rather than to just monitor him.

Dr. Allen did say that all of the tests showed his heart had developed normally and was "hooked up" properly. While wearing the Halter Monitor the only thing that was abnormal was one beat that was out of place, but it was nothing to worry about.

Kenten's Doctor's Appointment 11/20/09

We went to the Cardiologist's office this morning. The nurse put the monitor on him. He will wear it until 11:30 on Saturday. Branden will take it off at that time. Then on Monday Branden will take it back to the Cardiologist's office. They will read the information and make a diagnosis. Kenten will go back to the Cardiologist on Tuesday morning to have an Echo and EKG done. The nurse said we will know everything on Tuesday. I'll update more then.

Kenten's 24 hour Halter Monitor

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Kenten's Doctor's Appointment 11/19/09

We went to the doctor today for a regular check up. While in the waiting room, Kenten complained that he felt like his heart was beating too fast. I told him to be sure to tell the doctor. Dr. Newlin listened to his heart and said it was beating twice as fast as it should be (187, it should have been in the 90s). He did a couple EKGs and decided to send us to the hospital where they could get his heart rate back down in a more controlled environment. He said he had SVT. After visiting with the Pediatric Cardiologist on the phone and a couple more EKGs Kenten's heart "broke" on it's own. This means it fixed itself. Dr. Newlin decided we didn't need to go to the hospital right away. He took a couple more EKG readings and sent us home. He later called us and told us he had spoken to a Cardiologist at Wesley and at Children's Mercy in KC, they all thought it would be best for Kenten to wear a Halter Monitor to get a 24 hour reading of his heart. So tomorrow we will be going to the hospital to have this monitor put on Kenten. He will wear it through Saturday and return to have the readings done and further decisions made.

The doctor said it can be a side affect of his medicine, but the medicine he takes should not have caused it alone. Later in our conversation, I asked about him being able to take Dimetapp for his cold and he said absolutely not. He then went on to say that the SVT could be caused by the mixture of the medicines. This would be the best case scenario. Please pray that this is it.

I visited with my mother-in-law, who is an RN, about SVT. She says it stand for Supraventricular tachycardia. It is caused by the upper portion of the heart not beating correrectly. And from what I understood of our conversation of all the tachycardias, it is the most scary. Kenten comes by it naturally on her side of the family. Although, it is very strange to see it in a person who is so young. Kenten is only 5.

I will let you all know what happens as we find out what is going on.

Kenten's first day of Kindergarten

We got off to a rocky start this year, but things are going better now. On Kenten's first day of school we were running late. We were five minutes late and his class had already left to go to mass. Things went a little better until the end of the day. He went out to get on the bus, but told the bus teacher he was supposed to go to a daycare center instead of going to my school, so I had to track him down and then run to the daycare center to pick him up. I never thought I would be so thankful for radios on buses. After the first day things have gotten better.

Trying to catch everyone up.

Since school has started, we have been very busy. Joscelyn turned 6 months on Sept. 3. She's already almost 7 months. At her 6 month appointment, she weighed 16lbs. 5.5 oz, and was 28.5 inches long. She started crawling on all fours and got her two bottom front teeth a couple weeks ago. Here are a few pictures to get you updated.

Finally, a decorated bedroom!

Yesterday I finally finished the one project I wanted to do this summer!

These are the before pictures of the room. When we moved in I put up the sports theme. Kenten removed the wallpaper in several places. We haven't been using the crib or changing table. They have become a storage place for all of Joscelyn's extra things. While I was pregnant I didn't want to take over his room too quickly. I thought we would wait until after she was born, and he was a little more comfortable with her before we got everything completed. I didn't think it would take me all summer to get it done though.

Kenten helping. Maybe he'll be more interested in leaving the wallpaper up this time.

The room now has three themes! Transformers for Kenten, Tinkerbell fairies for Joscelyn, and Sports because this wall was pretty much in tact.

4 month check up today

Today Joscelyn went to the doctor for her 4 month check up and shots. She weighed in at 14 lbs 14.5 oz. Putting her in the 60% for her weight. She measured 24 3/4 inches long, 49% for height. And her little bitty head was 16 inches, 25%. Total she has gained about 6 pounds and 5 inches since birth.

Fun Pictures!

We had a lot of fun swimming with Aunt Catherine at the Y. Joscelyn enjoyed it so much, she fell asleep in the pool.













Joscelyn met Aunt Cindy and Uncle Tim from Mississippi over the fourth.






Grandpa is turning Joscelyn into a big drinker.






And finally Joscelyn already thinks she's old enough to borrow the car.

Joscelyn has become very intrigued by the dog and cats. Fortunately we have very understanding animals. We go to the doctor on Friday for Joscelyn's 4 month check up and shots, I'll post her stats after the appointment.

4 months

We had a hard time getting the four month picture. Joscelyn kept attacking the bear. So these aren't the greatest. In the past month, Joscelyn cut her first tooth. She also started rolling over. She likes to roll from her back to her belly and then scoot around on her blanket.

Kenten dressed himself

Kenten usually dresses himself with a little bit of guidance to make sure he matches. However, on this day, I told him to get dressed and I walked away. Kenten decided this was what he wanted to wear. He has on his purple K-State sweat pants, an OU shirt, and a second bright green t-shirt. We did make him change. Especially since the forecast was 99 degrees. Unfortunately he insisted on wearing the OU shirt. Since I wasn't getting any backup from Dad, that is what he ended up wearing. And it just wasn't worth the fight, after all we weren't going anywhere.

Swim Lessons

Kenten has been taking swimming lessons for the last two weeks. He still has a ways to go, but hopefully during the next two weeks he will be able to learn to float on his own. As you can see from the pictures below, he really has no trouble doing anything that might be a little "scary"! He loved to go down the slides and off both diving boards. I was shocked that he went off the high dive without anyone "helping" him off. He actually went off the high dive twice. He probably would have gone more if he could have.

3 months old

Kenten's Birthday Party

Kenten had a lot of fun at his 5th birthday party. We found it interesting that he was the only boy at his party. This wasn't planned. We also invited boys. It just so happened that only a few girls could come. By special request, we had a Spiderman pinata and an Iron Man cake.

Kenten Turns 5!

On Tuesday Kenten turned 5!  For his birthday, I took him to the zoo with my class.  He also got to make and take cupcakes to his school and babysitter.  Later that night he got to open one of his presents, a helicopter kite,  and eat Dilly Bars Grandma and Grandpa Tice brought.  This weekend we'll have his party.

Joscelyn enjoys tummy time!

I finally dug out the tub of baby toys.  Needles to say, it exploded all over the kitchen floor.  Joscelyn was quickly drawn to this tummy mat.  She really liked the turtle.

Last weekend

We had a very busy weekend last weekend.  First Joscelyn got to meet several new family members.  Uncle Steve thought she would make a good member of the NRA.  Then we went to Grandpa Faust's Masters Hooding and Graduation.  We also had to go to two graduation parties for Grandpa.  It was also Branden's 30th Birthday so we had that party too.