Coloring Eggs

Joscelyn's 2nd Birthday!

Today we celebrated Joscelyn's 2nd Birthday! We are so fortunate to have both sets of Grandparents in town to spend time with our children. The bonds our children make with their grandparents will last forever.

Joscelyn has been practicing with Daddy on blowing out candles. It took a few big breaths, but she got it!

Grandpa thought she needed to take a bite out of the cake before we got it cut.

I think she likes it!

Mermaid Potato Head

Dress up clothes in a Mickey Mouse Hat Box!

Princess Joscelyn! I made this dress out of a t-shirt I found in the big girl section of the store. I added the ruffle to the bottom, cut the sleeves off, and added the ties to the shoulders.

She likes the dress up clothes so much, she had to put them all on at once!

Sew Fun!!

My principal has gotten me hooked on these really cute twirl skirts. The first one was a little tricky to make, but the second one was super easy. The first picture is actually the second skirt. It has lemons and limes on the top skirt. The bottom skirt is pink with tiny white polka-dots on it. I think she really likes this brown and blue one. The elastic in the waist is a little big. When we tried to pin it up, she kept running away from us. I really think she thought we were going to make her take it off.

The best part is when she gets the skirt on, the first thing she has to do is a little twirl!

If you're interested in making a skirt like this you can get it here.

6 week Checkup

I took Kenten for his 6 week check up today. We were able to see the pediatric cardiologist here in Wichita. They did an EKG. Dr. Allen said it "looked boring." Other than that, he said everything looked and sounded good. We'll go back in one year for a final check!

Everything is GREAT!

We are still amazed at how well everything went. The doctor told us that it would be this simple. It's just hard to believe that after having heart surgery, Kenten was up and going the very next day! We did keep him home from school so we could all rest. But we all returned to work and school on Thursday. To look at Kenten you would never know there had been anything wrong with him or that he had heart surgery only four days ago. He's completely back to his normal self!

Thank you so much for the prayers and good wishes. It really means a lot to all of us to know we have so many friends and family near us when it's truly needed.

In Recovery

Pre-op exam room.Recovery Kenten is out of surgery and in the recovery room. He seems to be doing really well. He's already on his second cherry slushy and finished a bag of gold fish. The doctor said everything went really well. Placing the sensors in his heart triggered his tachycardia. That was a perk! It allowed the doctor to be able to see exactly where the extra impulse site was and ablate it quickly and easily. He's been cleared to leave the hospital at 4:30. We'll be heading to Wichita from the hospital. The weathermen are reporting more bad weather for the Kansas City area tonight. The plan is to stay home and rest tomorrow. We should be back to normal routines (school) on Thursday.

Kenten has been taken back to surgery. He should be out around noon. He'll recover for about 5 hours. Then be released. The doctor said it would be great for us to go home tonight. The car ride home would give him more immobile healing time. The roads in KC are getting slick. Several local school districts have canceled school and some highways are closing. We would like to get home before anymore hits if we can.

Pre-Op appointment

Today we arrived at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for Kenten's Pre-Op appointment. We saw the RN first. She took all the vitals one normally has done at the beginning of a doctor's appointment. Then the Cardiac PA came in and did almost all the same things and asked a lot of the same questions. She answered a couple of our questions as well. We found out the procedure will take about 1.5 to 2 hours. We then saw the anestesia nurse who again did a lot of the same things and asked a lot of the same questions. She also informed us that he may come out of surgery without his loose tooth. For some reason we never really found out, they pull loose teeth during surgery.

We are a little disappointed that we're not going to be able to use the pass a friend gave us for the Great Wolf Lodge. Kenten won't be allowed to bath or swim for 3 days after the surgery. We did eat dinner at the T-Rex Cafe. It's a lot like the Rainforest Cafe, but centered around dinosuars. Kenten got to open a geode and Joscelyn made a Build-a-Dino, it's like a Build-a-Bear but a dinosaur.

Tomorrow we have to report to the hospital at 7:00 for the procedure to begin. When he gets out, he'll have about 5-6 hours of recovery. The Cardiac PA thought they might have us stay in the hospital over night since we are from out of town.

We plan to make Wednesday a fun day of relaxed site-seeing. We'll travel home Wednesday evening.

Much overdo family pictures!

The last time we had a family picture Kenten was 6 months old. In these pictures Kenten is 6 1/2 years old and Joscelyn is 22 months old.

Too Much!?

Before the madness began. They're opening their "stockings" Santa brought to Grandma and Grandpa Tice's house.

You would think this is the end, but I think we're only about 3/4 of the way through.

We may have overdone it just a little.

What you can't see is the giant pile of wrapping paper and other presents behind me and another pile infront of where Kenten and Joscelyn are sitting.

We also had a Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Faust. I'll have to put those pictures up later. I can't seem to find the camera!

Aunt Catherine finally graduates!

Catherine made it on the jumbotron!

It's official, she made it!

Catherine graduated from Wichita State University with a Bachelor of Arts.

Way to go, Catherine. We're all very proud of you. You'll do great wherever you go!

Visit with Santa

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth," and a transformer and a Bakugan DS game.

Joscelyn loved the bear. She wasn't terribly excited about Santa, but she tollerated him long enough for a picture.

This and That

We're really going to have to get better about asking people to take a picture of all of us.

Picking out the perfect pumpkin?....We didn't get this one! We agreed on one that could be carved.

Ready to go!

Kenten was supposed to blow bubbles for Joscelyn. When I went to check on them, he was flicking the wand at her head, she was wandering around oblivious. Once he saw me looking he immediately started blowing bubbles!

Kenten's 6 year old picture

I took Kenten to get his 6 year old pictures today. We're only 5 months late!

Delivery!

The FedEx man made a delivery of 8 large boxes. When we got everything opened and sorted out, this is what we had! Thank you to everyone who helped us by making a purchase or collecting orders for us.

Fundraiser Update

I closed out The Pampered Chef Fundraiser today. Our commissionable sales were $2,559.70! The fundraiser will receive 15%, and I will receive 15% commission for a total of 30%. That's $767.91! That will make a pretty sizable dent in our cost of Kenten's surgery.

Thank you to everyone who made a purchase or other donation. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family.

Rescheduled

I was able to talk to the scheduling lady at Children's Mercy Hospital. We have rescheduled Kenten's surgery for January 17th and 18th.

Fundraiser!

We have started taking orders for The Pampered Chef fundraiser! With my commission we will earn about 30% back from the total sales. We'd like to earn about $2000 of the cost of Kenten's surgery. That means we have to sell about $7000 in product. You can order by contacting me personally or you can order online at my website. You can click here to get there. Once at my website you should click on "shop online." Then under option one, enter Kenten Faust as the host's name. Be sure to spell it correctly or it won't get you there. I'm closing the show on October 2nd. Please have your orders in by October 1st. Choose to have your order shipped with the show if you are local. If you are not local, you will want to have your order shipped to you.

Kenten is still scheduled for surgery on December 28th. I'm still planning on talking to the hospital to see if we can change it for after the first of the year. Just in case he should decide to fall and break something, his deductible will already be met.

Please feel free to pass this along to everyone you think would like to help us out! If you have questions you can call me or send me an email.

Thank you for all your help, support, and prayers!

Frustration

This last week I received in the mail my insurance packet. I put it to the side, not thinking anything of it. Tonight I decided to look through it. Normally the changes would not have bothered me. However, having in mind the future trip we are going to take to KC, I'm very frustrated with our new insurance coverage. Our plan that expires October 1 would have cost only $2000 as a maximum to us. With the new plan, we will have a maximum amount of $3000. I'm going to call the hospital tomorrow to find out what the total bill is expected to be so I can begin to look at the numbers and estimate our total.

I have begun to think of ways to pay for this bill. We don't have $3000 in the bank. We really can't afford any kind of a payment right now. So....I was thinking I would use my business to raise the money! After all, that is why I started my business, to help my family out with the extra expenses life throws our way. During the month of September, I will be collecting orders for Pampered Chef items. All the orders will go toward a Fundraiser show that I will turn in around October 2nd. Turned in as a Fundraiser show, we will earn anywhere from 15-20% commission for the fundraiser. I will also earn 15% commission personally. Both of those checks will go toward paying for Kenten's procedure. It seems like a lot, but my goal is a $6000 show! This would allow us to raise approximately $1800 to pay for Kenten's procedure. A show of $10,000 would almost pay for the whole thing. We're going to put some money aside on a medical flex card that I will sign up for through my employer. However, we can't put traveling expenses on a medical flex card. I'll put up more information regarding The Pampered Chef Fundraiser and how you can help when I get things completely figured out.

Check back regularly for updates. I'll try to get some pictures uploaded before school starts and everything gets crazy again!

Kenten 7-26-10

We received the letter today explaining Kenten's procedure. I thought I would share it. Several of you have been curious what it is that is going to be done.

During the Procedure:
The anesthesiologist will give medications through a mask or IV line, and your child will drift off to sleep. After your child is asleep, three to five long catheters are passed through the skin into blood vessels, usually in both groins and the right side of the neck, and gently guided into the heart. The heart's electrical system is then "mapped" by placing the catheters in specific locations in the heart and by pacing the heart. The "mapping" is the electrophysiology study. When an extra pathway or irritable site is located, low frequency radio waves are used to destroy the pathway or irritable site. This part of the procedure is the Radiofrequency Ablation. The ablation is done to cure your child of his or hear fast heart rate.

After the Procedure:
Your child will be on bed rest for five hours to allow the catheter insertion sites to hseal and heal. It will be important that your child not bear down, cough excessively, vomit, or push himself up in bed or stand. (This will be the tough part. If you know Kenten, you understand.) These actions can cause internal pressure that could cause the catheter sites to bleed. Your child will have a large, pressure bandage on each groin when he wakes up from the procedure. These will stay in place for five hours. They will be removed before your child is discharged. Your child will be able to read, watch TV or videos or play Nintendo while on bed rest. (I'm thinking new DS games or movies will be an excellent Christmas gift.) Most patients will be discharged to go home later the same day or in the early evening after the procedure. Should the procedure run late, or should there be any delay in routine recovery, he may need to stay overnight for observation.

Risks:
The risks of this procedure are very low. The risks of Cardiac Catheterization include: loss of circulation to a leg, blood clots (which could result in a stroke), bleeding, infection, perforation through a blood vessel or heart wall. The risks of an Electrophysiology Study include the risk of an abnormal rhythm occurring or an adverse reaction to antiarryhythmic medications. The risk of Radiofrequency Ablation includes possible damage to the normal conduction system. (Lots of things to pray about here.)

If you haven't been kept up on what all is going on, you can look back through my notes. Everything pertaining to these events are labeled with Kenten's name and a date. You'll want to go back to November 2009.