(Almost) 3 weeks post op and other things...

Barrett is almost 3 weeks out of surgery and doing really well.  We met with his cardiologist this past week and she said that Barrett has to stay on the blood pressure medicine for a bit longer before they can try to wean him off.  His blood pressure was 115/54 in his arms and his 114/54 in his legs.  This is a huge improvement from a few weeks ago, when it was 154/97 in his arms and 90/something (can't remember) in the legs.  These updated numbers sound good, but for a child his age and height, they would like to see it closer to 100 as the top number.  We have another appointment with the cardiologist in January to see if we can reduce the meds. 

During this appointment, Barrett had an echo (sonogram) of his heart and the repair looks great!  The blood flow is just as it should be and the arch has thickened, as the surgeon had hoped it would.  Barrett had a chest x-ray and they removed his steri-strip bandages - very busy appointment!  His incision has healed very nicely.  I really thought it would still look fresh and bloody, but it doesn't.  Thank goodness  There is still a lot of sticky-gooey stuff from the tape.  They sent home some skin-safe, medical-grade, goof-off.  :)  It's hard to get off and Barrett gets a little impatient when we try to remove it, but they said that it will come off eventually.

We did ask if he can resume normal activity since everything is going so well and they said no.  :(  It's kind of funny, because the majority of the patients that have this done are babies, so it's almost like they are trying to be extra cautious, which is fine.  But every time we ask them a question about his recovery or what to expect, they pause and sometimes have to back-track.  The cardiologist even said that most of the patients can't even crawl or roll over, so they don't have to tell them not to jump, run, climb, etc.  haha

I know Barrett is ready to run and play.  We spent some time outside today and he was walking fast, but kept his hands in his pocket, so that he didn't swing his arms back and forth.  He doesn't seem to have any more pain or discomfort, so that's good!  Almost normal again...

Here are some pictures and other going-ons since my last post - Enjoy!

Barrett being silly... like always   :)

There was a family reunion this past weekend and we had lots of family come visit, but this is the only picture I took.  Mamo and Barrett playing with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

 Pictures from Barrett's doctor appointment:

Getting his blood pressure taken...

 

Hooked up to the monitors:

 

Getting the echo done:

 

Watching cartoons (acting like he didn't hear me asking him to look at the camera)

 

Excited about almost being done!

Incision after the bandages were taken off.  The goo remains, but it will come off slowly:

 

 

Silly glasses for Halloween:

 

 

 

Today, we went to lunch with the kids at Pappa's Burgers. 

They enjoyed some old fashion, glass bottle sodas.  Yummy!

 

Our beautiful, Jayna:

 

Barrett looks so big to me in this picture...

 

 

 

I've been home a little more over the past few weeks, since Barrett's surgery and I decided to put my handy-hubby to work!  We got some new blinds and curtains for our bedroom. 

 

We also got a new lamp shade for the living room.  The lamp was my great-grandfathers and my mom said I could have it.  I think we are going to paint it, because its a little beat-up.  But we have said for months now that we wanted to put a lamp in the corner of our living room and we finally did.

 

 

And the big one:  New tile back splash in the kitchen!

 

I need to take a picture of the finished product.  It looks really, really good.  We've also started to slowly change out all of the brass fixtures in the house.  We replaced the knobs on the cabinets (not pictured here) and the door knobs on the interior doors (also, not pictured).

I think Bonham is ready for me to go back to the office full time!  haha!

 

 

And in the past few days, one of my parents' cows had a baby!  So cute!

The calf doesn't have a name yet, but I'm sure she will soon.

Jayna is the official namer-of-all-animals around here!  ;)





 

My dad, the farmer.  Over there trying to pet the baby

 

My husband, the farmer-apprentice and his goat:

 

trying to pet the cows and the goat followed...

 

 

One day this week, I picked Jayna up from school and took her to piano lessons.  On the way back home, we noticed horses gathered by her school... only in the country, right?

 

 

That is about all for now...