Visiting Santa

Easton was so excited to go visit Santa and ask him for that "prize" present. He sat there and smiled and even asked Santa if he had the present "in stock". Lukas on the other hand was not so sure that the big white hairy man was the person he wanted to be by.

I love this picture...Easton is so excited and oblivious to the fact his brother is scared to death! I makes me giggle!

First Haircut

Lukas sat like a little angel for his first haircut on Thursday. At 16 and 1/2 months I thought maybe it was time for a little trim!

Easton turns 4!!!!

All Boys (Owen Mathews, Blaine Aldridge, Tavon Stroup, Easton,
Jackson Kerchal, Lukas, and Ben Aldridge

Well....Easton is now four....I can't believe that time has gone by so fast. He kept saying that all he wanted for his birthday was a gun and a chainsaw. I was beginning to wonder about him. :) But he wanted a chainsaw like papa Pauls to cut down trees and the gun because it lit up!

I made him his blue racecar cake (which he has been talking about the last 6 months!) and he had a great day!

Happy Halloween!!!

Jake, Easton and Lukas

Mr. Alligator

Lukas and Grandma Marla

Easton the Blue Power Ranger

Well....this has been a whirlwind week. Josh's grandpa Guy Fries passed away Wednesday evening and the funeral was yesterday on Halloween. So we were lucky to have a few extra little trick or treaters with us. Jake Rezac (Matt and Tina's boy) aka. spiderman and cousin Barry. My mom and little sister had planned on spending halloween with us to take the boys around.

Easton and Lukas had a blast trick or treating. Lukas even got the hang of it saying trick or treat and thank you! (or a least his version of it!) People thought he was so cute I think he scored more candy than big brother getting a couple extra pieces at each stop. :)

Mr Sun

After a week of snow/rain/mist weather...the sun is finally out today!!! Yes! Took Lukas to North Platte yesterday for his cardiology appointment and everything seems to be going well. He has to stay on the proprananol but gets to go off the lasix. His next check up will be in January and they will do a echo then to make sure that his heart size is continuing to shrink like it should be.
Easton has been enjoying preschool and comes home with a new song everytime. :) He also has informed me that the meterologist is the one who studies the weather and that is it autumn because the leaves are changing on the trees. At least I know he pays a little bit of attention. :)
I am super excited for this weekend. Marla and I are going to WICKED in Denver and shopping!

Sandbox Fun!

After a whole week of rainy weather it was nice to get outside and play yesterday! The cows were really close to the fence so that kept the boys extra entertained!

Preschool

So since I already have this blog started I thought I would try to keep it up! LOL! Easton started preschool this year....he is going on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He is very excited and loves seeing his friends. Lukas is doing well. He had a topical infection on the bottom of his incision site but it is doing better now and he is just about back to himself.

Home at last!!!

Well...we made it back to Benkelman safe and sound yesterday. Both the boys were really excited to be home and slept well in their own beds (so did mom!) Easton starts his first day of preschool tomorrow so he is pretty excited about that! Lukas is continuing to heal and is getting more and more daring every day.

Follow up appointment

Lukas had his following up appointment today! His chest xray looked good and his incision is healing nicely. He obviously remembered the radiology department because they shut the door and he started crying. :( But other than that the appointment was uneventful. :) So we will be heading back home to Benkelman on Monday! Lukas is starting to get more and more ornery so that is a good sign! Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers, and support through out this whole process...we wouldn't have made it without it!

Hanging in there....

Lukas is healing but has his moments....like hiccups....who would know that it would be so painful for the little guy. At times he doesn't want to eat well and he still gets up in the middle of the night. I think it is going to be a while before everything gets back to normal.
He LOVES the screened in deck at my parents house, he feels like he is outside and I don't have to worry about him tripping over the dog or falling down a hill. :) I think we all will be ready to get home next weekend....but I never would be able to make it without the help of my family.

Energizer Bunny China Doll

Ok...I know that sounds really weird but that is what Lukas has been to me since we have been at my mom and dads. He has so much energy and wants to go go go go and I spend the entire time saying "watch out Easton", "Lukas slow down", "Don't Trip", etc. He makes me so nervous! But he is doing well and playing hard...maybe after a week goes by I will be a little more relaxed because he will be healed up more....then again...maybe not. :)

We're Outta Here!!

Lukas got to leave the hospital at around 1:00pm today! Yeah! We will be staying at my parents house in Wahoo until after Labor Day. That way we are closer to the doctor for check ups and so Lukas can heal a little more before making the 5 hour trip home!

Good News!

Lukas hanging out in his favorite spot...watching the cars/construction out the window and playing with the cell phone

I love my daddy!

Happy Faces!

Lukas had a great day...we no longer have any tubes, or wires hanging on or out of him. And...we get to go home tomorrow! The chest xray, echo, and halter monitor all had great things to say....so we are excited about that, Lukas probably the most of all! We thank you all so very much for the prayers, support, notes, visits, and thoughts that have come our way!

Getting Stronger.....

Lukas got his chest tube out yesterday and spent awhile playing in the playroom. He now has a fear of nurses and anybody who has a syringe of medicine....unfortunately. But he is getting a lot stronger. He had an interesting night last night...medicine that was supposed to make him more sedated....made him a little wired. So we hung out from midnight to 4am.....he was happy and playing....just up.
This morning he got his halter monitor off (it monitored his heart for 24 hours to check for irregular beats and misfires) and it was looking good. He also had a chest xray and echocardiogram this morning.
Things are looking good. Easton is visiting today and keeps wanting to go to the playroom...LOL!

Smiles and dinosaur noises....

8/23/09 Sunday AM, Lukas had trouble getting comfortable at times last night and spent a lot of it in the recliner with daddy sleeping and watching Mickey Mouse Club House. At 3am daddy said he tried to put him in the crib and he was laughing at him through the bars. Lukas sleep cycle is a little screwed up to say the least. He was full of smiles this morning and was playing with his orange dinosaur and "talking".

He has been off of his pacemaker for almost a full day and he hasn't had any misfires or irregular heart beats. He is getting stronger and they think he should be able to go play in the playroom today. Such a brave little boy!

CHEESE PIZZA!

Lukas ate his first meal....tanked a personal cheese pizza!

Room 510....bu bye PICU!!!

Lukas has made it upstairs!!! Yea!!

8/22/2009 Saturday Morning

Lukas had an ok last night. He had a couple bouts of crying spells. Early this morning he has had some irregular heart beats and has been using the pacemaker some, but very little, the cardiologist was just in and said that his heart is back to keeping pace, it looks like we may move to the fifth floor (out of PICU) sometime today, not sure exactly when.
They said that the irregular heart beats aren't uncommon.....his heart is just trying to find its correct rhythm after surgery. He looks really good ( even on his worst days he looks so strong and confident), all the staff and DRs are really positive about his progress. Thanks for the prayers, support, thoughts, visits, and gifts of well wishing and get well soon's. In our ovherwhelming time of need, you have been there for all of us, much love and thanks!!!!

8/21/09 6:00pm Update

Lukas has rocked it today. His pacemaker has been turned to standby and he has gone from a level 3 to a level 1 with his heart "talking" from the top to the bottom (meaning that it is beating on its own right now with no help!) He has to be at level 0 before we can move to the 5th floor. They thought that by morning we will be moving if the night goes well.
He has slept all day and I am sure will decide he wants to rock and roll about 2 am.....LOL.
Thank you all for your prayers and continued support!

8/21/2009, PICU Room 206

Lukas had a good night last night. He was supposed to be sedated all night long, but he was superman and twice was on all fours. The breathing tube was removed this am around 7ish and they just within the last hour removed his arterial lines (they kept a constant blood pressure of his lower and upper body), his central line (used for meds they couldn't give through a normal IV), and his cathader.
He is still on some oxygen and the pacemaker, but his heart is starting to "talk" to the bottom half slowly so they are hopeful that it will continue to get better and he can be taken off his temporary pacemaker. We pray that it will be sooner than later. :)
He will be in the PICU until the pacemaker is removed, then he will be on the 5th floor.
He is drinking out of his sippy cup and has kind of opened his eyes on a couple of occasions.
Lukas is a brave, strong little boy and thanks all of you for your prayers, concerns, thoughts, and support!

Pediatric ICU

Lukas is out of surgery and is doing as well as can be expected. Dr. Duncan came in and explained the surgery to us. He said that parts of it went better than expected and some didn't go as well. The aortic arch was reconstructed and is doing ok. The mitral valve (the valve between the left atrium and left ventricle) is what they are concerned about on a going forward basis. He may need another sugery between 5-10 years of age to replace the valve...time will tell.
As of now he is in the PICU and they are going to keep him sedated (out) throughout the night. He will be on the ventilator until tomorrow at sometime. Now the healing process begins and time will tell.

Update

The cardiologist just came in and said that Lukas is off the heart lung bypass machine and is doing ok. He is on a temporary pace maker because the top side of his heart isn't "talking" to bottom. The valves are fixed and the aortic arch looks really good.
We don't know if the pacemaker will be permanent at this point or not....time will tell.
He should be in the Pediatric ICU within the hour. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Surgery 8/20/2009

After they read the MRI yesterday they found a couple more things going on with Lukas heart that they didn't know about, and because of his reaction yesterday they moved his surgery from 7:30am to noon. He had a good night last night and they started his IV this am at 6am. He was a little cranky at times because he could eat or drink anything for 6am on.
They took him to surgery at 10:45am.......seeing my little boy go in...broke my heart. But I know he is in good hands with Dr. Duncan and pray everything goes well.
They just called to let us know that they made the incision and have started the procedures of fixing his heart........they have to reconstruct his aortic arch, clear out a couple blockages and repair a couple valves....it is going to be a long day. They thought it would be around 7 or 8pm tonight before they are done.....prayers.....

MRI.....

8/19/09
Lukas had his MRI yesterday. He did really well with the lack of food and water and was flirting with all the ladies in the CARES unit. They took him off to MRI and he was gone for about an hour and a half. When they brought him back they said that he had a bad reaction to going under anesthesia. His heart rate raced from 90 bpm to 200 bpm, it lasted for about 8 seconds and it broke without medication. But they wanted to keep him over night to monitor his heart.

waiting...just waiting....

For August 20th to get here. We found out the end of July that little Lukas' has a couple congential (born with) heart defects. He will be going into open heart surgery on Thursday the 20th at 7:30am CT at Childrens Hospital in Omaha.

#1 They found that his aortic valve only has 2 closures instead of 3. The blood has been leaking back down into his left ventricle causing his heart to work harder and build up tissue causing a narrowed passage for the blood to go through his heart.

#2 They found that a portion of his aorta is too narrow and there is a build up of tissue in his left atrium.

They will go in repair the valve and expand the portion of his aorta that is too narrow, and clean out the build up of tissue

Please keep Lukas and the surgeons in your prayers...I will try to keep everyone updated throughout this whole process.