To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Im laying here at 2 in the morning waiting for our next round of Motrin to kick in.
I'm becoming rather skilled in the art of fighting fevers. As I wait for his fever to break I begin my habit of counting heart beats. I can now lay my palm face down on the left side of his chest and feel his heartbeat clearly enough to get an approximate heart rate. I don't know if this has anything to do with his enlarged atrium or not. He fights me off when trying to feel his pulse any other way.

I can't believe it's been about 6 months since we've had a hospital stay. It starts to feel as if it's all going away until Michael starts feeling under the weather again. In these last 6 months Michael's gotten a virus about once every two months. This is actually relieving to me as it's no longer once a month.

We have our next cardiology visit coming up on the 19th of this month. Anxiety and fear become more prominent the closer these appointments get. Emotions in Jaron and I have been heightened recently as we've realized the reality of surgery within this next year. So much is unknown until we get the results of his exams. We know the pressure behind his valve was worse during his last visit in August. Because of that they wanted to see him back in three months instead of the six month break they were hoping for. If the gradient through his valve reaches closer to 20 then our cardiologist will begin meeting with our surgeons to decide the least risky route to take. At our last visit his gradient was at a 14 so we're hoping it's not too much worse than that now.

Michael has so much energy right now that he's hard to keep up with. He wants to be doing whatever everyone else is and if Zoey has it - he's going to get it. That's what seems to be his mindset anyway. We recently found that he is lactose intolerant so he's been on almond milk for the last few months. It's expensive but it keeps him happy and gives him what he needs. 

We got some really exciting news this last week for one of our other heart warriors and his family. A successful valve replacement without having to do an open chest surgery. This procedure was done through the groin and the recovery time was incredible. I can't believe how strong this kid is. Mason you're amazing and your family is amazing! Way to go! This has given me hope that if Michael holds on long enough that a procedure like this could become more of an option than an open heart surgery. 'Crossing our fingers'

With Halloween already over with I wanted to post some more up to date pictures as I haven't posted any in a while. Here is a look into our Halloween with Michael. His first Trick-or-Treat was a success. After the first house we hit gave him a sucker he decided that was all he needed. We got about ten more houses in before it was too cold and windy to continue. Our Ninja Turtles got their sweet fix and Jaron and I had a late night since Michael was up on a sugar high. Happy late Halloween!!