The History: Dylan’s basic background is that he had Kawasaki’s Disease as an infant, and as a result, ended up with 2 aneurysms in his little heart. Lucky for us, there are two kinds of aneurysms, and he was blessed to get the kind that are spindle shaped (instead of round) and as his arteries grow, he will “grow into” his aneurysms, and barring any scar tissue, should heal nicely by age 13. He grew into one of them a couple of years ago, so he had one left as far as we knew.
The main worry (besides a rupture) was that if he didn’t grow into these aneurysms, he would need open heart surgery once he reaches adulthood. Here is the detailed background of his ordeal if you’re so interested.
If you are a close friend or family, you already know what I’m about to say.
Yesterday I took Dylan to his annual cardiology appointment. I slept maybe 3 hours the night before. I worry a lot about these appointments because somewhere along the line a doctor missed an entire aneurysm and pulled him off of aspirin for a year back when Dylan was 7-8 years old.
We met his new cardiologist and he had his full work up: EKG, ultrasound, etc.
The clinical run-down: The doc is cautiously optimistic. He said his previously affected coronary artery grew to the size of the remaining aneurysm which means he has NO ANEURYSMS NOW! Yay!
Part of the coronary artery is behind the heart so they can’t see the entire thing. Hence the ‘cautiously optimistic’ verdict. Rather than give him a cardiac catherization (running dye thru his heart), we all decided to keep him on asprin to continue to prevent scar tissue. It’s basically a better safe than sorry move and it has no side effects (no stomach pain and Dylan does not easily bruise). They scheduled a stress test (treadmill test basically) for May and the doc pushed the annual work-up (what we had yesterday) to 18 months. So summer 2011 they will repeat the workup and get another good look at his artery.
Daren and I couldn’t be more thrilled with yesterday’s findings and also with the care plan in place. It seems really solid.
The emotional run-down: We are obviously so very happy. Our son is no longer a ticking time bomb. His heart is 99% close to normal. Whole. Solid. I’m typing through happy tears. I can’t stop hugging the poor kid. Thankfully he’s only 11 and still hugs back. Then he asks me for something to eat for the 45th time in a day.
P.s. Dylan is also 5 feet tall now according to today’s measurements. Uhhh where did our baby go?
What can I say that hasn’t alreadybeensaid? Adam’s birthday is today and while I chose to go to Costco before writing this, it doesn’t mean I love him any less. I needed some salmon oil pills for the dog and I. Yes, Ruffy and I take the same medicine. She needs it for healthy oils for weight loss and I need it for my shiny coat.
Speaking of healthy, Adam, I heard somewhere that you were going to eat an entire grocery store cake today? Yeah, um, did you forget our little bet, Bud Bud? Cuz I’m quite certain that even though it’s your birthday and you should totally have SOME cake, I’d like you to see your next birthday and not put yourself into a diabetic coma because you have some weird cake-conquering thing to prove.
So 33, huh? Wow, you’re just a baby. Mark my words though dude: eat that cake and you’re going to need diapers.
Tonight I finished my very last web design. Part of me is overjoyed and excited to be moving forward with my plans to go to nursing school, obviously.
The other part of me is kind of sad. Years ago, I started blogging as a way to share stories about my kids, and eventually my family history, to find like-minded moms and have fun. All of that happened and more. I not only found an enormous tribe of mothers who thought outside the lunchbox, I learned more about myself in the last 5 years than I ever could have predicted. I found friends in the unlikeliest of people, from a Sunday School teacher who calmed me down on a muggy day in Chicago, to a pink puffy heart of a dear friend right here in my backyard. I have walked this path with so many amazing people, there is no way in the world I could list them all.
Along the way, I taught myself everything I know about graphic design and blog development. I created websites, both big and small, and made a lot of people happy with my interpretations of what they wanted for their space on the internet.
It’s kind of cool to look back on this mini-career I built while my babies grew.
Amazing, really.
Here are a select few of the sites I designed. Some I can’t show you for various reasons (too local, too nsfw etc.) Once I designed a blog for a call girl in the UK (oh look it’s still there. Eep!) Okay well that one is nsfw-ish!
Here are some others:
Thank you. From my very first client to my last, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Some of you are more than clients, you’re friends for life.
(don’t forget to change your passwords, kids. If you need any assistance and you have yet to receive a Choose Your Own Adventure Designer email from me yet, or have yet to be assigned a new designer, email me at karenrani@gmail.com.)
