Happy New Year!!

2009 in Review...

January
- Kamryn celebrated her 9th Birthday.. sleepover style.
- Owen spent three days in ICU recovering from his 5th Cardiac Catherization and starting his IVIG treatments
- Owen spent another two days in ICU recovering from his first round of Rituxin (chemo) and came home on his 1st Birthday!!
- Owen was doing the treatments, per the UCLA transplant team request, to lower Owen's antibodies so that he could be listed for a Heart Transplant

February
-Owen spent another few days in ICU getting more Rituxin treatments
-Owen celebrated his first Birthday with a Family
-Owen took his first bath ever... he prefers showers.
-Owen spent a few more days in the hospital and this time he endured six IV's over a 36 hour period.
-Owen learned to drink from a cup

March
-Kamryn takes her first AIMS test and loves it!
- We spent lots of time outdoors
- We patiently wait to hear back from UCLA on our next steps with Owen
- Owen shows further signs of heart failure and all the antibody treatments take their toll on his little body

April
-We finally hear back from UCLA and the Cardiology team tells me "We're not sure what to do next with Owen."
- I start researching every transplant center in the nation and spent two weeks finding out that Stanford, Boston and Pittsburg were our best choices for Owen to move forward with transplant
- We schedule a trip to Stanford for May 15th, to meet with their transplant team
- Fox 10 does a special feature story on the Adorable Mister Owen and his broken heart
- Kamryn gets another report card with straight A's!!!
- We celebrated the ONE YEAR Anniversary of Owen's Glenn (his last open heart surgery)

May
-I get 10 cavities filled in one day.... good times.
- We take our trip to Stanford and meet with their transplant team. It's a perfect fit for Owen!
- We come home and start increasing his medications to superhuman doses, a little at a time, to see if we can push transplant off a little longer
- We learn that all of Owen's antibody treatments in Jan and Feb did nothing for him. Poor guy.
- Kamryn finishes 3rd grade.

June
- Carson and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary
- One week later, I turned 30!
- Carson is admitted to the hospital for a staph infection
- My sister gives birth at that same hospital on the same day
- Owen learns the art of butt-scooting and the freedom to move around

July
- Owen has two cardiology appointments where we continue to increase his medications and he pukes ALOT
- Owen has his first Pulmonologist appointment to rule out any lung issues.
- Owen starts talking

August
- Kamryn starts 4th Grade
- Owen continues to get pushed to the limits with his medications

September
- Stanford calls and notifies us that Owen needs to be fully immunized prior to transplant and he hasn't had a single immunization... the catch-up begins
- Kamryn starts Volleyball
- Owen has surgery to place a Gtube, after 20 months with the NG tube

October
-We take a well deserved vacation to Oceanside, the beach, Sea World and The American Girl Place on our way to Stanford
- Owen hasn't gained an ounce in six months, so we stay in Palo Alto for a week
- Owen has his 6th Cardiac Catherization and it turns out better than expected!!!
- Owen is allowed to come home, with the condition that he is closely monitored by Cardiology here, and that he continues to gain weight

November
-We sold our house
- Owen continues on 1300 calories a day and is gaining weight like a champ
- Owen continues to puke like a champ too :(

December
-Carson turns 33!
- We enjoy the holidays as a family
- Kamryn and I make some of our gifts for family and friends for the first time ever
- Owen continues to gain weight and energy!

This year has been wonderful in everyway. We have been so very blessed. We started out the year thinking that Owen would need a transplant right away and he had some rocky times. Here we are today and he is doing great. We are anxious to see what 2010 has in store for our family... a new home, a thriving family, a healthy daughter and hopefully another year with Owen at home! We know that it might be a trying year as well... bring it on! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!