Vegas

I have been absent from blogging because we have been having fun in Vegas!  Kam had National dance competition and convention at the Mirage this week so we made a mini vaca out of it.  It was going to be just me and the kids, but C surprised us last minute and decided to come.  We were all pretty excited to have him along for the trip!  I didn't take any pictures with my nice camera, nor did I get nearly as many photos as usual, but we were busy.  SO busy! 

The roadtrip from Phoenix to Vegas is only about 5 hours and we had plenty of time to check into our room and explore the strip in search for lunch.  My kids have never been to Vegas and they were in a bit of culture shock with all the naked cowboys, characters on the streets and people lighting up cigarettes everywhere we walked.

Kam's first night there and it was time to get ready and dance.  I took this picture of Kam walking down the hotel hallway to the elevator, costumes in tow. 

She danced and danced and had several costume changes along the way.  My mom, sister and all the other cousins were at the Mirage as well, but Gigi competed earlier in the day so they had time to relax.  Thankfully they grabbed us a pizza at CPK and brought it up to our room.  Owen ate half the pizza in one sitting... so between dances Kam and I found some dinner in the casino and headed back to the dressing room.  She had a late call time and we sat around until about 10pm waiting for the girls to go on stage.  The teens did fantastic as always.. I am so proud of them!!  Confession:  we were up at 4am, drove 5 hours, danced all night and by the time we got back to our room it was 11pm.  We totally skipped out on the awards ceremony at 1am... eek.  Bad mom!

The next morning I dropped Kam off at convention early in the morning to dance.  I took Owen out to the pool to swim and we met Kel down there with the girls.  The kids had fun and the pool was FREEZING cold.  Kam joined us for a smoothie during her break and went back to dancing while we played in the pool for a couple hours.

Thankfully Kam was done dancing around 12:30 so we had plenty of time to grab some lunch and explore the strip some more. 

BLT Burger at our hotel had the best Mocha Milkshake... so good!

We explored TI and Ceasars Palace a bit and headed back to our room to relax before meeting the fam for dinner.

We were going to try out Gilly's BBQ at TI, but headed down to the Linq instead to eat at the Yardhouse.  The kids really wanted to go on the High Roller wheel, but I was a buzzkill.  At $35 a person to ride a ferris wheel?  We'll wait until Disney in a few months.

We had a party of 10 so we had to entertain ourselves while waiting for our food.  My mom and my silly kids.

Lucy and I trying to take a selfie...

Kel and her littles..

The food was fabulous and the kids ate mostly their ice cream.  They were just too tired, or too wired, to eat.  This picture tells a million stories.  Bridgi just wants to run around, Kam is totes faking her smile, Owen was getting ready to elbow Gi in the side just to annoy her, you can see on Gigi's face he already has, Liv is so over it and Lucy is happy as always.  After this the kids were so excited to get their photos taken with the "characters" on the strip.  Creepy Minnie mouse, showgirls (Owen was so embarrassed), scary minions with felt eyeballs... there were a ton of these guys out. 

We arrived back to the Mirage at around 9pm, just in time for the Volcano show.  Our hotel room was high up with a volcano view.. just under one of the Beetles faces on the left. 

There was another day or two of conventions, I lost count.  We late in the afternoon and headed home.  C may have lost a few bucks gambling and I just don't even try.  By the time we checked out I was done with the casinos, smoke and spending $$ on food.  We had a great time, but we were ready to come home.  A shout out to Kam for all her hard work this week.. she danced hard!  Another shout out to Owen for eating orally the majority of the trip and not using a stroller once.  He walked all over!  Amazing!

It's good to be home.  School starts in three weeks!!  Time to make the most of the summer that we have left.

Zero Rejection

I received a voicemail last night and Owen's biopsy results came back with ZERO rejection!!  Not a day goes by that I don't feel so grateful and blessed with how amazing Owen's journey has been this year.  It has been almost a year since he received his gift of a life.  An incredible year!!

No rejection.  Antibodies remain at zero and IVIG is on hold.  We are decreasing his steroids to once a day.  We get to stop his Valcyte (CMV has been negative) and finally can get rid of his Lasix (diuretics)!!  In six weeks, we will return to Stanford for clinic/echo and I will also have a fetal echo done on our newest addition.  If all is well with Owen, we will drop the steroids and Bactrum, possibly even one of the blood pressure meds.

I am still in awe at how smooth things have gone this year.  Owen's first 5 1/2 years were TOUGH.  This past year has not been easy, but I am well aware of the many different outcomes that could have taken place.  We are so blessed.

Owen's heart, which was given to him from another child, is beating so strong inside of him.  We will forever be so grateful for this incredible gift!  Thank you. :)

Biopsy Day

Wow.. another biopsy done!  We arrived at LPCH surgery center by 6am and Owen was thrilled to get things moving. We were quickly taken off to preop holding where I wiped Owen down with the surgical wipes and I got scrubbed up. 

I only wear this awesome getup because I love this boy.  Owen's entourage of 7 helped push his bed through the children's hospital, down the hall of the Stanford (adult) hospital and off to the cath lab.  It's always such a parade and I'm the leader in my awesome outfit.  I should just show up in scrubs next time so at least I blend in with the crew.

We mixed up a cocktail of fruit flavors on his anesthesia mask and I put him under.  He was a little more feisty than usual, but drifted off quickly. 

I grabbed a bite to eat in the cafeteria and before I had time to update the blog, Dr Peng came in and said everything look fantastic. As soon as I got to recovery his post op echo was done and he was just waking up.  Just two hours after I dropped him off in the cath lab, we were on our way out of the hospital.  Amazing!

Owen was STARVING and he only wanted McDonalds.  Gross.  I grabbed some 'hot cakes' which were interesting.  Owen devoured his entire kids meal, sans French fries (because what kid doesn't like French fries).

After a short nap at the hotel, Owen woke up hungry again.  His choice was Olive Garden and this boy had quite the appetite.  Two cups of ice water, half bowl of soup, two breadsticks, parm chicken and spaghetti.  We were there almost two hours while he ate and ate and ate some more.  I was stuffed after my salad!

I had so much fun hanging out with this silly guy.. best date ever!

He had me laughing hysterically.   After two hours of eating, we left with a ton of leftovers for later. 

Just before 6pm, Owen decided he wanted to run over to the RMH to see what activities were going on tonight.  They were finishing up dinner so we played around for a bit.

Then as we were leaving, a volunteer stopped us and said "We are handing out toys in the library."  Awesome.  Then this happened...

We built legos for a good hour tonight and now we are finally settled in and ready for bed.  Tomorrow we have an early morning cardiology appointment at the hospital before heading to the airport.  Hoping for a good biopsy result which we'll get tomorrow.   Thanks for all the prayers.