Pacific Beach

We traveled down the coast today and checked into our room with a view.....
My parents and Gigi drove over to meet us in San Diego and we are having SO much fun! I have a bunch of pictures to post, but I'm off to bed. Tomorrow... a day full of body surfing, building sandcastles and taking naps in the sand. Bliss.

Transplant Clinic at Stanford

Today was Owen's cardiology clinic at Stanford. I went into the visit knowing he is feeling great, but not knowing what the echo would show. I always prepare for the worst, and hope for the best!

Carson and Kamryn dropped us off at the hospital and Owen started with his echo, ekg and vitals. I have to say that he is amazing!! He helps the nurses get what they need, chills throughout the echo and lays as still so they get a pretty ekg. We waited an hour or so for Dr Rosenthal (cardiologist) to review everything and he said things look okay.

Me: "So, everything is GOOD?"

Dr R.: "Well, I wouldn't say GOOD, but he's stable."

I'll take stable!

My only concern was his dipping oxygen saturations (into the 50 range) when he is active, but turns out, it's not unheard of. His blood pressure was way too low to increase any medications right now, so we'll just keep everything as is.

His weight gain is GREAT... he's 28.5lbs. He is happy, playful and sustaining himself. The Fontan (the last surgery for HLHS) is still not an option.

We scheduled another visit for mid October for another Cardiac Cath. We'll continue to be followed closely with Dr Stock in Arizona for now. Whew. We continue on 7 medications, full time O2 and his blended diet. While it seems like we are at a standstill with his care, it's a blessing! We will slowly wean his Viagra (because no one knows why exactly he is on it) prior to his cath to see if we can get off that medication all together. FYI.. Viagra is for Pulmonary Hypertension, which Owen has never had. It was one of those meds we decided to try to see if it would help him wean off the oxygen. It didn't work.

We were almost done with our visit when we got the lab request. Bummer. We ran down to the lab and they pricked Owen twice with NO luck. I said "that's it!" and they can get the bloodwork during his cath in October. My heart was breaking.After much screaming and a failed blood draw, we headed upstairs to ICU to meet our friends Summer and Mason! It was so great to finally meet them! I felt bad because the nurse had to wake them up when we got there. Mason wasn't feeling so hot, but I don't blame him one bit. Owen wasn't much like himself either. We'll have to get those sweet boys together OUT of the hospital and let them play. They have such similar stories and are two pretty tough boys. We have another evening in this beautiful town and then we're making our way down the coast for a little beach fun! Until then... thank you for all your prayers!

San Fransisco

We had a fabulous day in San Fransisco! It started off a little rocky because I was grouchy. We ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then I ran to the market with Owen to pick up lots of fresh produce for his blended foods. I decided to bring the Vitamix Blender on vaca with us... so much easier than packing all that food.

After a mid-morning nap, we headed up to the big city. We picked up Janesa (Carson's sister) at her new apartment and went to Pier 39.

We had a yummy lunch of clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls... a San Fransisco classic. Then we headed down the pier to find our friends... the barking seals.

You can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background here. We decided not to pay the $6 toll and wait in traffic to see it again. We crossed over it the last time we were here... nothing exciting.

We had a great time with Auntie Janesa today. We miss her a ton and had so much fun playing with her in the city!

We stopped for Dryers Ice Cream which overlooks the harbor. Kamryn was dying to go here!!
Owen was pretty thrilled to steal my ice cream cone and call it his own!
Then we headed over to Lombard Street. Kamryn had no idea where we were going and so we took full advantage of the situation and freaked her out a bit. Small background story.. Kamryn hates anything fast, twisty, downhill, dark or that increases adrenaline.
This is the picture out my window as we came down the crookedest street in America.

This is the view from the bottom of the street when I jumped out of the car and ran down the hill to snap a picture before Carson got to the bottom to pick me up. Good times.

We had plans to catch a Trolly ride up and down the city, but we ran out of time. It just gives us something to look forward to on our next visit! When we dropped off Janesa, we checked out her totally awesome apartment in the city. It was time to head back to the hotel and get a decent night sleep. Owen has lots of stuff going on tomorrow at the hospital... I'll update on that tomorrow night.