We are back at home!

Madison got to come visit her brother in the hospital this morning.  She was also checked by the doctors and her airway is fine...unlike Logan's.

Logan's heart surgery has been rescheduled for October 20th.  He will have the same team that already knows him and things should go much better for him.  I still can't believe we have to go through this all over again in a few weeks!

He was released today and we packed up and traveled back home.  We are totally exhuasted, mentally drained and emotionally spent.  More tomorrow!

The Logasaurus Sleeps

Logan is doing well tonight.  He was eating a Big Mac, Fries, and a Shake a little from the bottle which is good and is getting some much needed sleep.  They were hopeful that he might be able to go home tomorrow...but we will see what they say in the morning.  We are back at the Ronald McDonald house and getting some sleep as well tonight.  Thanks for all of your kind notes, comments, emails, calls...etc.  They make a huge difference when going through something like this.  Both of our parents have been fantastic and have going out of their way for us.  Everyone's help and support has been amazing.  Please keep the prayers coming!  Have I mentioned how awesome the staff at UCSF is...WOW...they are great.  Logan is really in fantastic hands.  Have I mentioned how awesome the Ronald McDonald house is too? 

Answered prayers sometimes are different than you expect

Just a quick reflection now that I have had a little time to decompress from this morning.  I prayed and prayed that nothing would happen to Logan during his surgery.  I think I expected something different today than what I was presented.  Now that I think about it all...I'm thankful that the Docs were so great in deciding to call off things today.  Perhaps that was God's intervention in saving Logan from something terrible.

Maybe all of our prayers were answered...just not the way I had expected.

One in a Million! Wouldn't you know it...

So about 2.5-3 hours after we handed Logan off to the surgical team to get started my cell phone rings.  It's one of the Anesthesiologists in his team calling me to ask if Logan has ever been intubated before (which he hasn't).  At this time...all I hear is "Blah Blah Blah Blah...Logan is ok!...Blah Blah Blah...we are calling off his surgery due to high risk."  So...now I have fallen out of my chair and Jen is asking me what is going on.  I'm sure you can guess how calm she is about now.

Without me having to give everyone a medical lesson about airways...let's just say Logan is one special boy!  So special that the head of Anesthesiology who has been donig this for 20 years has never seen this.  She even calls in the Ear Nose & Throat Specialist and in his 18 years...he hasn't seen this either.  Logan has a very anterior airway.  They spent 2 hours trying to jam a tube the wrong way down his throat and it's now causing his airway to be swollen.

The swollen airway has numerous complications...especially when you get put on a heart/lung machine.  Given this info, the surgeon wants to reschedule his surgery for a few weeks from now.  It should go really smooth next time as they know exactly what's going on with his airway.  So logan is back up in ICU and under some sedation.  They were able to remove the breathing tube (that they worked so hard to get in) and is being watched so that he breaths normally. 

All in all...Logan should be coming home within a day or two and we have the pleasure of scheduling and going though this ordeal all over again.  Yeah...I'm a bit sarcastic and bitter at the moment.  But I'm truly grateful that they put Logan's safety first.  This pic of him was taken a few minutes ago.  All this stuff connected to him and he didn't even make it into surgery!  Good News...the Dr. at UCSF is going to check out Madison's airway tomorrow to see if she has this same thing!  More info as I get it later today.

One more thing:  Please support your local Ronald McDonald house!  They need simple things such as coffee, printer paper, food...etc.  They also take the green stuff (money that is...not your old leftovers in the fridge).

Time for a Big Boy's Heart!

What seemed like one of the longest nights of my life is finally over!  Jen stayed at Logan's bedside all night and rocked him for 1/2 of it.  I ended up heading back to the Ronald McDonald house around 1am to get a couple hours of sleep. 

Logan...being the Logasaurus that he is...was growling and screaming for food this morning from about 4am on.  I'm sure that all the other children (really) appreciated his enthusiasm this morning!  We kept him as calm as we could and handed him over to some of the best doctors in the country this morning at about 7am for his surgery. 

We are sitting in what's called the "Fish Room" waiting for him to have his heart fixed.  It's called the "Fish Room" because of salt water aquarium in here.  I think fish are supposed to be calming....but I don't think it's working on us.  Will update more a little later.  Keep those prayers and thoughts coming for him this morning.

Mom...I'm ready to go home already!

It's 8PM and Logan's ready to go home!  Grandma and Grandpa Woodland watched Logan for a few hours while Jen and I went and checked into the Ronald McDonald house.  It's a great place that offers temporary housing for families with seriously ill children at UCSF.

We got back and had a bite to eat in the cafeteria and now are cuddling with Logan to make him feel more comfortable.  He only has a few things attached to him for monitoring him...but it seems like so much.  Jen and I are having a difficult time holding back from totally breaking down in tears.  I have no idea how we are going to be able to let them take hime from us for Surgery at 6:30am.  There is nothing easy about this!

Finally...a nap

It's 3PM and Logan is finally taking a nap with his favorite blankie that Jen remembered to bring from home for him.  He had an EKG, Echo Cardiogram on his heart, blood drawn for lab tests and is sporting a cool IV.  After he finally calmed down...he was a champ for all the tests.  His surgery is the first one in the morning tomorrow.

His Surgeon, Dr Azakie, just stopped by to see Logan and is going to review his Echo and then come back and talk with us a bit.  Also...we lucked out and just got a call that they were able to arrange temporary houseing for us while we are here.

Checking into UCSF Childrens Hospital

Here is Logan in his little bear outfit he wore today to UCSF (Thanks to the Grendahl's for his outfit).  We were admitted at around 9:30 and finally got moved to the Pediatric ward at about 10:30.  Logan was great all the way down.  But once we got him into his bed...he definately pitched a fit!  There are 3 kids to a room and it's a lot busier here than either of us had imagined.  Logan definately had everyone's attention as he showed off how loud he could scream.  Jen was finally able to calm him down so he could be given an IV and have some tests done.

It's been an hour and we already miss Madison

Madison's grandparents came to pick her up about and hour ago to stay with them while we are in SF with Logan.  We already miss her!  Wow...this is going to be a tough few days with all of us apart.

A Big Thank-You to Jill and GCMOM's

Jill stopped by our house last night with her two beautiful children TJ and Noah.  She broght over two HUGE gift bags of goodies, neccessities, munchies, and cards from her and the other mom's in the GCMOM's club.  Thank you to all!  We can't tell you how much it really means to have people reach out and express care and wishes to Logan and our family!  Any Mother's of multiples out there reading this who aren't hooked up with a multiples group..you should definately get involved with one.  The support and bonds with other families with twins, triplets etc...is fantastic!

Logan the Logasaurus Rex

So what is Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) anyhow?

Logan was born with a congenital heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot.  He is considered a "pink tet"...meaning that his coloring is pink instead of blue.  Here is a little info about his condition...you can click the link below to find out more.

Taken from the American Heart Association website:

Tetralogy of Fallot refers to a combination of abnormalities with four key features: 1) A ventricular septal defect (a hole between the ventricles) and 2) obstruction of blood flow from the right ventricle to the lungs (pulmonary stenosis) are the most important. Sometimes the pulmonary valve isn’t just narrowed but is completely obstructed (pulmonary atresia). Also, 3) the aorta (major artery from the heart to the body) lies directly over the ventricular septal defect and 4) the right ventricle develops hypertrophy (thickened muscle).

Because of the pulmonary stenosis, blood can’t get to the lungs easily, so the blood doesn’t get as much oxygen as it should. Because the aorta overrides the ventricular septal defect, blood from both ventricles (oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor) is pumped into the body. People with unrepaired tetralogy of Fallot are often blue (cyanotic) because of the oxygen-poor blood that’s pumped to the body.