December 1997

December 24th AM: Happy Holidays to everyone. We are so excited to have our little guy with us this season. NO, he is not being spoiled beyond recognition ;-) Grandma and Grandpa have been down for a few days gearing up for the holiday events. Tyler loves to see them! They are always so nice to him!

A few of the recent month's highlights.

• December 2: Tyler had another sedated echo to take a look at his narrowing of the aorta (coarctation). It was as Dr. Cocalis had expected. We decided to go ahead with the second balloon angioplasty on the 3rd. Tyler also has some collateral arteries forming around the coarctation. Partially as a result, his saturation levels have climbed to the mid to low 80's. Other than that, everything looks very good in there!

• December 3: The second balloon angioplasty. Fortunately not much to report. He did GREAT. The procedure started at about 8:00 and he was back in recovery in a few hours. We took him home about 5:00 that night! Tyler's first successful outpatient procedure. We were so proud ;-). The bad news: the balloon angioplasties may not be enough to open the coarctation. We may have to add another surgery to his list to go in to repair that location permanently. We won't worry about that for now though. Other bad news: Tyler's favorite Surgeon, Dr. Mainwaring, is leaving at the end of this month. We saw him in the hallway, the opportunity he has been given is one that can not be passed up. We will miss him greatly!

• Mid-December: We have been given the thumbs up to start work on getting Tyler to sleep through the night. We chose the Ferber book and the methods within. WOW, what a difference. In about three days, we were able to eliminate one of the nightime feedings. Our current schedule is: He goes to bed about 8:00pm. We wake him up at 10:30 to give him one last shot. He might cry for 30 seconds or so once or twice in the night, but he doesn't wake up until 6:30 or 7:00. Finally, we are starting to get a bit of sleep!! He will also take two good naps during the day at 9:00am and 2:00 pm. He seems to be in a much better mood when he is awake, and it is very obvious when it is his nap time now!!!

• December 23: Tyler's first picture with Santa! We went up to the shopping mall and waited in the line with all the other parents for a hour. He did pretty well ;-) Later, as usual, we all went to the Wild Animal Park Festival of Lights. Grandma and Grandpa went with us this year. Tyler loved looking at all the lights and sounds of the park. We bundled him up in arctic grade gear. It was rather cold, but well worth the trip.

• Late December: We have decided (with Dr. Cocalis) to attempt to take Tyler up to high elevation. Starting the day after Christmas, we will take him to my parents cabin in Idyllwild CA. It is at 5700 ft. If that goes well, we will follow my parents up to their house in Kings Canyon National Park. We plan to spend three days there. We have setup oxygen sources there just in case there is a problem, but we don't expect to need it... We are looking forward to this mini-vacation, and to show Tyler his first snow. It should be beautiful up there.

We want to wish you all a happy holiday season and a great new year.