California McMillans

We got a minivan! Yeah, it's so dope! We call it the Swagger Wagon. A 2008 Toyota Sienna 8-seater. Heidi was on kelly blue book instead of craigslist, and she saw this unusually low-priced van at a dealership in Pleasanton. She called to ask why it was so cheap and it was something about how it had sat on the lot for 60 days without selling and needed to be moved to another lot or dumped at a loss. We went to the lot about two weeks ago and I strolled in, saying that I was a buyer. "A buyer? What, you buys cars?" "Yes. For my client." We go out to check out the van and Heidi and the kids joined us. The salesperson learned that my client was Heidi, but I make him fire up the engine and I listened to it with the steth. I check out everything, and when I opened the rear door, there was a strange grinding sound. I asked the salesperson about it and he panicked, trying to get the door to behave. Then he slams it shut, and we can't get it op

We are still alive. Tyler wasn't too stoked about having to wear this holter monitor, but we each put on a button to have a contest of who could wear the button the longest. Luckily, Grammy helped the boys by watching videos with them, reading to them, and blowing bubbles with them. They were over-tired much of the time Tyler kept getting headaches with his new enalapril Scott barfed on Thursday and Friday and just wanted to lay around like this Kira was doing pretty good most of the week. It was a rough week. But we are happy to have these kids. I am happy to be employed. We love where we live.

Didn't take many pictures because it was a pretty uneventful stay. The ones I took showed that life wasn't all that bad for Tyler. If you look closely you can see that in picture #2 he has cookies in one hand, cracker jacks in the other and a movie between. The greatest nuisance for Tyler was his IV. Probably because it was irritated from too much DS playing. I did advocate that it needed to be in the least annoying spot while playing. The nurses had never had such a request but I must look out for my little guy, right? he called it his yellow shot because the needle into his arm was yellow. He loved to take off his leads. And went through periods of disliking his pulse ox but for the most part was pretty good. You can tell when Tyler is under stress at the hospital because he doesn't talk much. The first day he maybe said 5 words to others and had a look of worry of what was to come. He was aggravated waking up from anesthesia which is understandable. He wanted

Tyler and I came home yesterday after a shortened 3 day visit at the PCICU aka 7East aka Pediatric Cardiac ICU. Not a bad place if you aren't having major surgery. All of the nurses are wonderful and so nice. They become like family. And the doctors are always there to answer questions, explain things and talk about swimming and kids. So here is the detailed story. Day 1 Danny dropped me and Tyler off at the waiting room around 6:30. There was no bed in the transitional ICU or ICU so we waited in the waiting room which isn't all that bad. Less anxiety for the little man, quieter and less like a hospital. They brought us up to the 6th floor, got Tyler and mom prepped on his cath and brought him to cath lab within about 30 minutes. Small world, the 1 pre-op nurse and surgeon both went to BYU. Maybe that happens at Primary's, but usually not at UCSF. Tyler got some verzed (a drug that makes you relax and forget the event which Tyler was enjoying). Got in an IV,

The team decided that although Tyler's pulmonary pressures are good, his AV valve leaks too much and they would rather postpone his surgery since now he is only an average candidate. We have to rely on the expertise of our specialists, so we will follow their recommendations and Tyler will likely come home tomorrow on enalapril instead of captopril. Good, because we never liked that captopril. When I spoke with Tyler on the phone, he just wanted to play his DS. Heidi said that's how he's coped with the stress. Oh, the brave little man. I was planning on riding the VFR to San Francisco and spending the night with Tyler, but I was throwing up all night. So I'm going to stay. I spoke with a pediatrician who said that when he's doing a procedure and he's done all he can, he has to rely on God for the rest. I've actually heard that from several surgeons.

Heidi called to say that Tyler did great with his anesthesia and the pressures look good, so they'll do an echo and then plan on doing the Fontan on Wednesday. He got a suite in 7 East. Like old times. Good.

Tyler got a blessing last night at Heidi's parents and it was good. All he wanted to do last night was play his DS, and it was getting pretty late. We were scheduled to leave for UCSF at 5:00 am, and Kira barfed at 3:00 this morning. Tyler wasn't ornery when he woke up, as long as he had his DS. Heidi wanted him to take a little rest, but he said, "I'm not tired!" I convinced her to let him play the DS because he'll be sedated enough later today. We made good time to the city and check-in was uneventful. He said, "Are they gonna cut my heart today?" "No." "Are they gonna cut it yesterday?" He gets yesterday and tomorrow mixed up. "No." "Am I gonna get a shot?" "Yes, a little poke." He didn't seem scared at that. He just acknowledged it and went back to the DS. Good old DS--the one time we are grateful for it. Thanks to all for your prayers!

Tyler is off to UCSF for his single ventricle completion, the Fontan, next week. He will have a cath on Monday to make sure his pressures are good. After Fontan, blood must flow through the lungs without being pumped by the heart. Therefore children with high pulmonary vascular resistance may not tolerate a Fontan. If pressures look good he will have his fontan completion on Wednesday. Children, like Tyler, with hypoplastic left heart syndrome have a single effective ventricle supplying blood to the lungs and the body. They are delicately balanced between inadequate blood supply to the lungs (causing cyanosis) and oversupply to the lungs (causing heart failure). The single ventricle is doing nearly twice the expected amount of work (because it has to pump blood for both lungs and body). When they are large enough, and the pressure in the pulmonary arteries are low enough, these children are referred for Fontan. The Fontan is done in two parts. The first part was done when T

I watched my youtube videos to educate myself on how to barbecue. Used the chimney to evenly prepare the charcoal My marinated chicken breasts Tyler's into saying "cheese!" for his photos Scott doesn't like photos so much anymore Roasting marshmallows. Mmmm, sugar! For dinner tonight, I made some flour tortillas. They're super easy, cost effective, and fun for the boys. The recipe is one from cooks.com: 3 cups flour 1/3 cup oil 1 cup warm water 1 tsp salt. Then I sauteed some garlic, onions and peppers, steamed some corn in the pressure cooker, and made fajitas with the barbecued chicken. It was nice.

Woke up to these arachnids and the kids were intrigued. Heidi wanted to spray them, but I think they are a good part of the ecosystem. Tasty morsel. The macro shots were from my little Canon powershot elph s410.

Tyler's Fontan is 8/24 with a preliminary cath on 8/22. Scott was telling Tyler, "They're gonna cut you open and you're gonna bleed!" I was like, "Scott, knock it off." Tyler pondered this and said, "Can I get a toy?" "Yes." Then Tyler sings, "Ha ha, Scott, I'm gonna get a toy!"

Tyler, Kira, Scott and I were jumping on the tramp at Pop's house yesterday. They put the nylon parachute tube in there and took turns being jumped in it. Once, I popped Tyler pretty high and he must have landed on his head because he shouted, "Daddy, that was NOT AWESOME!" I laughed and laughed.

I have entered the world of cub scouts as a committee chair (no idea what that really means). I am excited to learn something new and most importantly get to know all the cubscouts and their families. I think my job is staying organized which I am not good at and delegating which I like to do. Yesterday was roundtable when all the leaders get together to plan and discuss the upcoming month and events. Scouting is an interesting world. There are people that are meant to be scouts. They entered the scouting world 40 years ago as a youth and are still in it. I love that. I love that they love what they do. They start telling us we all need to go to wood badge (I think must be somewhere in the woods where you earn badges, tie a forward knot (hopefully its the knot I learned in 1st grade) and involve parents (YES! I can do that and understand the lingo!) So I left after 90 minutes because Danny was still at work at it was past 9PM. The church has gotten really good at conde

Finally got my barbecue! I was combing craigslist for months and found the 22.5" Weber grill and cover for a great deal. Mike and I picked it up and then on Saturday, we bought our food at Winco (a separate post is needed for Winco's greatness) and lit the charcoal. Scott was interested in the new bbq. The burgers were good. The corn was a fail. I wasn't as good at barbecuing as I thought. I should have watched my youtube videos before, because I didn't add enough charcoal and didn't position it correctly in the kettle. But I bought a charcoal chimney from wal-mart and now I'm prepared for the next round of barbecue. Also, we went to la Huasteca for some carne asada, but they had closed! D'oh! After we ate, the boys and I put some wood in and roasted marshmallows. It was a good night.

For Spirit Week at Valley Vista the kids did Tie-Dye. Here they are at home rinsing the shirts and undoing the ties. Very fun and easy project!!

Scott had his first day of kindergarten at R. Paul Krey (DDS) elementary. We all rode bikes to the school, met his teachers, and got him checked in. He was excited to be there, and I was glad, because I think I cried on the first day of school. After a brief orientation, Tyler, Kira and I played on the swings while Heidi discussed administrative stuff for Tyler. Brentwood has nice parks. We are happy to be here.