When Life Hands You A Broken Heart

Give Big! {Books for Charley 2016}

2016-05-01T11:53:00.000-05:00

For the fourth year in a row we are so excited and incredibly honored to announce that we will be taking part in the wonderful Books for Charley book donation again!

Haven't heard of Books for Charley?

Books for Charley was created by the family of an adorable little girl named Charlotte who earned her wings in May 2011, just two weeks after her first birthday. Books are collected for the entire month of May every year and donated to area Children's Hospitals in honor of precious little Charlotte.

Last year, thanks to Logan's school PTO and our incredible donors, we were able to donate 307 books to The University of Iowa Children's Hospital Cardiology Department!!!!

AMAZING!!!!

Logan's school PTO once again stepped up and organized a Books for Charley donation at their annual spring book fair last week. We can't wait to pick up their donations and add them to our collection!

So, here is how the Books for Charley donation works.

Each year I create a wish list on Amazon and I have so much fun choosing books for everyone to purchase for donation.

We are book lovers in this house and my two boys truly cherish their book collections just as much as I do. When I am choosing books for our Books for Charley wish list every year I always love picking the favorites of my boys, authors they enjoy and characters that all children enjoy.

For the entire month of May I will be collecting book donations and any monetary donations to go toward the purchase of books to be donated. We will then make our donation to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital Cardiology Department in June. All books will be given to pediatric cardiology patients coming in for procedures, surgeries and also given out to newly diagnosed children.

Please note that all books donated need to be brand spanking new since they will be going to medically fragile children. No used books please.

We have once again created a wish list on Amazon for Books for Charley. There are over 400 very cute books, many of them Logan's personal favorites, (for ages baby to teen) for you to choose from ranging in price from $3-$9. It is super easy to do. All you have to do is follow the link, make a purchase and the books will automatically be shipped to us. Please consider making a purchase so we can donate some amazing books to the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. The best part is that if you spend $25 in eligible books Amazon gives you FREE shipping!! Follow the link below to be taken to the wish list for Books for Charley.

Amazon - Books For Charley Wish List (Click Here)

All monetary donations can be made out and mailed to me (for you local peeps). All monetary donations will be used by Logan and Wyatt when we visit our local bookstore to purchase books for Books for Charley. They both loved choosing books themselves last year for the kids.

I know how much it means to Logan to receive a special gift right before he goes in for a cath/procedure. It provides a moment of comfort and happiness during a normally stressful time for him. Your donations will help so many children and they are so appreciated by them!

Please consider making a donation today and not only help to honor the life of precious Charlotte, but also provide a new book to be treasured by a child.

I am so thankful for Charley's mommy, Kristen, for allowing our family to take part in honoring her little girl each year through Books for Charley. It really is an amazing thing to be part of and such an important lesson to my own boys on the act of giving.

Please choose to GIVE BIG!

It's a go! {Prayers Needed}

2016-04-05T18:58:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness!!! After our visit with Otolaryngology my stomach is all in knots. I'm glad that we are getting this big ball rolling but the other part of me is freaking out worrying about how things are going to go.

Logan's cardiologist, Dr. A, was super sweet and sent me an encouraging email before we even made it home from our visit with Oto to reassure me that Logan will do fine. Love her!

For those of you who may have forgot from my last update, we have been waiting to have a consult with Oto about having Logan's tonsils removed due to his obstructive sleep apnea.

It's hard to tell in this photo but behind Dr. M's hand Logan is grinning and giggling. He thought having his upper airway scoped was hilarious. He said, "Ha ha! I have tiny hairs in my nose!"

Such a goof! Dr. M had a good old time chatting with Logan and listening to all of the funny things he had to say. Never a dull moment with this kid!

After, Dr. M scoped Logan out and went over some issues with us he said that having the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy is the first step in trying to treat obstructive sleep apnea. We will not know 100% if it works until after Logan recovers and we obtain another sleep study.

During Logan's T&A surgery, Pulmonary will perform a bronchoscopy to investigate Logan's lower airways to look for any other explanation for his apnea. Also, pediatric dentistry is planning to piggyback on the surgery and fix a tooth that Logan needs taken care of. So, it is going to be a big day for Logan.

He will have to spend the night in the hospital following the surgery due to his apnea history so they can watch him closely. He will then have a two week recovery and will miss one week of school. Logan is already looking forward to his mini vacation, the gifts he will receive and all the ice cream he can possibly eat.....even for breakfast. I don't think he realizes yet how much pain he is going to be in post op though. I know I am dreading that part. I hate knowing he is going to be suffering. He has been through so much already!

Pray, pray, pray!

Please pray for our sweet boy! Next month he will have the surgery and we hope things go smoothly. Also, pray for his upcoming Pulmonary appointment. We have been given mixed information following his lung volume study in March and are anxious to get the confusion cleared up regarding Logan's lung issues.

Sleep Study Results.....

2016-02-15T11:37:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday evening the Sleep Disorder Clinic had a cancellation so Logan was able to get in to have his sleep study done. We were so excited that we were able to get an appointment right away since originally we were looking at mid April for the first available time slot. We just wanted to get this sleep study done and have a few things crossed off our "worry" list right away.

Logan and I packed our overnight bags and arrived at the sleep disorder clinic next to the U a little before 8 o'clock that night. Yes, it was totally weird arriving at the hospital at night to check in.

Once we got in the clinic they placed us in our room right away and got started hooking Logan up to all sorts of fun things that required lots of glue and tape. All over his head. Behind his ears. On his shoulders, chest and legs. Plus the breathing bands across his chest. He was cool with most of it but he did complain a little that the stuff they rubbed on him before the glue smelled really bad.

Then they let him lay down and get settled for a bit before they hooked up the last little gadgets and told us "night night."

They placed the last oxygen sensor on his forehead and then placed a tube up his nose and we were all set for lights out.

Surprisingly Logan slept pretty well. Better than I thought he would and he only woke up one time to ask me if it was still night time and then told me he loved me.

I, on the other hand, did not sleep well at all. Go figure. The tech had to come in a lot in the beginning to adjust a sensor, then there was this loud machine rumbling sound outside our room and the foam cot I was sleeping on was giving me fits. Plus who can sleep with a camera on in the room. I know. I'm weird. Just sleep. Who cares.

But overall the sleep study was a pleasant experience and our tech was super sweet. Always awesome about explaining everything to Logan, answering questions and asking permission before he did everything.

The sleep study ended in the morning and it took some time getting Logan all unglued/untaped/unhooked. The tech rewarded Logan with some cool hotwheel cars.

The tech said before we left that he didn't see anything alarming that night but that the docs would call us within ten days with the sleep study results.

Well, the sleep disorder doc called this morning.

To be completely honest I wasn't really expecting anything to come of the sleep study. After what the tech said I thought that maybe we would get a call and the doc would say that his sleep study looked good just a little snoring......blah, blah, blah......no worries......have a great day.

Yeah, that didn't happen.

The doc said that Logan is having obstructive sleep apnea with SaO2 (arterial oxygen saturation) low of 90%.

"Obstructive sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Several types of sleep apnea exist, but the most common type is obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when your throat muscles intermittently relax and block your airway during sleep. The most noticeable sign of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring. "

He said that we have two types of treatments for Logan. The first would be to remove his tonsils and see if that helps with the sleep apnea. The other would be through CPAP therapy.

"Continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP ) uses a machine to help a person who has obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) breathe more easily during sleep. A CPAP machine increases air pressure in your throat so that your airway doesn't collapse when you breathe in."

So, the first step is that they are referring us to an ENT at the U to be evaluated and see if removing his tonsils will help. {Fingers crossed, says lots of prayers} We are hoping this will be the case and it will be an easy fix.

Otherwise we will be looking at the CPAP.

Like, I said, this is not what I was expecting or wanting to come out of the sleep study but like always......we are rolling with the punches.

In a couple more weeks Logan will have his Lung Volume Study done at the U and we are hoping that it, along with the sleep study results, will give us some better answers from the Pulmonary docs regarding his lungs.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Logan. Keep them coming.