Some relatively recent pictures.

End of Fundraiser Update

Friends, family, all:

Please accept an enormous thank you for all the love, support, and prayer during this season of our lives.  Scarlett is thriving thanks to the grace of God and we truly appreciate the willingness of all of you to stand by us.  The various types of encouragement we received was overwhelming and combined with Faith carried us through all the tough moments.

The fundraiser results are as follows:

Online donations:                                                1540
Payment sent to Children's Heart Foundation:        770
Offline donations (designated 100% to Scarlett):  2760
Total                                                                   4300

Wow!  What a blessing.

In the midst of all the good news we ask that you continue to pray for our family in the following areas: wisdom, courage, strength, and resolve for Mom and Dad as parents, husband, and wife; continued healing, wellness, and growth for Scarlett; the Lord's peace, joy, and spiritual growth for all three!

If you intended to support the fundraiser and didn't get the chance, or have any other questions, contact us.

Love,
Scarlett's Dad

KISSES!

Scarlett is still doing wonderfully!  We are almost at six weeks post-op which is great, because that means her breastbone will be healed fully soon!  This is so great because she is not supposed to do certain things that are impossible to keep a toddler from doing, such as raising her arms, climbing, and bending at the waist!  It will be so nice not having to limit her anymore!  I'm sure she will be very happy too!  Otherwise there is no new news!  Thank you God for your amazing grace and our beautiful daughter!!!

Mommy and Daddy Love you Scarlett Rose!!!!!

23 days left for fundraiser...

Friends, family:  thanks again so much for the support, dedication to us, and outpouring of love during this time.  Words can't express how thankful to God we are that our daughter is thriving!  She should not have to go back to CHOP for an entire year :).

At the end of the fundraiser in 23 days we will make the donation to the Children's Heart Foundation and then start preparing to pay medical bills!  If you planned any local fundraisers, plan to donate, or anything of that nature, this is just a reminder that we will close the fundraiser at the end of August.

Please contact us with any questions.

Getting back into the swing of things!

  Well, we have been home for a couple weeks now and Scarlett is doing wonderfully!  She has had follow up appointments with her local cardiologist and her pediatrician.  During the cardiology appointment Scarlett had to get yet another chest x-ray to see if there was still fluid in/ around her lungs.  The x-ray came back clean with NO FLUID!!!  This is great news and means that we can start to wean her off of her diuretics that she currently has to take.  When she left the hospital she was on three diuretics that she had to take twice a day, she is down to two and one of them she only has to take once a day.  It will be so nice when she doesn't have to take them anymore as she has decided that taking medicine is not fun!  She also seems to notice if I put it in ANY food and will not even try a bite if she senses the meds are in there!

On another note she has been doing really well verbally!  Scarlett has started to whip out two word phrases and even a couple, three to four word sentences!  This thrills Mommy and Daddy!  She will gladly say "Hi Dada/Mom" upon arrival!  It is so sweet to get a welcoming like that!  She also likes to play ball with our dog Boo.  She will throw the ball and say "Get ball Boo!".  Every now and then she even throws in, the, to make it "Get the ball Boo!".   We have also started to try potty training.  Before Scarlett's surgery she was showing signs that she was ready, but I wanted to wait until after surgery so she would not become frustrated while in the hospital.  She has gone potty a couple times, but doesn't seem too interested in it so far.  Today I got some M&M's for a potty reward to peak her interest a little bit!  She LOVES M&M's, I guess we'll see just how much!

Otherwise here are some pictures of our beautiful little girl.

Scarlett and her Birthday Cake!

Just kickin' back drinkin a baba with Daddy!

Mischevious?!?!?

What a cutie!

Always take time to stop and smell the flowers...

and then lounge in the grass! 

Who's happy to be home?!?!??

This family! !!!!!!!

Cool! We are on our way!

Done done done done! !!

Looking onward

Kmart says ship your pants, we say ship ourselves!   We're shipping ourselves home since the doc says lovie looks 'awesome'!!!!!! To God be the glory!

Waiting for Echo with no shirt..

Xray over..waiting for echo

Pictures

Quick Note about Receiving Blog Updates via Email.

All, if you are reading this blog and would like to know when updates are made, click the "Join this site" button under the 'Followers' heading to the right of this post.  From there, you can use any number of methods to receive notification of blog updates (I'd recommend the Google method as the simplest).  Contact us with questions.  I just thought I would point out that if desired, one could receive email updates when posts are made and not have to check the site 'wondering' if we had made one.

Best,
Scarlett's Dad.

Update with more details

Well, we have been released from the hospital, and are only pending one final Dr. Appt. before heading all the way back to Indiana.  In the meantime, we are staying in the Columbia, MD area (where we used to live) with friends.  We are trying to take it as easy as possible, just relaxing as much as we can for Scarlett's (and ours) sake and seeing friends in the area.  Aside from how well Scarlett is recovering (she is pretty much her normal self already!!), we have already been extremely humbled in the past few days by the unexpected and highly generous outpouring of love and support we've been receiving here!  It feels like home, even though we no longer live here and we've been gone almost a year.  Words truly can't tell all of you who've supported us during this surgery experience [or really any experience since we found out about Scarlett's heart 'problem'] how much the love, prayers, and support have carried us.  We promise to continue to have faith and hope in the Lord for all things moving forward, and we do ask for continued prayers as well!  I know I've been using this verse a lot as a reference, but it's constantly on my heart: Isaiah 40:31.

The current plan: Travel back up to Philly on Wednesday for Scarlett to receive a check-up, x-ray, and echo[cardiogram] along with one [hopefully] final Dr. visit.  The Dr. will then clear Scarlett to leave the east coast for a good long while if all looks good (please pray about this)!!  Then we should be on our way home Wednesday/Thursday if all goes as planned.

Again, words can't express how precious, blessed, and amazing our daughter is to us, but I will post some pictures when I can!

Blessings to you and yours,
-Scarlett's Dad

Remember if you want to contact us, you may use this email address.

Chilllin.

Leaving the hospital!

I'll make a longer update later but we are heading out in about an hour.

Done.

Doctors used the magic word

She is sleepy from playing today but they said she might get to go home tomorrow...praise the Lord for that! !

After pic retry

Before and after chest tube pull

Tube is out!!  It wasn't fun, but it's over.  Please continue to pray for full recovery and a one-way ticket out of here!

The before pic is the goofy grin from the anxiety drug.

Try this youtube link to watch the video of Lovie walking!

It should work!

Lovie walking on the CHOP Cardiac Floor

Hello!

Buggy with a toy xylophone. .

Dada with buggy

Daily Update

So the doctors are upping the diuretic game today, in hopes the chest drainage will cease to be an issue and the tube can come out soon (but it will not come out today).  Right now it seems like chest drainage is totally the ONLY thing keeping us in the hospital.  Scarlett is responding pretty well to less pain meds, is off her O2 completely right now, and aside from having minor difficulty walking/playing (she needs frequent breaks still), she is pretty much back to her normal self.  Please continue to pray for recovery, healing, patience, and strength for us all!  Isaiah 40:31.....

Lunch on the 6E ward!

On the bridge

Trying to drive!

Buggy post-nap and pre-playtime

Recovery takes time...

Scarlett is still doing OK, in fact her and Mommy are getting in a good nap right now.  She had a little fall while walking to the playroom, but nothing major as far as we could tell.  She got her first post-op echo today so the Dr's can look at heart function.  We were also told that her chest tube cannot come out today because she is still draining too much fluid.  The doctors basically told us that they can't do anything but wait for the drainage to subside, which means our stay here in the hospital will most likely extend until at least next week.  Overall, Scarlett is getting better, but still has some pain/constipation problems, so please pray for her!  Mommy and Daddy are just doing everything they can to help her feel better and better.  We love you sweetheart!

I will try to upload a picture or two later this afternoon.

-Dad

Still fighting!

Lovie had a rude nap awakening with some constipation but with some help worked things out.  Playing again now.   Please continue to pray for speedy recovery for lovie and strength and energy for mom and dad.

Nap time

On her feet for kitchen play time