Micah's account of Liz's procedure

So the doctor prior to the procedure stated that there is a small chance that he may not be able to do the ablation in certain instances. He stated that he would do the EP study to map out Liz's electrical pathway of her heart. This would give him the exact location of the aberrant pathway causing her symptoms. So she went in for her procedure, fully expecting that we would fit in the group of people who do not have a condition where the radio frequency ablation would be too risky. Based on what they saw on her EKG they told us not to be surprised if it took up to 5 hours or so.
The nurses notified me when they actually started the procedure and then about an hour later she came in and told me they were finished. I knew then that something was up.
The doctor came in and explained some good news and some not so good. He explained that he conducted the EP study and found exactly where the pathway is, however the not so good news is the location of the pathway. He explained that the pathway is immediately adjacent to the AV node (Atrioventricular Node). This node is the gateway or 'toll booth' for the electrical pathway to travel from the atria to the ventricles to coordinate contractions. The only way for normal electrical activity to move from the atria to the ventricles is through the AV node. Therefore, if the area ablated with the radio frequency ablator gets the AV node in its attempt to get the aberrant pathway then she will have heart block; her atria and ventricles cannot talk to each other and then she would need a pacemaker. This is why he did not proceed.

So now what? He put in a call to Cleveland Clinic and U of Michigan to two of his friends that have access to cryotherapy. With cryotherapy they can use liquid nitrogen at -20deg C to cool the area of the pathway. If this does not lead to heart block, then they wait a few more minutes and do it again. If this works well, then they can use liquid nitrogen at -70deg C and actually burn/freeze the pathway permanently. If she does go into heart block, they warm up the area and it is reversible.
So, we need to call the doctor on Monday and find out who we need to talk to, and will probably go this route. We will see when we can get into somewhere that has access to cryotherapy for heart ablations and try this route as opposed to her having to take medication for the rest of her life.
To do the EP study, they went in through the groin on both legs, and so she is supposed to keep reclined for the next few days and cannot lift anything to allow the pressure in her veins to stay down and prevent any large clotting. She'll gradually go back to normal activity throughout the day tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and concerns. We were really hoping by this time she would have been 'fixed' but it looks like we have to wait a little more for that to happen. We'll keep you up to date as we find more out. Here are some pictures we took when she got home.

Beautiful peonies from Laura's garden

And flowers from Hilary, Aiden, and Devin

Coincidentally my Aunt and Uncle, who are also my Godparents from Texas were in our area for a wedding, so they stopped by for the evening to visit :)

having fun with Devin

Prayer time in the living room since I'm not supposed to eat at the table for the next few days.

Devin trying to push me out of the way to get to the food. Such a stinker!

Aunt Laura and Micah doing dishes. I can get used to that!

Wasting time :)

A few pictures before they leave

It was so nice to come home to a house full of family :) Thanks for coming out to visit everyone!

It's Official!

We finally sold the house! We got up early this morning and made the drive to the house for the last time. We had a few cleaning things to pick up, and we wanted to say our final good byes to our first home.

Even though Devin never lived here, he's been back with us plenty of times and almost started crawling in it when we came back after the vandalism in February.

Last time in our master bedroom

Aiden's nursery! That border was discontinued right after we ordered it, so I cut the scenes from the leftovers we had and had them framed to put in our nursery here. So Pooh lives on in our house here, just not all the way around the room.

The boys goofing off

They are so cute together! They are definitely each others entertainment :)

You can't see it, but I'm pointing to a wax droplet from my accident that keeps seeping through even though I've tried to scrape and paint over it numerous times.

The smoke on the ceiling from the accident. I was so nervous someone would notice it, but it just looks like a shadow if you don't know its up there. I threw the curtains away that melted ;)

Last family photo in the house.

Signing it away! Well, it feels like we gave it away, but whatever!

Dawn, our wonderful Realtor that finally helped us get the job done! It only took 2 1/2 years and about 4 Realtors to find her...but we're happy and grateful that we finally did :)

Concentrating very hard during our celebration lunch before heading home.
We are so thankful to everyone who has helped us make this closing a reality. Many lessons learned, and now we get to finally move on. It's been a long drawn out process, and I'm so happy that it's over. No matter what happened, we loved that house and it will always have a place in our hearts, and it will truly be missed.

kite flying

The Easter Bunny at Grammy and Papa's house gave Aiden this great Airplane kite. Aiden has an airplane bed that Micah and my dad built for him, so anything airplane we get excited about :) It was a great day to fly a kite, so we gave it a go. It took us awhile to put it together, but finally we got it.

I'm bummed that this camera doesn't take the best videos, but at least the beginning is cool.

Devin joined the boys watching the kite fly high.

Finally after awhile we decided it was time to eat. We could have kept that going forever the way the wind was blowing :)

Bike Rides

One of our favorite things to do when the weather breaks is to ride our bikes. Micah rides more than I do...he'll go for miles and miles. I enjoy the exercise, but I can't go nearly as long as he can. Plus he pulls Aiden along, and now Devin :) Extra weight for a better exercise. So now that the weather is nice Micah got the bikes down and the go-bug. He took Aiden for his normal ride, and then when he got home I said to get Devin in so he gets used to wearing a helmet and the rides. He took them around the neighborhood a few times, and he did great :) Next time I'll go too and we'll go for a little longer, but not as far. I didn't get to bike at all last summer because I was hugely preggo-so I'm a little nervous for my first ride. But I'm excited to get back into it, especially after my surgery is over and I'm good as new!

Aiden telling Devin about safety first and how it's important to keep your helmet on!

Ready to go!

and they're off!

We've been trying to get Aiden to ride his bike he got for his birthday-but he has been having a hard time with the concept of peddling. Our neighbor has a little boy 2 weeks younger than Aiden, so he's been watching a learning from them a little. It's getting better, but he's fallen a couple of times and now is scared. So we put his pads on.

Getting a little push up the slope...I'm hoping by the end of the week he'll have it down pretty good and we'll have fun rides in the neighborhood soon.

I can't tell if that's an attempt at a smile or a wince of pain...actually it was the sun :)

Showing off his battle scars...that other one on the knee goes around the side another inch too. Poor guy!

School program

Aiden had his last day of preschool the week after we got back from our trips. His teacher put together a little program for the kids to perform some of the songs they have learned throughout the year. And the older kids going on to kindergarten "graduated" while the younger ones got certificates. It was pretty cute. Micah was on call, but he was able to stay long enough to be there for it all, getting paged the whole time, but he was there and saw most of it, and it was important to Aiden that he made it.

Aiden had been practicing all week, so it was cute to see him perform his songs with his class. And the fact that he actually sang this time! If you recall his Christmas program it was a lot of grinning and looking around and watching his classmates instead of doing what he was supposed to :)

Ok, sorry that the video is sideways...I was using my camera and most of the pictures were taken that way. I keep forgetting that even though it's fine on the screen, it's filming sideways. It was hard to man both my still and video cameras and a 9 month old at the same time while Micah was in the back answering all his pages. At this point I had both filming at the same time so I had a small video to put on here and the full song on our video camera.


All done! First year of preschool under our belt :) Time to enjoy the summer!

Arizona

As I mentioned earlier, the boys went to Arizona with Micah's parents to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa while we went to DC and NYC. Sandy shared her photos with me so I could post them on the blog for all of you :) Here's a bit from their little trip...

I guess Aiden was pretty excited to ride a bus from the airport.

In the rental car ready to see Great Grandma Betty and Great Grandpa Arkie!

Devin's first forward facing car seat ride. I guess he was too big for the infant seat, so they had to get a regular one. When they got back from their trip, Devin had his 9 month appointment and the doctor said it was fine to switch him over permanently. So now he's forward facing next to Aiden in our cars too-and LOVING it ;)

Aiden ready for bed. The Bears bear is his "Daddy Bear" that has Micah's voice on it from a few years ago. Then in preparation for their trip without us, we made both the boys new bears with both our voices on them, so they can play them whenever they felt like they were missing us. I think it worked well for everyone. I guess Aiden played his over and over and over again and had it memorized in no time. And he kept exclaiming "That's my Dad! That's my Mom!". Too cute :)

chilling out

My goobotz :)

Grandpa Arkie gave Aiden his old base ball mit and a hat...how cool!

Give me more food!!

Aiden hard at "work" with Grandpa

Pictures by the "Biggest cactus of them all!"

Grandpa Arkie and Devin

Hanging out at the park

Silly Kiki

and Grandpa

Play time!

This picture made me nervous...;) What a good sport!

Life is good when it's on a slide

So sweet

Aiden was excited that this tank had a Kangaroo and a cactus on it!

Just don't touch the prickers!

I think the boys had a great time, and I know Arkie and Betty loved having them over. It was nice they got the chance to go and give us some time alone. But we were so happy when we all got back together safe and sound :) Thank you to everyone who made this all possible!!