We have all had a busy month and actually few months. Lance continues to do well and spread his wings. We have adjusted to our new lifestyle and try to stay upbeat about what we have been through. Every once in a while I stop and really take in this roller coaster we have been on. I stop and think of all the pain we went through (not the same pain Lance felt, but it still hurt) all the ups and downs and times when we wondered if we would ever leave Children's Health Care of Atl. We were there for so long, at times it really felt like that was our new home and I was forgetting what home was like.

Lance's cath was great yesterday and it was a good day!! We left at 5:30 a.m. and hit NO traffic! It only took an hour to get there, so for once in my life I was not late, I actually was 30 minutes early!!! Lance was in such a good mood.Lance took his sleepy medicine like a champ and went back for the cath. After about 45 minutes Dr. Kim quickly came back from the cath lab (he kinda scared me, because they don't usually come in before Lance is back in the room) and he told me that "they all had been talking like pirates" since that was what Lance was going to for Halloween. Lance's CVP number was 6 which is WONDERFUL!!! His biopsy came back "0" which means no rejection!!! All his other numbers were right where they wanted them, so it seems that Lance has this transplant situation under control!!! The two hours after went by quickly too, Lance was actually not ready to leave.

Lance has his cath tomorrow @ 7:00a.m. and I feel as though we will get a great report! He has been doing so well lately and has been a good sport about taking his medicine (actually he likes it when DR. Emory gives it to him) like Grandma Judy says "at least one of them should become a doctor from all of this". I am taking him to this appointment tomorrow and I hope to get them to start weening him off the Keppra, we shall see!! He has his ENT appt on Thursday and Doug will be taking him to this appt. We have to divide and conquer these appointments.

Both the monkeys had their parent teacher meetings and Thankfully they are doing great. They both got GREAT reports and we are pleased. Emory's teacher did say she would love to clone him. Lance's teacher is so impressed with how well he has done considering the amount of school he has missed. She said he is above level in reading and is doing great. She also said that he has only told her one time "That he didn't want to do something"and she quickly explained that "he really didn't have an option". She said he got right back on task. I guess he had to test the waters and Thankfully she passed with flying colors.....

After a week off, Lance and Emory went back to school. This was there fall break and they enjoyed it. They just stayed around the house and played with friends and Grandma Judy. So this morning was a challenge because they had to get back in the swing of things and get up before they were ready. Off to school they went and I on the other hand have a day to myself. I am all alone and I can't say that I mind. I am headed to the doctor because I got stung by a yellow jacket this Saturday while roasting marshmellows and my arm is sooo swollen. I feel like we live at the Doctor's office. If he can help with the pain and swelling it will be worth the trip.

Lance continues to do well and we are so Thankful for all our blessings. We are so Thankful for all the friends and family that have been supporting us and making things happen to help ease our worries. We are so Thankful for the people that have stepped forward to plan an event in Lance's honor. It has really helped us. The fundraiser on Friday night (Fatso's)was a lot of fun and the one on Sunday (The Gold Wing Road Riders) was fun and they both were a sucess!!! We have a few more things in the works and trust me it helps ease our minds.this road we have been down has definetly been a struggle in many ways. In the beginning I tried to put on a "front" that everything was under control. I think that was our pride, because it is hard to admit that you are hurting and need help.

Lance is doing well and we even more are finding our niche in this new world we have entered. Doug and I have worked out the plans for the medicine so that I can take a breath and not have to be a frantic mom making sure that everything has been checked off our incredibly long listof things that have to be done on a daily basis to keep Lance strong and healthy. Coming up with that has given me room to breathe. Lance also seems to be less dramatic about taking all of these meds, we had to go back to a sticker chart. It is funny what a child will do to put a sticker on a chart. We also give him the sticker for "whine free days", or shall I say partial "Whine free days".  We also had to go back to the white chair, this was his time out chair pre-transplant. I think in the beginning we all were so Thankful that he was with us, after what we went through for 3 months, that we didn't care that he was trying to run the show 24/7.

The update on Lance's neurology appointment was that it is to soon to ween him off of the Keppra just yet, they said the don't even consider taking them off for at least 6 months and that is considered quick. They said we could call at the six month mark and they would give us instructions on how to ween him off. I hope we can hold out that long. He is a little hard to handle some days. Other than that everything is going well, his biopsy came back 0 which means NO REJECTION!!! So that is great news!!! He was taken off one of the diuretics about a week ago so we are gradually getting down one medicine at a time. Emory has been suffering from some stomach pain and we finally got to the bottom of it. After many trips to the Dr. we found out he was constipated. So now Emory is taking something for that.

It turns out that Lance had an ear infection and we need to get tubes put back in his ears. Dr. Souther said it is a pretty bad ear infection. Lance started feeling better last night. He had an early morning appointment today, but due to an emergency at the hospital, he did a lot of waiting. He finally got back around 11:15 and when they brought him back they said everything looked great. Thank you!!! He has to wait two hours after his cath to be released. The only problem is he has a neurology appointment at 2:00 that I don't think he will be on time for. The cath lab staff said they would call over there and let them know Lance would be a little late. The neurology appointment will hopefully be productive and they will hopefully start weening him off the seizure medicine "Keppra". I know it will be a process and take a while to get him weened off of it completly, but we are ready.

We had a great weekend. We took it easy and did nothing Saturday, what a great feeling. Then Sunday we wet to church and Lance was in a litttle play and we had a Heart Babies Bar-B-Q. This Bar-b-Q was so much fun, it was so nice to be around a bunch of people that know exactly what you are going through. We all have  a strong bond. I met some wonderful people that I hope to stay close with. We are going to do the heart walk together in November and it should be a lot of fun with this group. Later on that night Lance felt a little warm and he had a fever, it was a low grade fever. I calle d the transplant team and they said to watch him the next day and see how he does and if he still had a fever on Monday to bring him Tuesday. When he woke up his fever was gone, but we kept him home from school to give him time to rest. We hope this is nothing. So far today he has been doing well.