All news is good news!

Here's the fun part for me- Mom. Chase's medical update.

We've definitely cut back on our rotation of doctors in the past two years. The days of running around all the time are over. Now we see most of our specialists on a 6 month rotation- some of them annually!

Let's start at the heart shall we?

Last Monday, 3/7, Chase had his semi-annual echo with Dr Weinhaus. I finally got the results yesterday and I am very happy to say that he is doing excellent! In fact, Dr. Weinhaus says no surgery for the next year- possibly two! This is awesome news and I feel like taking a week off work just to celebrate. But I won't :-)

What I did do, is have Dr Weinhaus go thru step my step of Chase's heart condition & how it was repaired. To be honest, I couldn't remember all the details, which is funny since I was practically an expert just two short years ago. The "leaky valve" that was causing the right side of the heart to work harder to compensate for the left side was the Doc's original concern. Looking back at this blog (another reason I'm glad we did this!) in April 09- Chase's leaking was "moderate to moderate/severe" - which is not good. Now, due to the medications he's on, it's now mild to moderate. Much better and most patients (according to Weinhaus) can live this way for quite some time.

The surgery driving factor for his heart is the conduit (new valve) that was put in. This doesn't grow with Chase, so when he outgrows it- we get another surgery. However! Doc says where they used to see patients needing surgery after two years, he's got one who's 10 and still on his first valve. Everyone's different of course, but who knows- maybe the next time Chase has OHS- they'll have something created that will grow with him. Stem cells are a wonderfull thing you know! Also- when reading the surgical notes to me (yes, I made him get that detailed) Doc noticed they put in a 12mm conduit. Which is .5 inches. Which is larger than most- especially for a new born. This is encouraging and makes us hopefull for longer time.

His feet. . .

We still see Dr. Noonan every six months. The past two times, he thought Chase only had one club foot, not two . . . I take this as good news :) In fact, such good news that Dr Noonan said we will follow up when Chase is three and we will probably be done with the night braces. Um yeah, about those. Chase wears them . . . . occasionally. . . more now that he figured out how to climb out of his crib. Who knew I'd learn to love those nasty things? They definitely keep him on lock down at night. Anyways, 3 is way better than the 5 yr mark we heard initially, so I'll take it.

His liver. . . .

Dr. Yaffee is quite pleased with Chase's liver tests, has been since he was diagnosed. Chase is an asymptomatic case so it's likely he'll remain that way for a long time. Still no smoking & no drinking for him. But it's encouraging that his number remain good as there is actually nothing we can do to prevent or treat this condition. Someone "up there" must like us!

His immunology. . .

Dr. Seroogy sees Chase annually. This is also something that is just "watched, not treated." Considering Chase has kept well for the most part (we're talking major infections here, not his weekly cough/cold) she has given us the green light to get live vaccines and he is responding well to them. No nasty side effects and while it sometimes seems like a big waste of time to have one more doctor to see, it's nice that she's looking out for him.

Genetics. . .

We had an appointment with Dr. Rice in January. By all accounts Chase is a normal little boy. His 22q does not hold him back at all & Dr Rice is estatic with his weight & height and has told us to come back in 2 years. We still use Birth to Three- speech and OT. Chase's speech has been progressing rapidly- today he told me "more bubbles mama" and I heard every syllable. Fine motor and gross motor skill are just where the should be- he is doing so good!

Dance Party USA

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Click here to view photos

Regular occurance at Club Lehman- Chase may have found his calling. . . .
Just double click on the thumbnail once you get to the Snapfish site, it will open up the video.

Random Chase Stuff

February Fun with Friends

This is me and my Milwaukee crew.

My friends whose mom's are Mom's friends from college. We've grown in size the past two years, added some chicks, and are expecting another one shortly. I have a lot of fun hanging out with these guys. Carter and Brody are CRAZY and I try to keep up :-) I give Will's mom a heart attack every time I climb on the chairs, and well, if I'm being honest. The ladies love me. Maggie- the redhead to my right? She's all about me, checking me out with her big blue eyes, laying her head on my shoulder. It was AWESOME! But since I'm one of 4, soon to be 5 guys in this crew, it may come to fisticuffs. . . Little Avery is the youngest & she's pretty cute too, I like that she gets all rough and growls like the boys.

Just for reference- this is us in April 09- Jackson couldn't make the Feb playdate (he's to my left) but we'll see him soon!

January Fun

Jeez, Mom is such a slacker when it comes to this blog thing. I keep trying to show her I can do it on my own, Gma Lehman got me my own laptop and everything, but Mom's all into "supervising my internet usage." I think she watches too many Datelines and Criminal Minds. . .

So here we are sledding. . . in snow. . . let's talk about snow shall we? I wasn't a huge fan last year, it was all crunchy and there was a bunch of it. This year I'm warming up to it (ha! like my joke!) but I'm still not a huge fan. It may have to do with the times Mom chooses to take me sledding- by the third picture you can see it's up to my waist. How's a kid supposed to walk in that??? But I've learned you can eat it, it tastes alright, I'll tolerate it for a little while- then I'm heading somewhere warm!

Merry Christmas Little Man!

This was my best Christmas ever, Chase was old enough to get excited- but didn't really grasp the Santa concept just yet.

Santa, however, didn't care as you can see- Chase was a very good dude this year and reaped the rewards!

Hmm, shocking- I don't know where he got this phone obsession from. .

Nice mess dude, glad the presents were wrapped

Awesome gift from G&G Lehman- it's a book with photos of Chase's peeps wishing him a Merry Christmas. HE LOVES IT!!

So Gma Lehman thought now is the time for Chase to have a "baby"- you know, to teach him how to be nuturing. . .(picture my eyes rolling)

Chase unwraps Baby Jenna- sees what it is, yells "NO!" and then tries to REWRAP the doll. I just about died from laughing. Nuturing my arse.

Once Baby Jenna is unwrapped and out of the box, he is pretty cute with her. Gma's all "see I told you so" and I'm all "see, he's now shoving her in the subwofer"

Good times at the Lehman house!

Annual Lehman Family Picture

Chase's daycare family!

A couple random stories

This first picture is how hard Chase likes to fight naptime in the morning. He's pretty much down to one nap now- after lunch. But on some days- like when he wakes up at 4:30 AM- I feel that he needs a morning nap. On this particular day he threw a level 5 meltdown (nah, he's not tired at all. . . ) tossed out the lovey, Hobbes, ALL THREE BLANKETS, and his pillow before finally falling asleep. HA- guess Mother does know best. . .



This, is not my favorite story, but since he's a product of me- it needs to be shared.
A little bit of backstory-- I was, hmm, let's say, a little clumsy when I was younger. I ran into walls, fell out of the bed, smacked my chin on tables, sides of pools, slides- well, you get the picture. I actually had 5 sets of stitches before the age of five. So while this was not at all surprising- the actual event still caught me off guard.

A couple weeks before Christmas (decorations already up of course) Chase and I were hanging out. It was a blizzard (of course) Saturday night (of course) and he and I were home. . . alone (duh.) Well Little Man fancies himself a climber so he climbs on the end table and as I'm telling him to get down, he face plants it. Directly onto a (admittedly poorly placed) glass Christmas vase.

He's screaming, blood everywhere, and a big ole gash on his head. I am running around the house, trying to calm him (and me) stop the bleeding, and figure out how I'm going to drive to the urgent care (which closes at 5PM on saturdays btw- fact I would have like to known BEFORE this day) and keep pressure on the wound. So I did the only thing I know how- called Mom & Dad.

Luckily they live within a miles, so they scooped us up (by then the bleeding had stopped and Chase was laughing) and took us to the urgent (closed) then ER. New fun fact - if a cut on the face is more than a quarter inch long- they will tell you to come in for stitches.

Anyhoo- they got us all taken care of and here's Little Man with his (first of many I'm sure) stitches.