Ye haw!

Cowboy Bryce

OK, you can kind of see the cowboy belt and buckle in these pictures. Word is that Kiki has some pictures of him in the whole outfit. I'm going to get them one day!!

Cosmetic Surgery

I just spoke with Patty from Dr. Woolley's office. She said that Dr. Woolley (ENT) and Dr. Theos (Dermatologist) want to wait until Bryce is 2 to start the cosmetic procedures for the facial hemangiomas. Wow!!!! No more Dr. visits, surgeries, procedures for a whole year! What will we do with all this extra time?!?! I am so excited. I was hoping they would say to wait. I think the hemangioma could still involute some between now and then. We will see Dr. Woolley in Feb/March of next year for him to assess the vocal chords. Hopefully he can do that in the office without putting Bryce to sleep. At that time we will start making decisions on cosmetic surgeries for the lip and the area around the lip. We have one more synegis vaccine (RSV) to get in April and then it will be like Bryce is a 'normal' kid!!!!!!

Feeling Better

Bryce is finally feeling better. Not 100% yet, but definitely better than Friday and Saturday. He and his Daddy had some great bonding time today. I got in one of my 'must organize/store/throw away moods' so I was busy in Bryce's room for about 2 hours and I could hear the giggles coming from the living room. They were having a great time! He ate all of his dinner tonight (for the first time since Tuesday) and had fun in the bath tub again. Anthony and I planted some flowers today. It is such a good feeling to know that Spring is finally here. (Although it feels like summer here--86 degrees today!) We don't have much planned for this week. Maybe a playgroup or two and then Kiki and Papaw Duke are coming to see us Friday-Saturday and our friends Holly and Trey are coming Saturday-Sunday.

Stomach Bug

Bryce is sick. He threw up a couple of times today and had one MEAN diaper. He slept a good bit of the day and when he was awake all he wanted to do was sit in the recliner with me. We watched a lot of Barney, Higglytown Heroes, and Backyardigans today. Anthony is such an awesome husband and Daddy. He came home at lunch and didn't go back to work. It was great having him here with us. We were supposed to go to West Point to Kiki and Papaw Duke's house this weekend. The whole family is going to be there so we are sad we have to miss it.

Cowboy Party

We had a great time at the Cowboy Hoedown last weekend. Thank you to everyone who came. We had friends and family come in from out of town just for the party, which is very special to us. It means alot to know you all love Bryce too. You should see our house. WOW!!!!! The toys are everywhere. We are putting some up to pull out on rainy days throughout the year because he just got so much! Here are some pictures from Saturday. I was too busy trying to talk to everyone and didn't have my camera out as much as I would have like too. If anyone out there has one of him with his shirt tucked in so you can see his belt buckle or with his hat on please send it to me! I will put a video of him eating the cake later today if I get a chance. It is super cute.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Bryce, Happy Birthday to you!!!!!

It is a rainy day here in Memphis. So we are heading to the mall! :) I know that is exactly what Bryce wants to do for his birthday! Tonight we are having a small celebration with Cappy, Papaw Ruff, Daddy, Mommy and Bryce. He will get to open a couple of gifts. I started giving him whole milk two days ago and he seems to love it! Dr. Woolley said we could stop the Zantac and yesterday was Bryce's first medicine free day since he was 8 weeks old!

Bryce shares a birthday with Jessica, Zack's mom from playgroup. So Happy Birthday Jessica!!!!

Great News-SoSo News

First, the good news......HIS AIRWAY LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!!! No more hemangioma in the airway and the reconstruction was successful.

The SoSo news is a two parter. (1.) To cut out the hemangioma during the last surgery Dr. Woolley had to split the vocal chords. This is pretty risky because they rarely heal perfectly. It had to be done though, the hemangioma was all over the vocal chords. The ideal position for the vocal chords to heal is a 'V' shape. Because of scar tissue from the surgery, Bryce's vocal chords more resemble a 'U' or Dr. Woolley used the word webbing. This might cause hoarseness or raspiness in his voice and if it gets any worse (which is NOT expected) it could interfere with his breathing. Dr. Woolley thinks that 3 months post surgery all the scarring has pretty much happened and it shouldn't get any worse. There are surgeries to fix this if that needs to be done down the road. I won't even get into that though (not fun). I'll just say his voice will have to be pretty bad for us to go through it. (2.) It appears the hemangioma on his lip is not involuting. At 12 months of age most show signs of involution. The one by his ear has these signs, but not the one on his lip that is much more prominent. We have the # to the pediatric dermatologist at Children's and I will be calling her this week to set up an appointment. Dr. Woolley said he thinks the redness around the lip (not the bulky part on his actual lip) will need to be lasered. It is like tattoo removal I think. (Not exactly sure, but that is all I can liken it to right now). This dermatologist would do this in the OR with general anesthesia. He thinks maybe in the next couple of months. I've got research to do! Dr. Woolley is going to send some pictures of Bryce's lip to Dr. Milton Waner. (Anyone familiar with hemangiomas knows of this very respected Dr. in the Vascular Birthmark world) He wants to get his opinions on excision of the bulky part of the lower lip hemangioma. When to do it, how to do it, all that. Dr. Woolley would actually perform this surgery :) He is going to a Vascular Birthmark Conference next month, I wonder if he will talk about Bryce and the 12 procedures he has performed on him this last year?

So all in all, a great day. I knew we would have to address the lip soon, that it should be showing involution signs and isn't so that wasn't a surprise. The vocal chords not healing perfectly was expected and a little raspiness will be cute and give him character!

Thank you for all of your prayers. They have been answered!!!!!!

Prayers for tomorrow

We are leaving here at 4:30am tomorrow for Children's Hospital in Birmingham for Bryce's 12th OR procedure.

If you had told me one year ago today that by the time the baby in my belly was 12 months old, he would have been to the OR and put under general anesthesia TWELVE times I would have never believed it. It is amazing all that he has been through in his first year. He is such a trooper and is truly an inspiration to me. We are hoping 12 is the magic number for us. I am very optimistic that Dr. Woolley won't see any growth of the hemangioma and that the airway is healed up perfectly! That is our prayer anyway. I will update the blog sometime tomorrow.

Pictures from the first 1st Birthday Party

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Zoo

We went to the zoo with our playgroup yesterday. Bryce had a great time!

Tomorrow he is having the first of two birthday parties! My cousin Jennifer is nice enough to have it at her house. Bryce is so excited to see Borden, Jack, Harrison, Ben and Anna! I'll post pictures from that party tomorrow or Sunday.

Still on for the 12th

Dr. Woolley wants to do the scope Monday. Yuck. He did say that if everything looks good he won't have to have another one. EVER!!!! We should be first case Monday morning. That means leaving here at 4:30am to be at the hospital at 5:45. The scope should start around 7:15. I'll update when I get to Memphis that afternoon. (Unless we have to stay in the hospital overnight, which I'm not anticiapting).

Welcome Lydia Grace

We want to welcome Lydia Grace to the world!!! She is the daughter of our very good friends Ryan and Jessica who now live in Houston. Lydia was born February 6th and weighed 8lbs. 1oz. They are all home and doing great. Isn't she the cutest?

Doing Great

Nothing new to report here! Bryce has been healthy and happy for a while now. It is great! Cappy came in town for a very short visit this weekend. She and Bryce always have such a good time together. We visited her parents Saturday for lunch. Saturday night Cappy and Bryce stayed in and Mommy and Daddy got to go on a date! We had dinner at La Jolla, a nice restaurant in Montgomery. We have a pretty laid back week ahead of us. Praying to stay well for the scope a week from today. Then we head to Memphis for the whole week!!

Anthony is calling the ENT surgeon's office today to make sure we have to do this scope on the 12th. Bryce's breathing sounds great and of course we hate to do general anesthesia if we don't have to. I'll update after he talks to them.