Benscoter Family: November 2015

We had several quiet days at home to recover from all the fun we had in Hawaii at the beginning of the month. On November 19th I hosted the squadron spouse social at the Fort Dix Bowing Alley. We had a small crowd of 8 women and we bowled two games while enjoying pizza and cupcakes. It was a fun little evening out with some great ladies! On November 20th Tyler and I met Joe at his squadron for a family potluck lunch. There was so much food and we even got to watch some people bob for apples (which is always entertaining in my book!).

Joe, Sophia, Tyler, and I went to Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania for Day out with Thomas on November 22nd! It was very, very cold outside that day but we managed by dodging into the tents and cabins they had there. Our outing was even more fun because we went with Amanda, Daniel, Hunter, and Eden Rappa as well as our new friends Meg, Lane, and Scarlett. During our time at the railroad we rode on both Thomas and Percy trains. The trains were so cute and all of the kids had a lot of fun!

Joe and I took Tyler to CHOP for his pre-procedure testing on November 24th in preparation for his heart catheterization. It was a fairly quick visit that included chest x-rays and a blood draw but he was our brave hero, as usual. My parents arrived that afternoon to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and to help us out with Sophia during Tyler's testing.

Thanksgiving was on November 26th and we were lucky enough to have the birthday boy (Benjamin) join us! He drove down to our house from the Cape that morning and even helped me prepare our Thanksgiving meal. My mom was in charge of the turkey, stuffing, and gravy while Benjamin and I prepared the rest of the sides. We enjoyed all of the delicious food around noon so we had plenty of time to eat, clean up, and nap! After our naps we had dessert down at the Rappa's house...it was so fun and all the treats were delicious! The kids and I also did a little turkey puppet craft which came out really cute and I think they had a lot of fun!

Joe and I took Tyler to CHOP for a 5:30am show time on November 27th. We were taken back to a hospital room around 6am and got Tyler prepped for his procedure. Joe took Tyler to be sedated and then we waited in the waiting room to get hourly updates regarding the status of his MRI and catheterization. Around noon we were able to speak with Dr. Glatz, the interventional cardiologist that performed Tyler's catheterization. He told us that the pressures in Tyler's pulmonary arteries were very good, and the the perfusion to each lung was equal on both sides (which is what you want). He said that Tyler's body was growing several small collateral veins which were not helpful in his overall circulation so Dr. Glatz put small particles in those collateral veins to close them up. Lastly, he said that Tyler's tricuspid valve did show some regurgitation but not much more regurgitation than was detected just prior to his Fontan surgery in September 2014. Due to this fact and the fact that Tyler was doing so well from a subjective standpoint, it was Dr. Glatz's opinion that Tyler did not require further surgical intervention at the time. Joe and I understand that Tyler will need more heart catheterizations in the future but they are not scheduled now...basically, we need to continue to monitor how Tyler acts and see his cardiologist on a regular basis so we can detect any changes that may happen to his heart. Additionally, it became clear to us that Tyler will need a tricuspid valve replacement at some point in his future. Since this is a very involved surgical procedure, we hope it will be several years before he needs it. In any case, Tyler and I spent the night at CHOP so that he could be observed and to ensure he was not having and post-procedure complications. Our night went smoothly so he was discharged early in the morning on November 28th.

On November 29th we decided to start celebrating Sophia's birthday a little early since my parents were in town. We had donuts for breakfast, went to church, then had lunch at home. Afterwards, Grandma took Sophia out for a little shopping adventure just before Joe, Sophia, Tyler, and I went to see Disney Live! It was a show that told abbreviated versions of Snow White, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast. Most of the kids at the show were terrified of the evil witch in Snow White and our kids were no exception. However, the show got exponentially better from there and Sophia still talks about "the princess show" that we took her to. After the show we met my parents at Texas Roadhouse for a little birthday dinner. We told our waitress that Sophia had a birthday coming up so they let her ride on the birthday saddle and even taught her how to swing her napkin in the air and yell "yeehaw!"