Captain Tin Man's Journey to See the Wizard

Eric's here at MCR for another night, but should be discharged tomorrow. We haven't heard much about the cultures or their results, but he did kick the fever.... And of course, that's a good thing. They want to keep him here just to make sure that fever doesn't return. The echo cardiogram results freaked us out. The cardiologist that read and reported on the echo stated that Eric's valve has "moderate regurgitation". Eric's repair in Cleveland brought him from "severe" regurgitation​ to "trace-mild" regurgitation. Our immediate fear from this information is that the repair is failing. Still, we know that this report came from one cardiologist's interpretation. The results were concerning enough, that a transesophageal ecocardiogram test or "TEE" was ordered. Eric's had this one before.....so he kinda knew what to expect. They stick a big ol wand with a camera down your esophagus with a whole bunch of Versed (to

Eric had an okay night at MCR. It took 3 hours to get him moved out of the ER after he was admitted. That was lame, but oh well. Just a little slower paced here. The room has a pretty view, so there is that. They ran blood cultures throughout the night and he'll have an echo cardiogram anytime now. They're still trying to rule out endocarditis. If the echo cardiogram is inconclusive, he'll undergo a transesophageal ecocardiography to get a really good look at the aorta. Meanwhile, Mackenzie has her echo cardiogram today. Cleveland Clinic really wanted us to find out if the girls have Eric's bi-cuspid aortic valve or not. Maggie's is scheduled for next week. I'll keep you posted.....

Eric is post-op 5 weeks today. He started cardiac rehab last week and that will carry on through October. Imagine a mini-gym mixed with a hospital room. Life got busy. Tennis, soccer, summer reading, IB service hours, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, vision appointments, etc. Kenzo had a doozy of a concussion in her first soccer tournament of the season. Her first concussion. She didn't lose consciousness, but did lose her breakfast on the field. Super scary for Eric and I. Not something we want to experience again anytime soon. She's officially our Scarecrow!  We have a careful eye on her and are hoping she kicks all the symptoms sooner than later. At least her summer reading is all finished! That was ER visit one. ER visit and hospital admit two is for our Tinman. He started running a fever and has felt really rough for the last couple of days. They can't quite figure it out, so they're admitting him to treat him for en