Hello Ava fans. Brian and I took Ava to her 6 year cdh follow-up. No you didn’t miss her Sixth birthday that is August 31st but we decided to get her appointment over with a little early. We saw her surgeon today and also saw her GI doctor. They were thrilled to see Ava and all raved about how great she looked.
She got weighed and measured. She is in the 90th percentile for her height and the 13th percentile for her weight. Ava has always followed her own curve. She continues to gain and that is what we love to see.
First she went for her x ray. She is a pro as she has had thousands of x rays in her life. She always listens intently to the ladies and does exactly as they ask of her. She really does make us proud.
Here is her chest x ray of today. She must have inhaled deeply as you can tell her left lung is full of air. Her left lung is her worst lung. They once told us that it doesn’t function all that well. Her right lung does most of the work. Her heart at birth was pushed far to the right but as you can see it has moved over a bit and is resting more in the middle but still a little to the right of her chest.
Next stop was to see Dr. Shilyansky. He was her surgeon at 25 month of age when she reherniated and had the massive bowel obstructions. (Her patch that was placed at birth had some how got digested into her small bowel and caused a total bowel obstruction.) Oh was he happy to see her. His eyes always light up as soon as he sees us. It’s like he has a special connection with our family. It’s great to see the whole team they all come in and check on Ava. We all went through so much together. I know it gives them so much joy to see her this well and healthy.
Here is Ava and Dr. Shilyansky. He is an amazing Surgeon!
He is very pleased with how well she is doing. I asked him a ton of questions about her patch and what he thought about her insides. He looked at the x rays and seemed quite confident that her patch was holding steady right under the tenth rib.
We also saw Dr. Ebach her Gastroenterology (GI) doctor. Ava had been doing so well we had not seen her for three years. She was happy to see Ava as well. We love Dr. Ebach. She’s been great support to us many times during Ava’s hospital stays and surgeries.
I’ll leave you with some random pictures of the day.
Ava and Mom
Ava and Dad
Ava chillin’
She loves the escalator.
And who smiles like this at the Doctor’s office?
I told Brian I think our baby girl is growing up. We really had a good day. We thank God daily for allowing us to keep her in our lives. She is so much a part of our family and such a blessing to us. We are proud of Lexis and Emeline as well for dealing with everything that goes along with Ava and her illnesses. She’s such a fighter!
I never imagined her life would be so full of happiness. It makes me want to find that doctor six years ago that told us she would not survive. He looked me straight in the eye and told me that she would “most likely die in my arms”. If only he could see her today. It doesn’t really matter I KNOW she beat the odds. I know how strong and courageous she fought and I’M PROUD OF HER every second of everyday for staying with us… for continuing to fight.
I wanted to do an update about our travels to St. Louis this last week but didn’t have time. I know it will make this a long post but I really wanted to add a few pictures of our trip. I can’t tell you enough how wonderful it is to travel and not worry about feeding pumps, tubes, wires and central lines. God has been good to us!
This is at the Zoo. Ava loves statues.
She loves the Zebras too!
Penguins!
And all the cousins together. What a fun day at the St. Louis Zoo!
Grant’s farm is always one of Ava’s favorite places to visit.
Who can resist feeding these little guys?
And she won the award for best snow cone face… just joking!
And yes we went to Six Flags too!
She was also in the Looney Tunes Show!
She enjoy many rides! Her favorite of course was the Scooby Doo!
She is not afraid of much….
And a photo op with Scooby himself!
And let’s NOT forget the Dance with Scooby too! (Notice her shoes… yes she is a TRUE Scooby Fan!)
(Oh and if you are wondering why so many pictures of little Ava and not her darling Sisters? Well my Ava is the only one who will jump in front of the camera when I ask if anyone wants a picture. Yes this is the reason! Ava loves to get her picture taken!)
Lots and lots of fun. Thanks for stopping by. Keep the prayers rolling our excellent prayers warriors. AGAIN thanks for your love and support! We need you!
~Terri
