We’ve recently had some welcome reminders of how many people were with us during Wes’s surgery and recovery via this blog. So let’s catch up!

In general, Wes has had an eventful month since our last update in all the good ways. He’s sprouted all four molars and began walking. He still crawls for distance, but cruises furniture like a champ and will outright walk a solid four or five feet for something worthwhile (i.e. anything Henry is holding. Or just Henry. Or food.). It’s crazy to watch the firecracker teeter around on his extra-small size 3 feet. And we nearly burst ourselves when we see how proud he is of himself.

Medically, Wes has had a happily uneventful month. His Holter monitor last month showed only a single missed beat over the 24 hours and a few premature atrial beats which he had also been experiencing before the surgery. Dr. Kamenir was pleased with the results of the monitoring as well as with our second follow-up appointment a couple weeks ago. The echo shows that everything continues to heal, the conduit is doing well, and the rhythm blips don’t suggest he needs a pacemaker right now. We will see Dr. Kamenir again at the end of July. That appointment will involve another Holter monitor and coincide with a lung scan (to recap, at discharge the profusion to Wes’s lungs was 76% right, 24% left. This coming scan will show if time and healing has improved the output to the left lung.).


Possible future follow up procedures could include conduit replacement, valve replacement, and of course of the lurking pacemaker possibility. However, we have reason to be optimistic that any follow up procedures are far down the road.

Other than the thin scar you would never know that two months ago Wes was still in the hospital, recovering from an 8 hour surgery. His outlook is rosy and he challenges us to keep up with him daily. He loves to rough house with Henry and indulges him by letting Henry lead him around with a ribbon (“This is my puppy Wes!”). We hope that our next update will report that he’s begun to comply with “No touch” and “Not for Wes,” but we won’t hold our breath. Occasionally he does throw us for a loop: The other night he woke up and his cry suggested a nightmare. We struggle with thinking he might have had a bad dream associated with his ordeal. He calmed down with a snuggle and was all smiles the next morning, but still…


I’m sure we’ve said it before, but it’s overwhelming how many people are vested in knowing Wes is doing well. We are lucky beyond words. Bring on Summer.