The first of multiple posts scheduled for the day!

Well, this post is to let all of you know that Sofi is doing much better today. Doctors inserted another chest tube to release some of the air found in her chest and to "re-inflate" her lung that had collapsed. For updates, please see her link on the blog. I have updated this to go directly to her carepage instead of the website. God is good!
Update for Lindsay: She will be given her first round of baby food at 1pm today!!!! Trust me, pictures will follow! Stay tuned........

PS The answers to a few posts ago about her two milestones.........of course 2 teeth, and the other one is that she is sitting up all by herself now!!! She is becoming such a big girl. We couldn't be more proud of her!

Praying for Sofi......

Sofi was just intubated again and a chest tube placed. Praying that she just has a little extra fluid on board and just needed another day or so. Come on Sofi girl! You can do it!
Praying, Praying, Praying!!!!!

Sweet Sofi..........

She is extubated and on her own!!!!!!!!!
Thought I would share the good news.......
Suzie

Anyone up for an update??!!!

Cole and Cruz posing for my benefit! That bush is only this pretty for a little while and wanted to take advantage while at home. ;-)

My cute little baseball dude in his very first baseball game!

Little League is serious stuff!

This weekend was wonderful being home and getting to be apart of Cole's special day. The opening day parade and ball game was great....until it down poured! Cole's team got most of their game in before the drenching though. The rain let up and then we went back to watch more and then it rained again. Needless to say, we then stayed home! ;-)

Lindsay had a great weekend too. Nurse Megan and Sarah took Lindsay outside a couple of times this weekend to get some sunshine. I will post pictures of that a little later. ;-) She looked so stinkin cute....especially in her new sunglasses. She is so spoiled here!! ha ha

After being gone for a few days, it was sure good to have her in my arms again. This week, JR took Wednesday and Thursday off so that he can spend some time with Lindsay. She has been loving snuggling with her daddy! Today Great Grandma and Grandpa Lumbard along with Aunt Carole and Uncle Robb came over for a visit. She loves to ham it up for people, let me tell ya!

Update on Sofi: Let me tell you, Sofi looks incredible! I went over to see her last night and spent a little time with Krissy and Mike. Sofi was sprinting when I arrived and was doing very well. She is so PINK!!!!! The plan was to extubate today! Hopefully that happened and they can join us on this side of the floor by the end of the week!

All for now but I will add some pictures of the princess very soon!

Love to you all!

Suzie

Our famous little girl.......again!

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/04/baby_awaiting_heart_transplant.html

Sofi's Miracle Day!!!!

She did it!!! Sofi has a brand new heart and is in the ICU! Ok, Krissy, Sofi's mom, posted that Sofi's heart stopped just before they put the new one in. God is sooooo good! Now, ohhhh recovery. Please pray the Sofi does well, takes her time (as all girls should do!), and gets better soon so that we can see that smiling face again!
So, again, Happy Miracle Day everyone!
Love, Suzie

Sofi is getting her heart!!!!!

Lindsay's little heart sister, Sofi, has been waiting right along with Lindsay for a new heart at U of M. Sofi's link is below. Please join us in praying for their entire family and for Sofi. Please Lord, let this be HER chance at life! Love to Krissy and Mike as they face the most horrific feeling tonight........giving their baby to the surgeons. Our hearts are full and heavy all at the same time..........

Beautiful Day and New Milestones

What a beautiful day here in Ann Arbor! Still a little chilly, but I will take the sunshine! Lindsay has had a pretty good week once again and looks just as cute as ever. ;-)

Update on meds: Doctors have reduced her epogen shots from 2 times per week down to one (because her crit levels have been 49-50. Before the shots, it was hard to keep her above 35!), eliminated her sodium supplements in her feeds, and we have added colace to soften her stools a little. Poor little thing was working so hard to poop. Hopefully this will help things a little. This will be taken twice per day.

This weekend, the Dean's have a lot going on at home. I will leave here on Thursday to head home. Friday is "getting stuff done" day, Saturday is opening day of Little League for Cole (and it's supposed to be 80 degrees!!!!!), Sunday is working day for mom with a few meetings, and Monday,Cruz is seen once again at the ENT to get a check up on his neck. WHEW! Busy but so extremely excited about it FINALLY getting nice outside and hopefully staying that way! The nurses here said that they will try and get the princess outside if they can. ;-)

Enjoy the new pictures and see if you can guess her new "milestones".

(hint....there are two DIFFERENT ones!) And yes, we have to work on the princess "sitting like a lady" in a skirt! ha ha

Heart Blessings~

Suzie

Kleenex......

I challenge you all to read this and not need Kleenex!

www.theholtzmans.blogspot.com

Amazing what a little girl with half of a heart can do to us all!
Love you all!
Suzie

New Backgrounds........

Can anyone tell me what all of these pictures have in common??

She is OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!! Finally, after 6 1/2 months of being in the hospital, she went outside!!!Needless to say, Lindsay enjoyed every single minute of it! (mommy did too!) I really do think this was one of the best days of my life! I got to the hospital this morning and asked if it would be ok since she has been pretty stable lately. The answer was YES!! So, hospital stroller with two pumps attached and an oxygen tank in tow, off we went! I took her to the courtyard and then picked her up out of her stroller. The wind started to blow and she realized that something was moving her hair. She felt her head and then looked and me with the biggest smile. Oh, my heart just melted and then of course, I cried! She just loved it! We stayed for a little while and then back to her room for a blood draw. After that, we went back outside to get some more pictures. This time I picked a shadier area and let her feel the grass. That was too cute in itself. Something new?? WOW! Simply amazing day!

I am now back at home with my boys and of course calling on Lindsay every couple of hours. Back on Sunday! Enjoy the photos!

Heart Blessings from one very happy momma!

Suzie

Feeding Issues????

The shirt says it all!

Nope! Much better day today than yesterday. Lindsay had a lot of throw ups and so needless to say that raised the red flag on the princess. Enough so, that talk of putting a G-tube in was had. WHAT?!!!! No way! I agree, if she absolutely needs it, but come on! Thank you Lord that today has been much better and she is keeping it all down. It was simple just an off kind of day for her. This transplant needs to come soon! I just have this fear of all of these unnecessary things having to happen because too much time has passed and now they will be necessary. YIKES! One day at a time. All in all, this has been a great week and she has been very happy and playful. So wonderful to be around her when she is like this! Priceless for sure and trying to make an imprint in my mind of everything that she is doing. That tires me out in itself!

We also had a nice visit with Aunt Carole and Uncle Robb yesterday. Lindsay made them smile as always. :-)

Meg and Dr. G have stopped by a few times this week and said that because she is doing so well, they are going to keep being extremely selective with the heart that they accept for her. God knows we have the time for now but if she is failing and in the ICU, they will accept anything close and that makes sense. We are praying that we stay right where we are at and that she continues to grow and keep her feeds down. Doesn't seem like much but it really is with a heart baby.

Please continue the prayers in Lindsay's direction!

Love, Suzie

My 1st Easter!!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I know I did!

Love you all!

Princess Lindsay

More Pictures!

Lindsay showing off her best "cheeeeese"

Cole and his buddy Caden (Carlee's brother) : We were able to spend an evening and afternoon with the Jones' along with Angel Connor's mom and dad, Eric and Michelle.

Dr. Bob taking a break from his conference downstairs to get some Lindsay time!

Lindsay couldn't take her hands off of Garrett's new specs! He thought that it was pretty funny that she was so interested in them. The whole Winter gang was in Ann Arbor for the weekend. Thanks for having us over to swim at the hotel. We really enjoyed the break!

Ok, this is seriously Lindsay's face while watching American Idol. She won't take a break until the contestants are done singing. She gets so excited that she bounces up and down after they are done. So stinkin' cute! My little AI junky! hee hee

Uncle Dan and cousin Camden came up for a visit from Pensacola this weekend. Thanks for visiting me!

Lindsay has had a great week! She did have her labs drawn this week and wasn't ready once again for her dose of Rituxin. So, no changes. Just keeping everything the same......except for the oxygen. We tried to ween it but she still is in need of her 1/2 liter. This isn't much but is sure keeping her O2 sats up with it.

We are looking forward to seeing friends and family at the hockey game on Friday and then we head back to A2 on Saturday. Maybe attend the UofM football scrimmage on Saturday afternoon. We will be spending Easter with the princess. I will post a picture of Lindsay all dolled up in her Easter best soon.

Heart Blessings~

Suzie

New pictures are here!!! Thank you Patti!!

Hello!
I would like to invite you to view pictures at Portraits by Patti. They are located at http://www.pattisportraits.com/clients.
When you go to the website click the Access Gallery link and enter in the access code below:
Access code: princess2
After you do that you will be able to view these pictures.
*Registration may be required.

Enjoy!

The princess has had a wonderful week! I will post pictures a little later of the weekend excitement!

Love, Suzie

Lindsay Dean Night at K-Wings

We need your help!!!!!!!

Friday April 10th, we're going to be conducting the Chuck-A-Puck intermission activity at the Kalamazoo Wings Hockey Game. You might be asking yourself, "What is Chuck-A-Puck?" You can purchase a puck for $1.00 per puck to toss out on the ice during the intermission trying to hit a prize target. Talk about family fun!

This is a total fund raising opportunity for The Lindsay Dean Heart Fund with all proceeds from the Chuck-A-Puck sales going to our fund. Also, if you purchase your admission ticket through us, we will also net $2.00 per ticket. Ticket prices are $14.00 per adult and $8.00 per child. We need to sell at least 39 more tickets! We should be able to knock this out 4 at a time and make it a wonderful family event. Please help us make our goal. (no pun intended)

Suzie and JR will be attending the game with the boys and will be presented a signed hockey stick during the intermission. Please join us at this event and show your support for how proud we are of the Dean family.

Please contact Jill at jnzn20@hotmail.com or Linda at linda@wkzo.com for your tickets.