Family & Friends,

Just wanted to give a quick update on Kael.  Overall his recovery has been going extremely well.  Last week was almost too good to be true from a pain standpoint and while he had a little set-back over the weekend (just being sore and uncomfortable), overall we could not be more pleased. 

He has had two follow-up x-rays since being home and a visit to his Cardiologist (Dr. Fedderly at Children’s Hospital)  His lungs appear to be fully recovered and medications are being reduced over the course of this week.  By next Monday,  the only medication he will be on is over-the-counter aspirin!  A daily aspirin is actually recommended to help preserve the donor heart valve moving forward.

Kael is beginning to remove bandages to let the healing continue with respect to the scars on his chest and abdomen.  They already look amazing!  His Cardiologist commented that they had no idea his body would heal this fast especially with this particular surgery.  Even the insurance company called Monday to confirm he was home as they had him scheduled to be in the hospital for 11 days total!  Nope..only 6 days needed for this Superhero!  His Cardiologist also said his heart sounds perfect right now.  Amen.

Again, we know a lot of you have been praying and sending healing vibes from afar.  We cannot thank you enough for all your thoughts and prayers.  I wanted to give a special thanks to Meg’s cousin Eric Jilburg (dreadyone@gmail.com) who has been offering distance Reiki to Kael since his surgery (Thank You Eric!).  We believe all of you have made such a tremendous impact on Kael’s surgery, recovery and pain tolerance as he was able to discontinue ALL pain relieving narcotics just 36 hours after surgery. He has only used Tylenol(625mg) /Ibuprofen (400mg) as needed.  I will be honest…this is pretty unbelievable especially after having a similar surgery myself a few years ago – let’s just say I did NOT have the same experience.   I guess he is proving to be a little tougher than his old man.   Oh to be young again!  Love you all…

-Jeff (Meg and Eiley too!)