WOW ..it is almost SPRING ..

We are so fortuante to be able to post that all is well in Britt land ...

Olivia is preparing for her summer before KINDERGARTEN and has been accepted to 2 of our 4 schools so far ..we have two more lotteries yet before we sit down and decide what will be best for her ..

Claire is developing quite the imagination, growing nicely and super super sweet these days !! Claire is still into balls, cars and trains as always ..she is asking for lightening McQueen birthday cake! Can you beleive they will be FOUR in just 9 weeks ...entering PRE KINDERGARTEN in the Fall !!!!

Ava is strong and thriving, handling her 2 meds 5 doses a day and NO issues for FOUR months!!! YIPPEE we have begun to celebrate each month instead of each week as we did for the better part of last year!!! The team here says we are on a good strong stretch and could maintain this for a year or more before any medication changes will have to take place. Ironically, we had one episode over 4 months and it was 3 weeks ago while Ava was wearing her holter and just one hour before it was finished recording ..Dr Campbell laughed and said it was Ava testing the system..Ginger Stathelson was right on it as she recognized her cheeks and weepy act on the playground and sat with her offering water ..within minutes she was fine and her heartrate was back to baseline. We feel incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful preshcool and learning center to shelter our girls while we work. Grey Stone has provided such a safe haven for our family and we would be completely lost without their support !!!!


Chris is enjoying CPI for the most part, the hours are not excellent, but he really enjoys being back in the community and having a sense of worth.

I as you all know am amazing ..LOL so totally kidding as most of you will just chuckle at that - Well i am really growing my melaleuca business and thoroughly enjoying the journey !!! If you have not met with me or come to one of my Melaleuca meetings to learn more about how to rid your home of the harmful chemicals, please inbox or email me with a good time to talk about this. I normally like to meet in person and it takes me about an hour to really share the process and product line.

Spring is upon us and we are super excited to get OUTSIDE ..

Update from post hospital holter

Just got call from Jay (dr Campbell) our percent went from 44% to 50% the runs r shorter in duration and not as fast but more of them ...we r still ok to travel for Thanksgiving we will increase current meds upon return home and discuss what next early part of Dec ...

Heading home today ...

So far so good ... Ava has been quite busy wrapping up her work here. The nurses has included her in a large part of daily work and even a new admission, Ava was quite pleased with herself.

We are napping (ie Ava is napping) and as soon as she wakes, takes 3 p.m meds, Chris and girls will be here at 330 and off to AWANA we go.

Awesome .....
Fingers crossed we can get to atleast next summer on this regimen ... 35 kg would be nice too, but I think that is pressing our blessings a bit.

Day 3

Ava and I had a good night - Ava was in and out if her vtach but with a low rate so she seems to be adjusting fine. It is early to know if the new medicine is working but we are adding a second medicine (which she has been in before) and after 1p.m labs tomorrow we get to home and possibly make it in time for AWANA ...Ava super excited about that :-)

The feeling is quite strong by all that Ava is far to small for any invasive intervention, and essentially doing well - so we wait !!!! We wait and watch and monitor closely ...the only push to move ahead (Boston or Duke) would be if absolutely life saving necessary.

Back to life as we know on the outside soon ... YIPPEEE

Day 2

Started out sort of rocky, but got IV flushed and made a trip to the cath lab to try medicine #8 which didn't work. Came back and took several walks, had some yummy lunch (thanks Dr Caroline) and even a secret brownie ... Took first dose of medicine #9 which tasted yummy (chocolate she says) and it is a tiny amount. The amiodarone was 14 ml and this is .7 ml so back to every 8 hours for meds again blah. Now, after consult with Boston came back today they are all saying the same thing. Our goal has to be to get Ava closer to 35 kg before taking her for any ablation unless she declares (like she often will) that is just not going to be safe to wait.

Our primary doc and the specialists here have said everything verbatim to what dr Walsh from Boston has now said except his team has done 10-15 of these in small children.

We might proceed with a catheter here and define the location more clearly and IF the focus is right heart. ABLATION right then which would be more safe and workable even with her being so small. If at that time it is clearly left heart defined we back out continue drugs and ablate when she is 35 kg or much bigger.

Ava is beyond tired ... We will have some labs tomorrow after dose # 3 then home Sunday - maybe stay and do cath/mapping on Tues. that is not clear yet :-(

Thank you all for checking in on us and all the love and support -
Love, Lisa

Back in "her room"

Settling in to her room "the purwple woom" ---New plan : going to the cath lab at 9 a.m for some medicine trials and if this works we can go home on new meds if not we come back to our room and back to original plan.

Dr Kanter and Dr Wechsler were just here to explain theory and hopes for new plan to be effective.

Ava is resting and seems quite ok with her Ativan on board and all her babies in bed w her :-) all is right in the world!!!

I will post as soon as we know what the word is ....

Time to go to the indoor playground AKA Duke Univ Hospital

We are all packed and ready to head into what Ava calls "the indoor playground" --- new meds start this afternoon and we will keep everyone posted on how Ava is doing. The main prayer request is for the new medicine to work well and not "react" with the amiodarone. Even though we stopped the amiodarone last week it stays around in her system a long time, which can be quite dangerous but this is why we are going into the hospital. Ava will be on monitors and with IV access in the event anything happens the team is ready to treat and she will be fine.

Ava,Claire and Olivia had a great night last night watching The Chimpanzee and snuggling close. The girls had a nice breakfast today and acted like nothing was happening, which is exactly what we had hoped for.

Still no "official" updates from Boston or Vanderbilt. Waiting ......

XOXO