Family New Years Card

I finally finished our family Christmas Letter, turned it into a New Year's Letter , and am sending them out to some friends and family. We hope you've all had a great start to this new year and here is a copy of our card and letter so you can learn a little about Mason's family.

Happy New Year
from the…

(Summary of 2007)

S Skiing and sledding are definitely Kaitlin (9), Preston (6 ½), & Braiden (4 ½) ‘s favorite winter activities. They ski with friends and cousins and Alta and have a blast.
T The annual July trip to the So. California beaches is still our families’ favorite vacation. Ammon (2 ½) even enjoyed it this year. He thought sandy Doritos was a great snack!

R Running after Ammon 18 hours a day along with trying to meet everyone else’s needs was the only marathon Summer ran in this year. (Boston was postponed. No official marathoning while pregnant and puking permitted!!!)
I In the “locked up” house. Summer hired a locksmith to save her sanity from Ammon’s busy curiosity and escaping skills. Now every door and pantry are bolted shut . (Mark says we live in Fort Knox.)
C Completed the Oceanside ½ Ironman in March 2007…That would be Mark. He did great. Way to go Dad!
K Kicking soccer goals was what Preston and Braiden did best this fall. They both had a great time playing soccer this year.
L Living by wonderful neighbors and near loving and helpful grandparents, aunts and uncles is one thing for which our family is very grateful.
A Ammon’s progression has been amazing this year. He finally walked at 26 mo. & at 27 months he was running and earned himself the nick name of “Hot Wheels”. (He never stops!)
N Nursing Degree…Mark and Summer took a six week crash course in Cardiac Nursing at Primary Children’s PICU. ( Explanation will follow.)
D Dance competition, gymnastics, softball, tennis, & seeing Hannah Montana in concert were some of Kaitlin’s highlights this year.
S Santa brought us an early Christmas gift this year… A wonderful gift of love and joy. Mason Andrew Strickland was born on November 30, 2007.

Our Christmas letter (which I had written before Mason was born) was put on hold this year when little Mason was 3 days old. On Dec. 3 , the morning after we brought him home, my mother’s intuition took over and I knew something was really wrong with our baby. He had struggled through the night to breathe, stay warm, and eat. We took him to our pediatrician whom immediatley called an ambulance to take Mason and I back to the American Fork Hospital ( Mark followed us). At this point he was 88 degrees and the Dr. could not find a pulse!
We were at the hospital for about 30 minutes when our little Mason “crashed”. The nurses paged Code Blue through the hospital and numerous doctors and nurses ( it seemed like 100 people) came running to revive him. This is a moment Mark and I never wish to relive! At this time… our lives changed. After about 20 minutes( the longest 20 minutes of my life!) they were able to stabilize Mason. Then he was sent by Life Flight to Primary Children’s Hospital in SLC.
Soon after arriving they diagnosed Mason with a very serious heart defect. He has a variation of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which requires 3 open heart surgeries. But, he was so sick upon arriving there the cardiothoracic team was worried he wouldn’t make it through his first surgery. And this is why we now call him Miracle Mason, because he recovered remarkedly well from his “crash” surprising all the doc’s!
On Dec. 10, at 10 days old, he had open heart surgery. The recovery had its ups and downs, but 1 month after surgery ( when he was 6 weeks old) we finally brought our Miracle Mason home. He will need his next surgery at about 4 or 5 months old and his 3rd at about 2 years old.
At this time we are so grateful for life, supportive family, wonderful neighbors and friends, incredible doctors and nurses, and all the prayers said on Mason’s behalf. Those prayers have all been heard and we have been showered with blessings!
We wish all of you a very Happy New Year!!
We love you, The Stricklands

(If you would like to be added to my Mason update e-mail list please e-mail me at sumstrick@gmail.com)

Miracle Mason Made It Home!

Dear friends and family,

We brought our little miracle Mason home on Thursday afternoon. Things have been quite crazy at our house since, so this is why I'm just now announcing his homecoming!! It is so nice to have him home. Although, I do feel like a nurse from the PICU now ( and Mark says he's the attending Dr.!!), giving him different meds throughout the day, giving shots, feeding him every 3 hours( even at night) first by bottle for about 15 minutes then putting the rest on the feeding pump going into his NG feeding tube, which is still quite a bit....he tires easily, cleaning out the feeding pump, pumping my breast milk, and then starting the whole process over. Oh yeah and I have 4 other kids to take care of too!! He is doing quite well and our kids are so happy to have him and us home now! Now we just need to keep him very healthy and plump him up for his next surgery.

We are so humbled by and grateful for all the amazing service that has been shown to us since Mason's birth. Thankyou everyone! We love you!

Summer
(p.s Mason is 6 weeks old now! ) *This picture above was long awaited for......Mason in front of

the Christmas tree at home, just a few weeks late!!!

Hello friends and family,

Mason is back up to the recovery floor and out of the PICU again. We are going for round 2 in our attempt to take him home soon. The Dr.s feel like they have found a good balance of his blood pressure medicine and his arythmia medicine to keep his arythmias and racing heart rates under control. As for the little clot, he his getting lovanox (sp.?) shots, which is a blood thinner. He will have to get these at home for the next 2-3 months. And no new infections cultured when we back to the PICU!!! Thank goodness. I am so glad we had these set backs here rather than at home.

They plan to do another echocardiagram on monday to check on his clot and heart function and if all looks good maybe next week will be the charmer and we will get to take him home! Although, now i am even more nervous to bring him home, if you can imagine..

Thanks for all your sweet thoughts and prayers.
Summer

*Mason w/ Mom and Dad in his presidential suite on the 3rd floor at PCMC!

Not Going Home... Yet

Family and Friends

Thank you for your continual thoughts and prayers. We went to the hospital this morning excited to bring home Mason. Unfortunately, He had a few arrhythmia's through the night, so they decided to keep him another day. As the day went on they did an echocardio on him and discovered a blood clot in his super Venacava(SVC) right near the pulmonary artery. He also has a high lactic acid in his blood which is not good. That means the body is under stress. They immediately put him back in the ICU and started several medications and close monitoring. Needless to say. Its been a very long day, It sounds like we might be there for a little bit while they figure out what is causing all the problems.

Thank you all for your love and support
Mark & Summer

Happy New Year- Going Home Soon

Happy New Year!!!

Mason is doing well and we are suppose to bring him home tommorow!! The Dr.s were going to send him home last Saturday but that morning the skin around his incision was really red so they started him on an antibiotic and wanted to watch it for 72 hours It now looks fine and his blood work looks good. So if all goes well we will bring him home tomorrow. He will be coming home with an NG tube {feeding tube} becuse he gets worn out before he's done with each feeding. But each day he gets a little better at eating. And he will be on 4 oral medications as well. Our kids are so excoted to have him come home. Now we just have to keep him super healthy and germ free so his body can get stronger and be ready for his next open heart surgery {in about 3-4 months}. We are so greatful for the blessing of having him in our family and for all your prayers.

Summer

Baby Steps Out of the ICU

Baby Mason continues to amaze us....Yesterday morning they moved Mason out of the ICU and into the children's surgical unit for the rest of his recovery. We were shocked that he was doing well enough for this big step. He is totally doing everything on his own, no oxygen or anything except for his feeding tube. The nurses and I are trying to teach him to take a bottle of breast milk, but he gets tired very easy. Baby Steps!!!! He looks wonderful, especially for what he's been through in his 27 days of life. We are so greatful for the blessings we have seen in our lives this special Christmas season. One very unforgettable Christmas!!! We love you all and continue to be greatful for your prayers. Mason may come home in about 4 or 5 days. And I must say I'm very nervous.

We hope your Holidays are Happy.
Summer

Christmas in the ICU

Merry Christmas!!!

Mason is doing well. He has been off the ventilator/breathing tube for almost 6 days now...and slowly over the last week they've removed everything except his feeding tube. Which is amazing. He had so many iv's and different machines and medicines helping support him. Now I can actually hold him!! Its wonderful! He probably has another week and 1/2 in the PICU to monitor his feeding and heart rate/ blood pressure. He is still having some heart arythmias, but they are a lot better now. He is taking medicine orally to help with this and may just come home with the medicine. Thanx for all your continued prayers on his behalf. We love you all. Happy Holidays.

Love Summer and family

About Mason's First Surgery

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent your love, concern and prayers to our family and especially to our sweet Mason. His surgery went well yesterday. It took about 5 hours ( which seemed like forever) and the surgeon and cardiologists said everything went as planned. The first 48 hours after the surgery are the toughest and most critical for a little baby and so far he is continuing to be a little fighter. He has done as good as possible today. If all continues to go well he will be in the ICU for 3 more weeks. It is soo hard to not be able to hold him and cuddle him, but I know he is being taken care of by the best of the best. Thanks again for all your prayers. I know it has helped him do so well so far.

Love Summer and family.

Mason's Broken Heart

Dear Friends and family,

Most of you know that I had my baby last Friday Nov. 30th his name is Mason Andrew. He and I came home on Sunday. he had arough night that night and in the morning I decided something just wasnt right. We took him back to Pediatrician who was so concerned he sent us by ambulance to the AF hospital. After being there about 45 minutes he "crashed" and they called out CODE BLUE , about 30 people came runnning, dr.'s, nurses, etc.... they then asked mark and i to leave the room..... it was the most horrible experience of my life!!!! but we were being watched over by lots of angels and they saved his life!!! They were able to stabilize him enough to life flight him to Primary Children's Hospital..........and after they got him more stable there, they were able to diagnose the problem. He was born with a defect in his heart. the mitral valve in his left ventrical is too small to allow the correct flow of oxygen and blood to and from his body. He will be having surgery on Monday Morning as long as the rest of his little body continues to remain stable and functioning properly. ( when his body went through all the trauma on Monday his kidney, liver, etc... were also not functioning properly. But he has recovered from all of that remarkedly well, in fact much faster then the dr.s assumed!!! so he is a fighter!)

The surgery he will be having is performed at Primary's about 3 times a month. And our surgeons have been recognized nationally for having the best success rate for this surgery. We feel so blessed!!! he will requie 2 more surgeries to complete the the process or approach the surgeons are taking to help his little heart function as well as possible. those will be around 4-6 months old and the next will be around 3 years old. the first one is the most critical and will have the longest recovery. He will be inthe ICU for 3 weeks post operation. We hope to bring him home fro New Year's. Life changes so quickly. Our family and ward will be fasting for him tomorrow, Sun Dec 9....if you would like to join and remember him in your prayers. We already know so many prayers have been said for him and we know this is why he has recovered so well from his crash. We are so greatful for al your prayers, love, and concern. I must say this is this hardest trial I have faced in my life...but he is a fighter, he will make it, ....He is Miracle Mason!!! ( please excuse my grammar and spelling, Iam totally exhausted )

We love you all!!

love,
Summer, MArk and Family

**In the picture above I got to hold Mason for a few minutes before he went into the operating

room. Our sweet nurse Jean let me hold him because she said it would be several days or more before we could hold him again. Thanks Jean. I cherished every moment!

I'm Here! November 30th, 2007

ITS A BOY! Nov 30 10:15 pm He is 5 lbs 8 oz Mom and baby are doing well

Mark & Summer