I posted pictures of our Make-A-Wish trip to Disney!  What an amazing time. We were treated like royalty every step of the way!  I actually caught myself NOT thinking about Novalie's transplant.  It was a nice respite indeed!  Disney just knows how to do it, don't they?  Our trip went without a hitch too!  We stayed safe and had a blast.  Thank you to Make A Wish Foundation and to our Make A Wish volunteers, Beth and Conni.  Thank you to Give Kids the World Village and all the volunteers there.  The village is nearly all volunteer run!  We met every Disney Princess and got their autograph.  Such a wonderful time!

Love, Kathy & Thanh

Yippee!  Novalie's heart is still so healthy!  We are so happy and grateful.  Her coronary arteries are still healthy too, no blockages found.  She did great at the biopsy.  We're looking forward to her 1st anniversary of her second chance at life.  Last year, on September 8, 2010, she received her heart transplant.  We are so grateful and humbled by her donor family who we're sure will never forget this time of year too.  Thank you to an incredible family for making a life giving decision.  We will never forget  that the heart you gave, is still alive.  We still promise to take the best care of her heart to honor our donor.

God bless our donor family,

Love, The Nguyen's

Novalie has another cathertization and biopsy of her heart coming up.  They assess for rejection and measure pressures in her heart.  It's also time they shoot her coronary arteries with dye to assess for coronary artery disease.  Transplanted hearts are at risk for developing heart disease.  If all goes well, her next biopsy is next year!    She also graduates from monthly check ups with her cardiologist to check ups once every 3 months!  It will be such a breath of fresh air to take breaks from the hospital and doctor visits.

We are all looking forward to the new school year and taking on new challenges! (academically, that is)

Check out our pix of our trip on this site!

With love,

Kathy & Thanh

We returned from Novalie's first annual post transplant check up with the Transplant team at Mt. Sinai hospital in New York City.  The team was impressed with her health and growth!  Great news and such great relief for us!! 

This trip, we hit the big places in Times Square.  We visited the American Girl Store, M & M World, Toys R Us, FAO Schwartz, Central Park Zoo and ate the best Vietnamese food we've had in a long time!  It was just great.  The looks on the girls' faces made our day.  I've never seen so many M&M's under 1 roof or so many people on a sidewalk.  We played the large piano with our feet, the one from the movie "BIG".  Novi created her own Barbie doll.  Jade added several more flattened pennies to her collection.  We had an incredible time.  

It's official.  Novalie got her Make A Wish granted today!!  We're going to Walt Disney World.  Novalie and Jade can't wait.  It's amazing.  We're so grateful to the Foundation.  We'll post our pictures of the trip!  Yahoo!

So thrilled,

Love, Kathy & Thanh

Wow!  So much time has past and summer is flying by.  This summer is so wonderful!  We are together in the sun and fresh air!  I think back to last summer when this website was such a big part of my life and a big part of my mental clarity!  Thank you all for that.

Novalie is doing well.  Soon we visit Mount Sinai for her first year post transplant check up.  Novalie is looking forward to seeing her favorite nurses again and to having a bit of fun in the city.  We promised her a trip to FAO Schwartz and Toy r us (there's a ferris wheel inside the store!)  Should be a lot of fun!

Love, Kathy

I know this is a few days overdue.  We thought of our donor's mother all day on Mother's Day.  She must be hurting.  Her first Mother's Day without her child.  Her child that potentially saved up to 8 other kids from dying.  My heart ached for her all day this past Sunday.  I'm sure there isn't a moment that passes that she doesn't miss her child.  Because of her decision, we still have our Novalie.  We owe her our gratitude, love, respect and grace.  Happy Mother's Day to an amazing Mom.

Love, Kathy & Thanh

Novalie had her 7 month cath and biopsy of her heart and did very well.  No vomiting and she was happy after anesthesia!  Final Results are a few days away, so we'll sit tight.  I've lost count how many of these she's had to undergo.  Each time, I feel the same.  Have you ever been jet lagged, dehydrated, achy tummy feeling and scared all at the same time?  That's exactly how I feel.  Just whooped!  And that's during & after her procedure!  The wait for the doctor to come out and give us a thumbs up seems endless.   I know, this isn't about me.  Novi goes through much worse with it.  But man!  We're tired.

We are also grateful for the blessings we have and receive everyday.  Novi received the ultimate gift and we'll never forget her donor's family in our hearts.  We also couldn't do this without our supportive families, friends and the good people of this community.  Thank you all.

This month has meaning to us now.  Without Novalie's donor family, she would not be alive today.  Celebrate with us as we honor Novalie's donor family by participating in the American Heart Association's Heart Walk this weekend.  We walk and donate for Novalie's donor.

Love, Kathy & Thanh

Boy!  You'd think we'd be used to this by now.  Novalie goes for another cardiac cath and heart biopsy soon and we're mentally preparing again.  This is the only way to assess for rejection of her new heart.  Rejection can be silent and present without and signs or symptoms.  So, she needs these tests to be absolutely sure her heart is doing well.  We've certainly come a long way and feel like we can take on anything.  So, we're ready.

The warmer weather is so wonderful!  Novi and Jade are playing outside and loving it.  We're looking forward to a great summer, OUTSIDE!

Thank you everyone for the guestbook entries!  We love you.

Kathy & Thanh