Every year on March 15th my mom reminds me to “beware the ides of March.” Just kidding, right? But no, seriously, in reality I basically brace myself every time I flip to this page on the calendar. March is a month of remembrance for me, especially for very challenging experiences that have fallen on it’s pages. Yesterday (March 14th) was three years since Whitney...
I thought I was going to write a post today about what a significant day this is for our family, being the anniversary of Whitney’s heart surgery (read about it here and here). Yes, one year ago was a huge day for us – both insanely difficult emotionally, and positively wonderful to be be on the other side of it and confident in her...
Whitney’s original heartbeat had a whoosh whoosh whoosh sound. After surgery, with VSD all patched up it’s now a thump thump thump. Amazing, huh!? On another note, we’ve got the hospital bill and yes, there are quite a few decimal places. Sticker shock? Well, not really, we knew this was a pretty big deal. Still, I didn’t expect it to start with a 3....
Before surgery I was afraid and saddened by the thought of Whitney’s scar. I thought of what it represented, particularly of the trauma that her little body went through. It made me sick. I mourned the loss of her perfect soft skin on her chest being blemished with a gruesome mark. The other day I thought again about her scar. Yes, it’s quite large,...
The pressure/tension/stress around here has been of epic proportions in the past month…so I thought I’d share some of the things that has kept me from losing it altogether…. Love notes. The support and prayers and texts and emails of dear friends from various parts of my life have been a lifeline. Knowing one is not alone must be the single-handedly most comforting reality. ...
Whitney’s homecoming from the hospital was a week ago yesterday. We are thrilled with how “normal” our life is already…the surgery successfully closed up the hole in her heart and her resilient little body is recovering quickly. Here’s a recount of the day-by-day… The night before the surgery…bath time with Gramby. Day 1: Daybreak arrival. Happy drugs. Emotional parents not wanting to let...
We’ve been home from the hospital for just shy of a week now, and life is just about back to normal, a wonderful new normal. Whitney is a superstar, happily playing and dancing and chatting away. We are weaning her off the little bit of Tylenol she was on since she appears to be pain free. Amazing. Praise God. I’m brewing up a post...
sike: A misspelling of psych. Knowing Sonia was thirsty, Jonathan teased her with his soda. “Here, you can have a sip…psych!” www.urbandictionary.com What a whirlwind. The hospital cried wolf. I feel like I had a baby. Exhausted and yet euphoric. I escaped my worst nightmare. I woke up to a reality where my sweating,panic and screams fizzled into the “you’re safe, it can’t get...
Having a child is like having your heart walk around outside your body. Um. yes. I am more and more aware that my heart is running around willy-nilly ducking in and out of places that were most certainly off my self-protective itinerary. Today we ran a pre-op marathon with all kinds of pokes and prods and tests. Whitney was brave, cooperative, and had impressive...