Thanks, thanks, and more thanks...

Thanksgiving is one of the biggest times of year where we sit and reflect on what we are most thankful for. I do have to say I am thankful everyday, but it only seems right to share with others my thanks on this thanksgiving day...

First as many of you know my biggest thing I am thankful for as I share this as much as possible. Jack!!! He is the best gift I could have ever recieved. He is my everything. With all that he has taught me, you wouldn't think that he could teach me anything more, but everyday he teaches me new love, new hopes, and new dreams. He brings smiles to many people and that I adore. I can't express enough the love I have for this child because it is never ending, and its funny because I have never felt more love coming from another human being than I do with Jack. Even though he can barely talk or use full sentences... his actions say it all! I love that little boy of mine and couldn't be more thankful that we have him here with us! He is a true blessing.


One thing I am thankful for and I probably do not say it enough.. is my husband. Justin is such a hard worker and does so much to provide for this family. He works so many hours and would work more if given the opportunity. When Jack was born, we went down to one income, which was never our plan until we learned of Jacks heart defect. There was no way I could keep a job and stay at the hospital as long as we did and as often as we did. It was our goal to keep Jack healthy and keeping him out of daycare played a major role in doing so. Justin took on the position as the main provider for our family. Because of Justin, we have been able to have everything we need because of his hard work and dedication to keeping our family going. Our house, our car, food on the table, and some extras when we need it. He doesn't ask for handouts and we haven't really had to ask for help, he just works more hours if we need something. We have all these wonderful things because of his hard work. I don't think he hears it enough but I am so very proud of him and so is Jack and we are very thankful to have you in our lives!


I am also thankful to be expecting baby #2 in June!! Justin and I have always talked about having two children before we found out about Jacks heart. But after Jack was born we sort of said no way to having anymore children. I think it was mostly fear of it happening again to the next child and not wanting to go through all that Jack has gone through, again. But after having Jack home and healthy for a year... we started talking about it and decided we really wanted Jack to have a sibling. And it happened!! We are praying very hard for a healthy baby. We have a 5-10% chance of another heart defect, but we are looking at it as we have a 90% chance of a healthy baby... 90 is greater than 5-10!!! So we will find out in January when the doctors can get a good look at this babies heart!! So help us pray for healthy and if you wanted to add "girl" in there too, that would be fine by me (wink, wink)!!


So we have a lot to be thankful for, but didn't want to leave any of you out in my little list of thanks. But I can not express enough how thankful I am to have all of you who pray for our family, epecially Jack. I really think it helps in so many ways, and when we are feeling so down when Jack has his procedures or surgeries, I can really count on all the people who pray for him and us, to lift us back up again. I appreciate the time YOU take out of your lives to think about us!! Thank you, thank you, and thank you again!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Post Cath and doing great!!

Jack had his 6th Heart Catherization this past thursday.. Can I just tell you how weird it was to walk into Childrens Hospital for the first time in a year. It was so strange to be there, but it felt like we were back home. I absolutely love the feeling that you get from the staff at Childrens. I had such fear knowing we were going there, but then once we were there for Pre Op on wednesday, I really didn't have much fear at all. It was more like excitement. I couldn't wait for Jacks boston team to see how big Jack was and how much he has progressed in his development. Seriously, he walked the halls as if he owned the place. And I must say, he was the cutest little patient rocking his hospital gown all through the halls. Each time Jack had a test for pre op and a different nurse came in for that test, it was always a nurse that Jack had in the past and they could not get over Jack. I swear he should have given out autographs with all the attention he was getting.

His Cath went great. In his pre op echo cardiogram, it seemed as though there was going to be a lot of intervention to balloon his Pulmonary Artery, the Aortic Arch, and the Atrial septum. But once he was in the Cath they were able to see his anatomy better and they only needed a slight ballooning of his Atrial Septum, which we knew before even going into the hospital. So his cath only took a couple of hours and he came out of it wonderfully. The surgeon said that Jack was a great example of a perfect Glenn. Which means his anatomy from his last open heart surgery couldnt look better. Great to hear. After the cath, he was supposed to lay flat for 5 hours but by hour 4 they couldnt keep Jack down so they let him get up to walk around and play. This kid has too much energy to waste lying down. He had a very uneventful night, which is great. He was only a little restless but got a great amount of sleep. His mamma on the other hand, not so much. Daddy managed to snag a bed down the hall and got some sleep. I stayed in the room with Jack. Brenda our nurse offered to bring in a stretcher for me to sleep on but I insisted the chair bed in the room was perfectly fine. Well, in the middle of the night I woke up with my legs elevated to the ceiling and my head to the floor and decided it was not comfortable at all. I didn't want to wake Jack up witht the noise of getting a bed in the room so what did I do, I climbed in the crib with Jack. Yes, this mamma shared a crib with Jack. I do not recomend it what so ever! It was better than the chair but man I was sore in the morning.

In the morning, Jacks cardiologist came to check on Jack. He walked around with Jack and I, sat and just watched jack play. I swear he was going to cry. He was in complete AWWWW over Jack. At one point he paused and asked if he could take some credit for how wonderful Jack was. I said ABSOLUTELY. I nearly cried but for some reason held my tears back. It was one of the most incredible moments I have had with Jacks doctor. I honestly adore that man!!! He was definately sent to us by someone special "up there" because he knows Jack better than anyone else, and you couldn't ask for more in a doctor.

So we got to go home the day after the cath which was wonderful. But the saturday after the cath Jack woke up with a terrible cough that worried us. So we took Jack into his local pediatrician. Jack had a bit of swelling to his trachea from the vent so his doctor put him on steriod meds to ease the swelling of his trachea. He is doing so much better now! You would never know he just had this procedure.

Thank you again for all the well wishes. Our family truly appreciates it and one day Jack will be able to say the same, right now his vocabulary is a bit limited. But I know he thanks you! SO heres to an uneventful winter season as in HOSPITAL FREE and a great holiday season spent with our families!