As I look back on the stories I shared this week, I realize that I did a lot of sharing about the hospital aspect of having a CHD. I think that's because those are the times when it really feels like Joshua has a serious heart defect. The truth is, day to day our lives are very normal. I give Josh his daily medication, change his clothes and see his scar, yet I tend to forget about the disease he lives with. He leads a very full, happy life. I hear time and time again "I had no idea Joshua had anything wrong with him!" This is like music to my ears, because if people see no signs of his CHD, then he must be doing pretty well, right?
I often say, if I only knew back at the start that Joshua would live such a normal life, I would have saved myself tremendous stress, and worry...and probably a lot of tears. But the stress,worry & tears are an inevitable part of the process. The fact is, his journey is far from over, but I find joy in knowing that he's been grated a normal life, to this point. We truly relish this time in our lives.
As we say farewell to another Congenital Heart Defect awareness week, I urge you to donate blood, become an organ donor, spread the word about the prevalance of CHD's, donate to CHD related research, do whatever it is you can. Thank you for reading my blog this week. It's my way of letting people know what it's like having a child with a CHD (for our family anyway), and therefore spreading the word.... and that's what it's all about!
Happy Valentine's day!
2 comments:
Thank you for all your wonderful thoughts this week. So much of what you said hit close to home and I appreciate you putting it so eloquently.
That picture is really cute & so are the ones in your last post... I cannot believe how much the kids have grown in a year! So darn cute!
You'd never know just has any health issues by spending time with him. He's pretty remarkable! You know who else is remarkable? You! You always give lots of credit elsewhere, but you played a hage part in Joshua's heart story, & you still do! You've been the best advocate & Mom he could of wished for... He's one lucky boy!
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