Heart to Heart ~ a Gathering of Women Affected by CHD

This weekend I had the privilege to attend the Heart Mom luncheon. This is the one big Heart Mom get together of the year and it was just as good as last year's if not better. The heart moms that put this together did an amazing job. We went to the Hailstone Event Center at Jordanelle, and it was absolutely beautiful. The building was perfect, the decorations were amazing and most important the women I was surrounded by were exquisite.

Our new IHH President Mimi gave us a sweet message. She is the mother of Mia who passed away last October. She is so beautiful, strong and caring. I was so happy to see her! By the time she was done speaking I don't think there was a dry eye in the room.

The speaker we had this year was Tiffany Peterson. She is a life coach and speaks at many different types of events. She said she is usually speaking about sales and corporate/leadership training. When she came to speak to our group and knowing what we were about she mentioned she felt intimidated when she usually never is. 

She asked us what we would like to hear from her before she started and there were many women that gave her some great thoughts. She said that some of the comments she received were already so inspired and that she was surrounded by "spiritual giants." I absolutely love that term, because it is so so true. While going through this heart journey it is almost impossible to not be closer to your spiritual self and whoever you call "your maker."

There were so many wonderful little tid bits that she said while speaking I had to write them down so I wouldn't forget.... 

While speaking with us she said that we had heightened senses and with what we have all gone through it is as if we are experiences "emotions on steroids."

Event + resonse = outcome

We are stronger than we ever knew we could be.

Adversities are gifts wrapped in unattractive paper.

Has your capacity to love grown? (I think so, YES)

If you're going through Hell, don't stop and build a house.

After Tiffany was finished we went outside to have a group photo. It was pretty cold, but I think the love that was surrounding all of us kept us all warm and cozy. The photographer that took our group picture was also taking pictures throughout the entire luncheon. I cannot wait to see them!

We had amazing food and got to visit with friends and I met some new friends. 

It is so wonderful and inspiring to go to these events and have the opportunity to meet and be surrounded by such amazing mothers. I can't wait until next year!

Annual cardiology appointment

Today we had Tanner's annual cardiology appointment. It is so nice to only have to do this once a year. But it also gives you way too much time to build up anxiety in your head for what they may or may not find.

On the way to clinic. The anxiety has kicked into full gear now.

We got to clinic about 45 minutes before his scheduled appointment and it worked out wonderfully! They were able to get us back to do his x-ray right away, and didn't have to wait at all to go back for his EKG.

See the sternal wires holding his sternum together? Cool hu?

He did so well and cooperated much better than I thought he would! I had packed my purse with movies, suckers and a blanket that he could snuggle to try to bribe him to hold still during the tests.

Waiting to start the tests.

We did not need any of them! We only gave him a sucker before the nurse even started putting the stickers on him to try to distract him from taking them off. But I don't think he even put it in his mouth until everything was said and done.

Goof ball.

It's octopus time!

Peeling off the stickers like a pro.

The only little issue we had was with the blood pressure tests. Those are always the worst part and he has always hated them! The sucker wasn't working, but the awesome nurse had bubbles. That did the trick and we were able to get it done. He absolutely refused to put the pulse ox meter on his finger though. When Dr. Minich came in, she said he didn't even need it. So it was ok that we didn't get test done.

Bubbles!

When she first came in the room she mentioned how active he was and I was wondering how she would know that? Then later on she mentioned the bruises on his shins and it clicked. She said his legs look like any other kid his age, which is great!

She said she was happy with how he is sounding and looking. She did not have anything specific to say about him which I guess no news is good news.

I had some questions for her about some research I've been doing and other stories I've been hearing about his sub-aortic stenosis and she helped answer them and ease my curiosity and mind. At first she seemed a little mad that I was getting answers about things from our heart group and not her, but I explained that I understand that no 2 stories are the same even with the same defect. 

If there was anything that I was really worried about I would have called her and gotten the answer directly from her. But since I wasn't losing sleep I was just fine with waiting for his annual appointment to ask my questions. I just feel that I don't want to bother her unless it is something that I feel she would really need to be bothered with. Like any new symptoms or a worry in my mind that just won't go away. She seemed happy with my thought process for that.

All in all, everything was fantastic. While I was asking my questions I asked if she had any kind of statistic or percentage on where she thinks Tanner's heart journey will go. She said that any need for further surgeries or procedures is a very low, but not zero.Of course I could let that mull around in my brain and get me worked into a ball of stress. But I'm hoping that I won't let that happen.

After the appointment we went to Target to let him pick a prize for being so good at his appointment. I think this will be a good tradition to have so these appointments will hopefully not be so scary.

Of course. His favorite guy ever!

I think Buzz will be a new favorite for a while.

We are happy and excited with where we are. We are taking things a day at a time and enjoying every bit of it! I wouldn't have ever asked to join this Heart World, but now that I am a part of it I wouldn't ever take it back.

It was a perfect rainy day to wear these.