Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

As you could probably guess this Christmas will be a bit different. We won't have our traditions and home and family around us but all of that pales in comparison to the Miracle we have witnessed this December. Still, we are trying to get some Christmas cheer into the holiday season this year as well. On the 22nd there was a lunch held for all pediatric patients and families and we came with Tobias and Sarah and enjoyed some yummy food with all the other families. We even managed to take some pictures of the kids (mainly the younger two) even if most of them were in front of the Christmas tree in the Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Administration area. Maybe Photoshop will be helpful. ;)

It didn't take long before they were bickering. She was just too tired poor thing.

She doesn't look impressed by the brother lovin'

SQUEEZE!

Gotta love that grin!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Catching up?

Oh, how to catch up? So much has happened since the day in September when Lydia started Kindergarten... I've been faithfully keeping up with the Carepage updates but the blog, well it just didn't happen. I'm feeling inspired again so maybe I'll get back into it.


Okay, where to start? I was excited about blogging about Kindergarten, lunch pack ideas and Fall. We had a wonderful early Fall with auntie Becky's wedding on the Thanksgiving weekend. Lydia and her cousin Micah had the very serious and important task of being flower girls. Looking back now, it was the last good days for a very long time.

It is bittersweet to look at those pictures now. Lydia looked so healthy and happy. I guess there was a lot luring under the surface.

On Thanksgiving Day (in October here in Canada) we were celebrating with her cousins and family at Michael's uncle and aunt's house. While she was playing outside, Lydia collapsed to the ground. We didn't realize what had happened right away, thinking she had just fallen and hurt herself. But when she wasn't getting up we ran over and realized how out of it she was. She tried to speak but the words slurred and she had trouble standing up. We rushed her to the Children's Hospital where they did an echo and other tests. They didn't find out what caused the event but knowing her condition and how close she was to sudden death at all times we all decided that the best option for her was to go to the bigger heart center hospital and be put on the Berlin heart, an artificial heart pump that assists the heart's pumping action. She spent a week at the local Children's Hospital first and was then transferred. Sarah and I came the next day and we left Tobias with his cousins and uncle and aunt back home. After a week of observation Lydia had the Berlin put in during open-heart surgery.

It has been a very very difficult two months. Until Lydia recovered somewhat from her surgery Tobias stayed with family. It was hard to be separated and even harder to watch Lydia suffer day after day after day. While on the Berlin she suffered 4 strokes and was affected on her right side with weakness in her arm and leg. She has slowly improved some. Tobias joined us after a month and we found with help of our awesome friends a cute little house to rent. Tobias is in daycare and we'd all settled into a routine when on December 10th we got The Call: a heart was available for Lydia!!!!! The heart was in and beating early in morning on the 11th and a new chapter of our lives began. It wasn't until they opened her up during surgery that they discovered the infection in her Berlin cannulas that would have taken her life within days. It was a true Christmas miracle...

Hopefully it won't be as long until my next post here. :)