Being grateful in the worst circumstance…

I am currently reading the book 15 invaluable laws of growth by John Maxwell and he writes about Pulitzer prize winner author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This man spent 8 years in prison during the soviet era for criticizing Joseph Stalin.

He went into prison as an atheist and came out a person of faith.

Looking back on his experience he says “I bless you, prison – I bless you for being in my life. For lying on the rotting prison straw, I learned the object of life is not prospering as I had grown up believing but the maturity of the soul.”

This experience didn't leave him bitter it left him grateful for the development of his faith and the strengthening of his character.

This is how I feel about the curve balls thrown in our lives. I would do anything in my power to change Mason’s circumstance, but I can’t, I don’t have it in my power, so I choose to be thankful…

Becoming a heart mom has lead me to hundreds of people that I would not have had the opportunity to meet or know. I am thankful for these women, families and children.

I am thankful for my “accidental purpose”. Giving back to others walking on a similar path has blessed me beyond imagine.

Mason’s condition reminded me how precious life is and what was really important. I am a better mother, wife and person because HLHS and my son change my perceptive on everything!

Mason still sleeping and Kendall ready to play!

One happy little girl wearing read to support her brother!

Mason with his drawing of me..

Until next time...

Kelsey Garka

Comments

Making Progress

Greetings from Seattle Children's, We are happy to inform everyone that Mason is doing very well and has been moved out of ICU and over to, "the floor." This is a good sign that he is recovering on schedule and should be just a few days away from going home. He orginally had three or four I.V.'s in and is now down to one, which included the removal of the main one in his neck. Kelsey and I were looking forward to that one being removed. He still has two drainage tubes in his chest which we would like to have had out already but the Dr.'s are being cautious because he drained a little more blood than normal his first day after surgery. The plan is to have those taken out tomorrow which will make him feel even better. He is waking up on occasion but isn't quite up for smiling yet...understandably. Kelsey and I just want to hold him and make him feel better but unfortunately he seems to become more uncomfortable when we do, so we try not to be too selfi...

Welcome to HOLLAND

It was time to start collecting all of the information needed to schedule and prepare for Mason’s Fontan Surgery. So last Friday – Mason went in for his Cardiac Catheterization. (Defined below) Cardiac Catheterization (Heart Cath) is the insertation of a catheter into a chamber or Vessel of the heart. This is done for both investigational and intervention purposes. Subsets of this technique are mainly coronary catheterization, involving the catheterization of coronary arteries, and catheterization of cardiac cambers and valves. (Did you get all of that?!?!?) When we arrived at Seattle Children’s Hospital– Greg was busy checking us in and I sat with Mason in the Surgery Center waiting area. Mason and I talked, I kissed him, I played with him… I pulled out all the stops so that he would not remember that he hadn’t eaten in 12 hours and that he was at his least favorite place – Children’s Hospital. During some point of my “operation distract Mason” I noticed you staring at us from acr...

10 Years....

Mason, It is amazing how time passes by in the blink of an eye after you have kids…. It seems like just yesterday, yet this week, 10 years have passed since our life was turned upside down. The day our world took a turn we never saw coming. Each year leading up to the anniversary, I get anxious, emotional, sad, scared, and angry. I WISH 10 years later I felt differently. But I don’t. It almost feels just as raw as the day we were told…. This year. I am consciously recognizing what it is… MONDAY FEBRUARY 11 th ,2008. We sat in a room where a Doctor carefully articulated and explained to us about your special heart. There is one detail about this day I have seemed to forget in time. That is the name of the doctor who told us about our fate…. I could describe to you in details about anything else you might want to know, who was there, what we were wearing, what the Doctor himself looked like and the conversation we had. Yet his name, which used to be...

Mason Gregory Garka

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