Like birds of a feather we flock together..

I am a HEART MOM

Tough

Blessed

1 in 100

Inspiring

Pushed to the limit

Prepared

Knowledgeable

Compassionate

Brave

Special

Tired

Grateful

On an Amazing Journey

Germaphobic

Fiercely Determined

Selfless

Aware of what REALLY matter

Amazing

Hopeful

Strong Beyond Measure

Courageous

Seeking Miracles

Sleep Deprived

An Ordinary Woman Caring for an EXTRAORDINARY CHILD

Living for the moment

Taking nothing for Granted

Doing what I think is Best for MY child

Loving

Willing to do whats required of me

a cheerleader

a Warrior

Worried

An Example

An advocate

in survival mode

a student

Lucky

Pleading

Following my Instincts

Nervous

Stressed

STRONGER THAN I KNOW

THANK YOU KATIE FOR THE AMAZING COOKIES!

I have spent what feels like a lifetime getting to know other heart mothers "virtually". I do not always get the opportunity to meet them face to face but when I do it feels like we have been friends forever, almost like I just saw them the previous week.

This month I had the opportunity to enjoy the most amazing lunch with some other heart mothers.
We even had a few crazy mom's drive hours to join us (I say crazy with LOVE).
For me this just shows how special our heart mom get together are, we after all know intimately the journey each is on even though we all are at different stages in the journey.

These women (above) all have children like Mason. Single ventricle kids with their own unique, beautiful and complex hearts.
This photo is a real life example of the scary truth we all face... Statistically one of our children will not make it to their first birthday. Sadly two days after this lunch one of the moms lost their baby after a courageous fight.

Raising a child with a complex heart is difficult, scary, and hard.
Losing a child to to a CHD is earth shattering.

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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