Putting it Back Into Perspective

I just had a comment left on my Two Week Follow Up post from a month ago. It seems Rolf found my blog while sitting in the ICU recovery room at UCLA with his son following surgery by Dr. Reemtsen. Rolf left a link to his blog Rudy's Beat, where the family is in the midst of some serious medical procedures for their infant son. As soon as I opened the link I was swept back into that place, reminded of the babies who looked so tiny on big adult beds as they rolled past me walking slowly around the unit. At that time we all talked about how hard it would be to be the parents of those kids.
Going through open heart surgery was hard, no doubt about it, but I can't imagine what it would be like to watch my kids go through it. I've only read a small part of Rudy's Beat so far but I'm going to get back to it because I think it might give a pretty good look at what parents must go through.

It seems from what I've read so far that things are going well and of course my thoughts go out to them and hope everything works out. Rolf made a comment about Dr. Reemtsen and I'm confident that he's had a very good surgeon. Of course, I only know of his capabilities from listening to his peers talk about him and knowing he deals with some of the hardest paediatric cases around but, what I do know for sure is that he has a great bedside manner. I remember Denise and I thinking that this would be that much more important when dealing with kids AND their parents. I don't think it should be underestimated. My confidence in him going into the big day was very important. Rudy's story is another reminder to me that Dr. Reemtsen and his staff change lives everyday and they should be commended. They certainly won't be forgotten!

For those of you coming into this little open heart surgery discussion a little late you can find all the posts easily by clicking on the Open Heart Surgery Labels at the bottom of this post or by clicking on the links under open heart surgery over on the right hand side of the blog. Those ones are listed in chronological order!


UPDATE:
I've just gotten through most of Rudy's Beat blog. Well worth a long visit, a very good read and a very candid look into the lives and thoughts of parents with 3 kids and now, a brand spanking new baby boy who had to have complicated open heart surgery two days after being born. The family knew surgery was needed and in fact began writing a few months before delivery when the whole family found out during an ultrasound that something was wrong. If you are a parent you will cry as you follow along with this near real time journey. If you've faced a similar position you will empathise and be thankful someone wrote down many of your own thoughts. So much of the emotion they are going through is similar to what I felt yet much of it is still so different because, its just not the same when it happens to your kids, to your new born baby! I certainly plan to follow along and wish them all the best!