Special anniversary - 5 years ago today my lovely dd had open heart surgery.

[Wallace]

Every anniversary brings all the memories flooding back, and I always get a bit maudlin.

It is a happy day though. She is one of the lucky ones who has had a full repair and has no ongoing heart problems.

We wished her scar a Happy Birthday

definitely worth remembering what you all went through and what you have now

Awww,

happy heart anniversary

How old is your DD?

Thank you
She is 6.5 now and is being such a stroppy madam at the moment, but I am trying extra hard to really appreciate her

Oh wow, so she was tiny when she had it done!

It must've been very hard.

But like you said, it makes you appreciate them more!

Wallace - snap - my dd1 had cardiac surgery 5 years ago in Sept - she was eight weeks old. She too - after two ops and a stormy recovery period has had no ongoing problems. Unless you see the zipper you would not know. I think her pic is still on my profile.

So from one mumm of a heartkid to another - happy anniversary - to you and your dd.

Do you sometimes wonder how you made it through those worrying hours whilst they had surgery?

Your girls are all gorgeous! Glad your dd is doing so well

It all seems a bit unreal, doesn't it... Was definitely the longest 5 hours of my life.

We went to Asda of all things! We were told not to hang around the hospital - makes the waiting worse. She had her surgery in Glasgow and the hospital is beside the museum of transport, apparently the museum gets a lot of distracted worried looking visitors trying to pass the time.

Happy heart anniversary!
The waiting's the worst part. I drank copious amounts of red wine the night before dd4's surgeries and then would sleep after seeing her off to theatre.

Wallace my darling neice had OHS at a week old & is now a bouncing stroppy madmam of 7 full of life & VERY determined!!!

I know how tough it must have been & it must be quite natural to reflect on that awful time. My darling sis had a really tough time when it was all over- sort of like post traumatic stress disorder really her GP said.

happy scar anniversary

What an emotional day for you. I can understand how it all comes flooding back.

You made me smile describing her as a 'stroppy madam' !

the first time I would not let dh leave the hospital so we sat and waited and waited etc. The second time we went for a walk up to Chelsea's Stamford Bridge and the shop to get something for dd1. (dh is a massive fan and we were at Royal Brompton)

what brought it home to me was when I had my other two who were bigger at birth by miles than dd1 was when having the surgery and it reinforced just how little she was.

DD3 had open heart surgery this year on July 30th and it never occured to me I would remember the day of the surgery as an 'anniversary'. But I suppose it will be really..
Glad it is a Happy anniversay and your DD is doing so well.

Norris - I like your strategy how is your dd now?

The other hard bit is when you have to hand them over for surgery. I ended up shoving my dd (heavily sedated) into the nurse's arms and running out

We also waited 7 months for her surgery (lucky enough not to be urgent) and that was really hard. I remember thinking after we came home from the hospital "was that what I have been worrying myself sick over for the last 7 months, it was wasn't so bad" I think that was still part of the coping process - it was after that it hit me how much we had been through!

Funnily enough after waiting 7 months we got a cancellation and were phoned on the Tueasday afternoon to ask if we could be down on Wednesday morning! Then on the Thursday (day of op) we had to wait and wait because they weren't sure if they could operate because there were no beds in ITU. One minute we were still not sure if we were going to be sent home. Next minute we were being led down the corrridor!

Sorry I am gabbbling a bit

Ah happy heart day to your dd Wallace.

We're fast approaching dd's 14th anniversary, I get a bit emotional about it too. Difficult times.

eidsvold - dd's surgeon works at the Brompton now - Mr Sethia - he was at Birmingham before. He's a hero.

Hi farfaraway, how is your dd doing?

It is very much a day of mixed emotions, I think. Happy that we have our lovely girl, but also brings back vivid memories of being sick with worry and terrified

Crossing posts all over the place here!

I saw dd's surgeon recently on a program about Yorkhill - I was so excited

Wallace-thanks. I found it out by accident due to a MN meet-up the night before her first surgery. . I remember wanting to go & see S in PICU before I went to bed but I had to go and brush my teeth cos I was paranoid they wouldn't let me in due to the alcohol fumes .
She is a stroppy madam too! . Beats her sisters up and definitely knows what she wants. She's got a cardiac OP appointment in two weeks time so we'll get the "official" opinion then.
Next week is the first anniversary of her finally being discharged from hospital. Hopefully she now prefers being at home!

(Saggar did you get my e-mail?)

Probably Norris but bt won't let me into my talk21 mail at the moment, which is most inconvenient. Grrrr. Their 'tech' (not) team are trying to sort it out for me.

Are you suffering from PAT at the moment then?

Norris - Just looked at your profile - how is she 20 months already! I rememebr reading about the really tough time you were having, and it doesn't seem like that long ago

Happy anniversary to your dd wallace . ds1's 7th anniversary was last month (on our wedding anniversary too) and dh and I often talk about what we did during the time he was in theatre. I still can't quite believe that he is a great big 7 year old now and I feel very lucky.

Well dd3 is only four and half months so still very recent but doing absolutely fantastic. Full of cold at the moment but her heart is great. She will not need any more surgery and any appointments now are just for survellience (sp?).
We ended up wandering around Notre Dame cathedral (we are in paris) in distracted and worried way of your museum visitors. Then sat in one cafe for hours, couldn't drink or eat but couldn't be far from a toilet either.

We were told to phone back at a certain time but not to come to the hospital as we would not be allowed to see dd. We sat looking at the minutes ticking with phone in hand til the time to phone. dh phoned and they said phone back in an hour she is not out yet. That completely floored us we couldn't even talk to each other at that stage and then when we phoned the hour later they said she still wasn't up and to phone back in hour again. Now even four months later I look back and think how did we get through that day without our own hearts stopping.
Sorry rambling on a bit there. Good to know that in the future we may look back on July 30th as a good day.

farfaraway - there was a time I thought I wouldn't think about that time and smile. I do smile now because I know that we were exceptionally lucky in so many ways. I'm sure you will too, it's still so fresh for you at the moment.

I sat in ICU parent's room for 9 hours during dd's first surgery. She went to theatre at 9 in the evening so knowhere to wander. It truly was the longest night of my life.

farfaraway - there was a time I thought I wouldn't think about that time and smile. I do smile now because I know that we were exceptionally lucky in so many ways. I'm sure you will too, it's still so fresh for you at the moment.

I sat in ICU parent's room for 9 hours during dd's first surgery. She went to theatre at 9 in the evening so knowhere to wander. It truly was the longest night of my life.

Bloody BT-that sounds par for the course. I had real trouble with my BB recently after we moved and they tried to tell me it was our phone causing the problem .
PAT is definitely setting in. I wasn't too worried but the more I thin about it..... .

I can't believe she's nearer 2 than 1 . A year ago she couldn't even sit up on her own and now she's walking .