8/6/22

This morning, Paul and I met up with the parents of another kid that had a heart transplant one month prior to Ethan, at the same hospital. Jayne (the mom) and I have met up a few times and have often been a nice support. They just happened to be in town, normally they are a few hours away.

Paul came too and we got coffee and baked goods. We sat outside, in the shade of a tall tree. We needed to hear that others shared our struggles. No one really talks about pediatric heart transplants and linking it to depression following the surgery. Everyone expects the kids to be thankful for their new heart and to thrive. But that simply isn’t the case with these kids that have such an abnormal “normal” life.

Bottom line, some of the struggles these kids face are normal late teenager issues and others are effects from this life changing medical issue that will plague them forever. We just navigate the best we can.

 We had our epic family picnic today. Everyone attending looks forward to this picnic. It’s fun to see the kids grow from year to year. The men play bocce ball. The women chat by the pool. It was so damn hot that I went in the pool multiple times.

We made margaritas and each group visiting was infiltrated with some sort of interesting conversation or laughing. Ethan left towards the end I felt he evening and left a HUGE burnout on Nana and Papa’s driveway.

Jiminy was snuggled all evening by his cousin, Micheal. Micheal was so wonderful with Jiminy and actually fell asleep with Jiminy napping on him. I am not sure which one enjoyed it more. Another great picnic for the books.