First of all, thank you for visiting.  And now I’ll get right to the point.  I’ve created this blog to support a book I’ve written about the wonders and terrors of raising a child with a major congenital heart defect (CHD).  The book I’ve written is the book that I wanted when we discovered, in 2004, that our beloved first child, Corey, was going to be born with tricuspid atresia.  Tricuspid atresia is a single ventricle heart defect.  It is the promise of a hard road.  But it is not a death sentence.  There is every reason to hope for a normal life after a devastating diagnosis.  Our lives changed forever on that day.  I now hope to reach other people who are in the same boat with me.  

I am currently reading a book about getting published.  On this blog, I plan to share Corey’s story, and I also plan to talk about the publishing process as I walk through it.  Creating a blog was the first suggestion the book made.  I thought, “I can do that!”  Indeed I’ve done it before.  When Corey was diagnosed with CHD, I created a blog that began with his diagnosis and ran all the way through his third and final surgery.  Then I needed a break.  But now break time is over.  Time to get back to sharing my beautiful son’s amazing and inspiring journey!

By the way, I am just learning to use wordpress, so please bear with me as I royally mess things up in all sorts of creative and stupid ways.  Feel free to laugh at me and tell me all about how you laughed at my idiocy.  I’m good with that.  Actually, please please please tell me how you laughed at me, because then I will know you’re out there and I am not alone out here in cyberspace!  

I think a great way to start telling Corey’s story is through pictures.  Today Corey is eight years old, an A student in third grade, and he plays baseball.  He’s everything I could have hoped for in a child.  Mama loves her little boy!  But he had to fight through three major heart surgeries to get to this point.  I put together this photo montage to show his growth from birth through today.  I used a lot of photos initially, because he changed a great deal early on in his life.  I also think it’s important to show the recovery from each of this three surgeries.  His first surgery (B-T Shunt) happened before he was one month old.  The second surgery (Glenn) came at five months of age.  And his third surgery (Fontan) happened at age four.  

Now I just have to go figure out how to post them on this blog….  In the meantime, here is a shot of Corey showing off his scar.  Ask him what he thinks about it.  See if he doesn’t say, “I win all the biggest scar contests!”  It’s a badge of honor for him.  More to come…..