Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s hard to remember what you are thankful for on a daily basis but I have a constant reminder of what I am thankful for. I live with her every single day and never take one of those days for granted. But it took a whole army of people to get her here and I’m so thankful for the following.

Children’s Hospital Boston is ranked #1 in most departments, including cardiology. I think Molly helped them put them there J They perform miracles every day. People come from all over the world to get the best care possible from this hospital. We are so lucky to live 40 minutes away. She was able to have the best cardiac surgeon for her. I wish I could tell Dr. Emani every single day how much we appreciate him and what he did for us, for Molly. I hope we never need his services again but if we do I wouldn’t want anyone else to take her heart in their hands.  We were also lucky enough to be able to give back to them twice this year by doing the Nstar Walk and the Patient Partner. This year we helped raise $7200 for Children’s Hospital because of the generosity of our friends and family. It seems like such a small price to pay for saving Molly’s life but we couldn’t be happier. As much as I hate driving down the highway, walking up the walk way, entering the lobby, riding the elevator and going to the appointment inside that building it’s also the only place that I feel accepted and appreciated for all of the work we have done with Molly. It is just such an amazing place and we are so grateful to have them in our lives. For Children’s Hospital we are so thankful.

It’s always a popular thing when someone is sick. Everyone visits, calls, emails or texts to find out how the sick person is doing. Once they start to get better the people stop coming, the phone calls, emails and text become further apart until they eventually stop and people stop checking in. But then there are the few that continue to visit all the time. They still read Molly’s blog or comment on her pictures or status or just send a quick text. Most people we have never met but feel like we have known our whole lives. For all of you that continue to follow and love Molly we are so thankful and I hope you all know how much we appreciate you.

Jay and I have been married for 8 years…YIKES! When we said “through good times and bad” I didn’t know the good and bad were going to be tested so early on in our marriage but we made it through and we made it through stronger than before. We are far from perfect. We are both the most stubborn…STUBBORN people you could ever meet. We could argue about the color of the sky or if dinosaurs every really existed (I say no). But one thing is always the same and that is Molly’s best interest. From day one of Molly’s diagnosis we had to make some pretty tough decisions…the termination of the pregnancy, how we were going to proceed, getting second opinions…the list goes on and on. And from that day on we have always been on the same page which has made it EASIER to get to where we are today. Our life is slowly getting back into a normal pattern. We are able to live a little bit more like a family with a normal, healthy kid that won’t let anyone babysit her.  I don’t know that I would’ve made it this far in this crazy journey with anyone else so for Jay I’m thankful.

Family is so important and not always supportive but we are lucky to have some family that is always there for us. Whether they have done the walk with us, helped us to raise funds or donated, brought us a coffee, visited from out of state, brag about her, ask about her, go with me to doctor’s appointments or take the dogs so we can get away for a few days. We are so thankful to have a family that cares so much!

I never wanted to be a stay at home mom. My plan was always to go back to work after I had Molly. Three weeks after I had a c-section I was back to work. And it went well for a while until Molly needed me more than my work did and I’m so happy with that decision. I was able to find another job that allows me to work from home and raise Molly. I work about 30 hours a week when I have the time to put the hours in. It’s not always easy, especially as Molly gets older but I’m so happy to be able to do it. For my job that allows me to be home and see Molly meet all of her milestones I’m thankful.

Then there is my little miss. Everyone is proud of their child, thinks they are the most beautiful, smart, amazing thing they have ever seen and I’m no different. Molly is living proof that miracles do happen. She has fought so hard from the beginning. At times, I’m sure she wanted to give up but I’m so happy that she didn’t. There has been so much sadness and loss in the CHD and Heterotaxy community this year and it really took its toll on me. I took a step back and have been in a much better place since then but those kids that lost their battle to heart disease and complications from it have taught me so much and have made me appreciate Molly so much more, if that’s even possible. She spent the majority of her first 8 months of her life paralyzed and sedated. Just over the past year alone she eats and drinks everything by mouth, she pulls herself to stand and sits herself back down, she is a TV addict, spoiled rotten, hates to sleep, loves to torture me, loves to go grocery shopping, doesn’t care about the dogs, is only on 3 meds, has grown so much , is only followed by 2 specialists (well 2 once we are discharged from Growth & Nutrition) and made us fall so much more in love with her. She is so strong, determined and stubborn. Even when she keeps me up all night, she keeps me laughing all day. She has made me so proud with all she has overcome because if I had to go through what she has gone through I would’ve given up long ago. She means everything to us and there isn’t a thing we wouldn’t do for her. I’m excited to see what the future holds for her. For Molly Renee Leary (a/k/a Molly Moo) we are so so so thankful!

Last Thanksgiving Molly was admitted to Children’s for a GI bug. I’m hoping this year will be different. We have had one admission this year for her trach site closure. Next year we are shooting for zero admissions but we’ll just take it one day at a time!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family! Your love and support has got us this far and for all of you, once again, we are so thankful!