A Big Milestone

Today is a pretty humbling day for us. Today is Dylan's 3rd birthday. Now, I usually am amazed at how fast time has flown when each of my kids has a birthday. And this is no different.....but it also is. You see, when Dylan had his open heart surgery at 5 months of age, we asked the surgeon afterwards how his heart really looked when he had a chance to get in there and see it. He told us that it was worse than what they had thought based on all of the tests, ECHOs, x-rays, EKGs, etc. that they had done before hand. He said that the right side of Dylan's heart had become very muscular because it was having to work so hard to push blood through to the lungs, that he had to cut away quite a bit of the muscle that had built up on that side of his heart to make it a more normal thickness. And then what he said next blew me away. He said that Dylan wouldn't have lived to the age of three without that life saving surgery at that time in his life. His little heart would have become so muscular that it would have become too thick to pump blood to the lungs, like a balloon that is so thick that you can't blow air into it. Then his heart would have failed. There are people that have this condition and never have the surgery (like in 3rd world countries where they don't have the means or the doctors to do it) that live to be adults and even grandparents because it is mild. Most kids aren't that lucky though. Many of the kids in 3rd world countries with this heart defect die in infancy or early childhood. We had no idea that Dylan's heart defect was so severe.

I had forgotten about all of this until a couple of weeks ago when it all came flooding back and I remembered what the surgeon had said. And so today, I am so glad that we could celebrate Dylan's 3rd birthday, but I am profoundly thankful today that we still have Dylan with us. I am so grateful for those who developed the surgery that gives kids born with Tetralogy of Fallot a chance to live a long life. What a journey this little boy has been on, and will continue to be on. We have learned more than we could ever articulate about love, faith, sacrifice, the power of prayer and blessings, service, family and friends, and seeing so clearly the hand of the Lord in our lives. Life is so precious, and we feel so much gratitude to our Heavenly Father for allowing us to have more time with this special boy. 

Happy 3rd Birthday little Dylan! You are so strong and brave and we love you!