The Day After...

"Hi. I'm Andrea's Mom. It is the day after, and her heart is beating beautifully. Her blood pressure is perfect, her oxygen is perfect, her heart rate is perfect!! Yes, a rough road for a few days, but doctors are VERY pleased with her progress, and we are SO thankful for their work and expertise. I want to say a very special thank you to the donor's family and loved ones for the generous gift of life. I often cry for that family, and I feel their grief, but their choice to give Andrea a chance to live a full life is appreciated, aplauded, and hopefully will give them some comfort in their loss! Bless you!! I wish we could meet in the future, but for now I send out a huge hug to you all! Thank you! Thank you!! "

Shannon:  Andrea as you can see is doing well today! I heard from my brother that they are hoping to have her sit up on her own later on this afternoon!!! Incredible isn't it?

This is a picture I took last night when we were able to go in to see her. It was just so incredible to stand at her side watching her chest rise and fall and know that it was a new heart doing this! And then to watch the monitor knowing it is all the works of such a wonderful donor. Words cannot even describe how it felt.

I also wanted to post the next picture. On our way home last night I stopped to grab the mail. In it was a Christmas card from Shaun and Andrea. They are handmade of course but the card gave me chills when I opened it. It couldn't be more true could it?

Those who know me, know that I am the BIGGEST believer in things happening for a reason. I know that sometimes things that happen are horrible and so forth, but I still believe. And I think that sometimes we might not "understand" why things happen that do but I believe that ONE day we will know why. We will learn to understand.

I will leave you with a quote that an online friend said, quoted by Catbert: "It only looks like a coincidence."