Best Friends and Family

 We have the nicest, most supportive friends and family ever!!! So thankful for them💓

Colby's Heart

 Hmmm...where to even begin?? I'm writing this months later, when we are finally on the other side and it's much easier to talk about. In August of 2020, we had our regular cardiologist follow up. Abigail's heart/leakage remained stable. Unfortunately, Colby's leakage had become severe. His cardiologist put him on blood pressure medication to try and take some of the pressure off. Sadly it was not enough and we found out in February that Colby needed another open heart surgery. We were devastated. We were all very emotional and scared. We couldn't believe we were going through again.

After a lot of research, we decided on Dr. del Nido at Boston Children's Hospital. When we met him (virtually because of Covid), we felt immediately at ease and that he was the right surgeon for us. 

On May 8th, we began our drive to Boston for Colby's surgery on the 13th. It was a very long drive. Traffic was rough, but we didn't mind. It's crazy the things you are happy to do/go through when you're trying to delay something else. We stopped in Connecticut for the night. Colby was so amazing and strong. He didn't fully comprehend everything that was getting ready to happen, but he was the strong one in the family that helped us to keep it together. 💙

We made it to Boston on Sunday, May 9th. We stayed in a gorgeous apartment in the middle of downtown Boston. We weren't prepared to fall in love with Boston as much as we did. It's soooo pretty!! There are all of these beautiful gardens right in the middle of downtown. It's nothing like we've ever seen. 

Colby had preop on Monday, May 10th and Tuesday May 11th and then we had a full open day on the 12th before Colby's surgery. We tried to soak this little boy in as much as possible. We just wanted to make these precious moments with him count. We really appreciated every single snuggle, every single smile, every single laugh.... Time feels very different. It's hard to explain.

Then came the day of the surgery. We were very emotional, but felt very confident in Dr del Nido and his team. The surgery went amazing. It went even better than expected. Colby did incredible. 

We were in the hospital about a week. There were some very rough days and nights in the beginning,  by about day 5, Colby started to feel much better. It's incredible how quickly children bounce back. They are so resilient. I remember sitting on the floor with Colby, the three of us playing with his toys. Colin put on some music and Colby started to dance just a bit. It brought the biggest smile to our faces.💙 We eventually were transferred from the ICU to the step down unit. As much as we missed our nurses, it was nice to have a little more quiet and calmness. We especially loved the candy/snack cart that came around every day!😍

About a week later, Colby was discharged! We can't express how happy and relieved we were. Of course we were a little scared to leave Boston, but we have an incredible team of doctors back home to keep an eye on Colby. 

We wanted to take one more day in Boston before we headed back home just to make sure Colby was feeling ok, so we rented a stroller and took Colby all around Boston. He wasn't feeling too great, but he still enjoyed the fresh air and just being out of the hospital.

Colby is doing absolutely amazing now! He's running around, swimming, dancing, cracking us up...basically back to his old self! We are so very thankful to all of our doctors, nurses, friends, family...It's incredible the amount of support and love we have received throughout all of this. We are forever grateful. Colby is one well loved boy💙