Heart Month - Day 10 (Hospital Staff) - Tonight was virtual BINGO night for the CHOA heart kids to celebrate Heart week. Everything that CHOA does, they do with a little bit of magic.
I was talking to another heart mom this week about how while you are in the hospital all you do is pray to leave, & when you get home, you find yourself missing parts of being inpatient.
No, no... I do not MISS being inpatient. I do not WISH to be inpatient. I do not miss WHY we have been there. But you do miss the PEOPLE.
The surgeons doing rounds, the one that you hardly know but that saved your child's life.
The doctors that are invested in your child's care & that you are trusting to make life-saving decisions for you.
The nurses that are LITERAL angels on earth. Their kindness. Their knowledge. Their patients. They are there to take care of your babies, but each one also takes care of you. I remember being held by one of Nolan's nurses after his surgery while I cried so hard I was shaking. She came & sat down & hugged me & held on until I caught my breath. She got me through one of my darkest days, she believed in us when we didn't believe in ourselves.
The patient advocates that treat you like their best friend, & make you feel like the most important person on earth.
The program coordinators, & therapy dog handlers, that make everything run. That invest in your child & get to know your family. That put on things as you see in the second picture, a virtual BINGO night for heart week with all of the CHOA heart families.
The janitorial staff keeps everything clean & stocked. They make sure you have tissues for crying eyes, & enough blankets to keep you warm at night.
The cooks keeping the cafeteria open & bellies fed. The ones that see sad faces all day long but are always smiling.
The security team that checks you in, & makes sure that your babies are safe.
And ALL the people behind the scenes that make CHOA run smoothly, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to infinity.
You are the real heroes. And we salute you. Thank you for serving our babies. Our families. And our community. We are forever grateful & forever changed.