Perspective

We were in a general pediatric surgery area for Tommy's surgery.  Within minutes of checking in,  we were humbled by what surrounded us.  We have been stressing and worrying about Tommy and his surgery and diagnosis for weeks.  We'd gone through the "poor baby" thing with a million people.  There were a lot of people thinking about him and praying for his surgery to go well.  Looking around, we realized how incredibly lucky we were to be worrying about this- which is a relatively small issue compared to what some people go through.  While we don't know the stories of anyone there- we know at least two of them had cardiac issues.  There was a family- there must have been a group of 10 people with shirts saying "Save Krystyn's Heart" or something like that.  While I don't know that they were currently there for major cardiac surgery- I do know that they've had a much tougher road than Tommy.  I also know that they weren't sent to the family waiting area, which likely meant that they were admitted to the hospital post-op. 

In any case, this experience has given us a whole new appreciation for what people can endure.  We realized that we have family members and close friends who had dealt (or are dealing with) medical issues with their children.  Some with much more significant surgeries than Tommy.  We can only hope that we were supportive enough, because as we learned, you really have no idea what it is like until you go through something yourself.