"Thankful Thursday"

I am fully aware it's only Wednesday and this post was going to be for tomorrow but I have time to do this post now so I figured why wait until Thursday.....

I just wanted to share my thoughts with a few things.

I am just amazed at all the people who have been involved with Hunter from his therapists to his doctors etc. I had no idea how many people are doing things in the background to help kids like Hunter out. When Hunter first had his trach put in, we had tons of people come in and out of his room talking about the programs the state offered to social workers offering help. At the time, I was beyond overwhelmed, not only that my baby had just gotten a crazy thing called a tracheotomy done to him but just the worry and the wondering what's going to happen next etc etc. I couldn't even comprehend what these people were doing and what the heck they were talking about. Nineteen months later, I get it, I finally get it.

They were there to offer services like Early Intervention, which is where the state offers services if your child is behind in areas such as speech, physical etc. They were there to get Hunter on the waiting list right away to be offered a medicaid waiver, which is basically extra insurance and benefits that is based solely on the child's needs and not whether the parents make "too much" money. Just because we aren't destitute doesn't mean we can't use extra help with the cost of medical care and co pays....They were there to offer support in many ways I didn't know I needed.

From the case workers who helped us fill out the forms, get them to the correct people, be there for me to call when I just didn't understand something. Then there are other people who work with the Early Intervention therapists as a liaison to make sure we were getting what we need out of therapy..Not to mention the therapists themselves, you know who you are..These are some wonderful people. Not only have we gotten speech therapy from them but just someone to talk to and tell them my feelings and worries to. It's been priceless. Then there's the doctor's who have all been involved in Hunter's care, his primary care doctor to his ENT surgeon in Cincinnati. The nurses, who let me call them whenever I need to to ask a big question or a small question. All of these people and programs ended up being a huge help for getting Hunter the right care and assistance for us to get him to where he is today, trach free and doing AMAZING.

I remember thinking while still in the hospital the very first time, "we don't need any of this help" it's for "other" people. Whoever the "other" people are...Boy was I wrong....

I'm basically trying to say and huge THANK YOU. I don't know where we'd be today without everyone's help. I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

check out that awesome bedhead...