Funderland

On Friday, August 14, our local heart support group, Hearts of Hope, had an end-of-summer get-together at Funderland. This is a small amusement park for children in Sacramento. We were really looking forward to it because we knew how much Kyler would love it and we were looking forward to meeting and talking with other heart families. This support group is really important to us, me in particular, as I need to be around people who understand what we've been through and what challenges we face. And, I think as Caden grows up, it will be important for him to have friends who have the same scars as he does so he doesn't feel different or weird.

We had originally planned to take Caden with us as well, but due to him being on heavy-duty antibiotics, he is unable to be in the sun at all. So, we arranged for respite care for him for the afternoon/evening so the rest of us could go.

The event was scheduled to go from 5 – 8 pm and we arrived on time in order to maximize the time Kyler could go on the rides. The event was paid for by Sutter Memorial and we had the park to ourselves. There were over 150 people attending and they closed the park down to the public and had it open just for us. Wristbands were provided for unlimited rides, pizza, drink and Hawaiian shaved ice were all available also free of charge. Gift bags full of fun goodies were given to all the kids, including the siblings, not just the heart children. And, t-shirts were provided for all the heart children and all the parents. How incredible is this group???

Teimour, the cardiothoracic surgeon who was with us at Stanford is now at Sutter Memorial and he was at the event helping to check families in and handing out wristbands and goodie bags. He brought his beautiful wife and daughter with him and it was great to meet them. He spent time socializing with all the families and is just a nice, kind man.

When we arrived, Valerie, one of the co-chairs of HOH, asked us if we would mind if the channel 10 news reporter followed us around and featured us in his report on the event. I was really hesitant at first because I don't like being on camera. But Valerie said she really would like one of the families who had a relationship with Teimour since they would be interviewing him as well. So, we agreed. The reporter put a mic on Greg (I didn't want to be the one talking!!!) and asked him lots of questions. Then he spent time following us around the park taking video footage of us. The feature was on the 11 o'clock news on Friday night. We recorded it and saved it to DVD. I just wish Caden could have been there and part of the story as well. The feature was about 2 ½ minutes long and was a really good segment. Valerie said it's one of the best HOH features ever so that is kind of cool. Anything we can do to bring more awareness to children with CHD is a good thing.

Anyway, we were thinkning about getting ready to go home when Greg got a call on his cell phone. When he hung up, he simply told me we “have to leave right now!” I didn't ask any questions, we just grabbed Kyler's hands and ran out of there. I knew something must be wrong with Caden so we just needed to get home as fast as possible. Poor Kyler was not happy about leaving so abruptly. We usually try to give him a little warning before we leave a place like that so he is more prepared. But once we got to the car, he settled down and did fine the rest of the way home.

Apparently, our respite worker had locked herself out of the house, leaving Caden inside all by himself. That is the extent of what Greg found out on the phone. The person who rents out our old house across the street is the one who called. We didn't get any details but that she was locked out of the house. So, we were a little frantic as we didn't know where Caden was at the time. Was he on the couch, the changing table, the floor, in his crib??? We just didn't know. When we got home, the respite worker was EXTREMELY apologetic about the situation, with good reason. The front door remains locked and if you pull it shut behind you, you're locked out. She had gone outside to throw a diaper in the trash and got herself in trouble. Her cell phone along with our phone numbers were all inside. So, luckily, our renter drove into his driveway right then and was able to call us for her.

Needless to say we drove home VERY fast and were anxious to find out if Caden was okay. We were quite relieved to find out he was in his crib fast asleep. He never knew anything that had gone on. The worker said she had gone and stood by his window at the back of the house and listened for him. She said he fussed for a couple minutes and went to sleep and was quiet the rest of the time.

We were a little stressed by the whole situation, but are so grateful everything ended up okay. We had such a wonderful time at Funderland with Kyler. He loved all the rides and wanted to go over and over again on all of them. The weather was perfect and we couldn't have asked for a better time except for our hasty departure. HOH is such a wonderful, incredible, support group. I don't know what I would do without them.















Kyler was so excited by "Dinger" the Sacramento River Cats mascot. Just look at his hands in motion!

Teimour and his wonderful family