LOOKING BACK.....

We received a call last night from a friend who had received a call from the Lawrence Blood Bank stating they were running low on blood. My intention was to make a short post asking anyone who can to please go in and donate this week. Once I logged onto the blog though I decided to go back to the blog when I was in the hospital asking people to donate. I briefly read through some of my blogs and just started to cry. Those feelings just rushed back to me. I was just talking with a friend this morning who just found out about Cooper's situation and I stood there with a smile on my face and told him he was doing well. When I think back to the time in the hospital I sometimes wondered if I would ever get to this point. So much has happened since then most importantly Cooper's wonderful recovery but much more too. I have received so many contacts from family and friends that I had not talked to for so long. Cooper's Cause has been created and that alone has been amazing. Our family has grown in ways I would have never imagined. I had someone ask the other day how this has effected Terry and I. I looked at them blankly, I had not thought about that. Terry and I have not been a priority for so long but when I think about us I know we are great. Terry picks up in the areas I lack and vice versa. We each have our down times but they never seem to be at the same time. We have had to learn how to manage our time so efficiently and constantly made sure we are providing both Raelynn and Cooper the attention they need and deserve. It has made us better parents. It has made us better people. When you see some much good being done for you, it is impossible to not become a better person. We are blessed, fortunate, lucky......whatever you want to call it. It is all very real and now seeing Cooper's little smile daily and watching his personality develop and seeing Raelynn and Coop interact, I cannot imagine what our world would be like without the experiences the past 8 months has brought us. Now will I need to be reminded of all this at our next hospital stay? Of course I will! :)

Now back to the actual purpose of this post. Below is a reminder of how important it is to donate blood. This came directly out of a post I made back in May while in the hospital when a friend, Isaac, was kind enough to donate. Please if you can, donate!!!


"On 1 day using the ECMO machine Cooper used 6 units of blood. A person usually donates 1 unit of blood when they donate sometimes a little less. Cooper was on ECMO for 6 days. During surgery he is given probably twice that given on an average day on the ECMO. Cooper is still receiving blood daily but it is down to 1 to 2 units. Therefore, in the 8 days that we have been here Cooper has received somewhere around 45 to 50 units of blood. That is approximately 45 to 50 people donating blood!!!! And we are not done yet. As you can see, it is sooooo important. Isaac was also good enough to share the following link you can go to for locations to give blood. www.savealifenow.org/services/hours-locations.phpThank you Isaac for being so thoughtful!!! Thanks also to all of you who currently give and have given in the past. We thank you"

****Say a little prayer that tonight Molly from Tiny K will give us direction on Cooper's eating issues. I can hardly wait to meet with her.***