My First MLH Meeting

Tonight I went to the September meeting of the Tulsa Mended Little Hearts chapter.  I had three goals.

1. Don’t cry.

2. Learn something

3. Make friends

Happy to say that I accomplished those pretty darn well.  I was worried that being at that meeting would make everything seem much more real than I wanted it to be.  I was worried that it would completely obliterate my use of denial as a coping mechanism.  I was worried I’d hit a sudden wall of panic.

Come to find out, I didn’t feel that way at all.  Apparently I have been done with denial for a while.  I really  have accepted that this is our situation now, and that Rowan will endure more than any little man should have to.  The truth is, I instantly felt like I belonged around this group of families.  It’s scary, and hard, but the support that comes from having someone who has walked in your shoes telling you that you will not be alone through the journey ahead is very humbling.

I introduced myself, Rowan, and shared his due date, shared his heart defects, and realized that I felt proud to talk about my son.  Sure, his defects suck, but I am excited about his arrival and already feel proud of my little man. Goal #1 accomplished.  No crying during the meeting.

The speaker at tonight’s meeting shared his take on the importance of organic food, detoxifying your life as best you can, and cautions about vaccinations.  I think being a doctor’s wife and being in the education profession, if someone doesn’t provide articles and sources in a presentation, I don’t give their information much credit…but his audience was not one that I think would demand abstracts.  I loved his take on organic food and toxins in our environment.  He basically emphasized that if our body isn’t wasting energy and resources purifying the crap we don’t need but are exposed to, it can spend more time focusing on healing and repairing itself.  Makes sense.

Vaccinations are still a tough issue for me.  I see the point in spreading out vaccinations and not loading 5 vaccines into one shot, but I struggle with the idea of NO vaccinations.  Post op Rowan doesn’t need to try to fight measles, or the flu, or anything else if he doesn’t have to.  I will have to talk to our pediatrician/pediatric cardiologist about the vaccinations given at birth and whether or not postponing them is in Rowan’s best interest. So goal #2 accomplished – learned a few things, decided to continue investigating a few others.

At the end of the meeting I talked to a few of the other parents.  I friend requested one of them that I talked to for almost an hour in the parking lot.  Goal #3 accomplished.

Amazing meeting – amazing group – I’m pretty excited to take my husband with me to the next meeting.  This is a support group that is active.  They support parents, they raise awareness, and they educate one another.  I think all parents need a group like this, CHD or no.