Just good news right now :)

Life is good.  We've had good things happening the past couple of weeks and it's Christmastime!

Clinic last Monday was too good to be true....I actually think that's how it's usually supposed to be, we've just had a long string of little problems.  We got to Primary Children's at 7:15 and we were out of there at 9:30!  I even made it home to St. George in time for our school faculty meeting at 2:00! Abby's echo looked good, her heart sounded good, and we had no worries!  We also heard some other good news this week........neither I or my ex-husband carry the cardiomyopathy gene, woohoo!!!  This means that both Brittany and Brock should be okay.  Talk about bringing my stress level down, hearing those results was like taking a big weight off my shoulders.  The gene was just a mutation that occurred in Abby, we will never know why, but at this point, that doesn't matter.

Some other good news is that now Abby has come off a little more on her steroids, she's been able to run again.  The other day, after her run, her facebook status said, "I love it when you can run farther than you think you can!"  I bet that was just the greatest feeling ever for her!  It's pretty inspiring to see Abby, less than 5 months out from her transplant, and Britt, 3 knee surgeries in the past year, out running.  I loved it when my brother-in-law, Rich, saw them out running together this week and commented, "New definition of awesome-when you see your 2 nieces, both out running and getting strong.  You made me smile and inspired me today!"  Britt and Abby-you're an inspiration to me too!  I have to brag for a minute and say that I also made it to the gym 4 times this past week!!!  That's right, Mama Doe, as my kids' friends call me, is finally getting stronger!!!

One other comment that I loved to hear this week, was as I was sitting at our ward relief society dinner, and we were all listening to an amazing pianist play a concert for us, and a friend of mine leaned over to me and said, "I just realized that I'm sitting here with you and your baby has a new heart.  You shouldn't even be here.  You could still be sitting in SLC, alone, waiting for the heart;  but we are here together, Abby is thriving, and you are here!!"  I couldn't help but smile, because that is so true, and I think about it all the time.  I can't even imagine being stuck up in our Sugarhouse house, with Brittany and Brock going to school in St. George, still waiting for the heart, during Christmastime!!  I personally know that if that were the case, I wouldn't be okay, I wouldn't have been able to do it!  I think we were all pushed exactly to our limit....and we survived.  I still go through moments, at least a couple times a day, that I just stop and think, "Holy cow, I can't believe that my daughter had a heart transplant!  That was "us" that this happened to.  We were on the news and in the newspaper, we are the family that everyone was doing fundraisers for, it was my daughter that almost didn't survive her heart stopping on May 18th!  This really happened."  It's a funny feeling, but everytime it happens, it reminds me to be so grateful for where we are today.

There's only 2 weeks until Christmas, I have only bought one present and it's for my niece, Leah.  Am I worried???  Nope!!  The one thing that I've learned this year, it only took me 40 years :), is that the presents really don't matter.  I know people say it all the time, but when you really, truly believe it, it's an awesome feeling.  I know my kids "get it" now too, I can tell by their Christmas lists this year, very small and  simple, they know what matters.  It took a near-tragedy, living apart for 5 months, and a miracle, but now they know.  Enjoy this Christmas season, it's the greatest time of the year and will be over way too soon!