Long day

Yesterday was an insanely long day back at work.  I didn't leave until about 6:30 pm!  Poor Brooke was the last child at daycare...my guilt over putting her in daycare while I work is rearing its ugly head now.  It's always such a struggle - what is the best for my daughter?  At home, she would get all our attention and be with us all the time.  But is that best for her or best for me?  As it is right now, I get to contribute, have adult interaction, and Brooke gets socialized, has friends, and learns so much there!  I could teach her colors, numbers, etc, etc, just like the daycare, but she would miss Emma, Lilly, Arianna, Riley, etc., etc.  If me working and her being in daycare at least part of the time is best, why do I feel so guilty about it?

Today's just kind of a "down" day for me, I suppose.  I'm tired and stressed, never a good combination. 

I've blogged (many) times about the world of CHD.  Yesterday, the oldest living survivor with a defect called Tricuspid Atresia (where the right side of the heart is severely underdeveloped) passed away.  He was 44.  It was amazing reading his blogs at Adventures of A Funky Heart, because he was born in a time where hardly anything was known about CHDs or the heart surgeries to try to help these children survive.  He passed away in his home - on the 66th anniversary of the first surgery now known as BT Shunt (the first surgery these babies with 1/2 of a heart undergo). 

By the way, the story of the surgery is amazing - it took place in 1944 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and involved a white surgeon and his African-American assistant who actually developed the special instruments needed for the surgery, Vivien Thomas - I hope that caught your attention enough to go to here and read the story for yourself!