From Kourtney G-R., Miramichi, NB
My path of life has seemed to have taken a few unexpected twists and turns, causing a need to put my homeopathy sudies on hold a few years back. Shortly after my husband and I got married, we not only found out we were expecting a baby, but that his job was moving us from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Miramichi, New Brunswick, where we have remained the past three years. We decided I would stay home with our daughter, Avery, while she is little; it was a decision I will never regret, however it kept us in the position where we didn't have extra income to pay for school.
I was planning on starting with homeopathy again last year but was pregnant with our second baby, Sawyer. He was born last May and seemed like a perfectly healthy baby boy. At two days old, our family Doctor heard a murmur and sent us to see the pediatrician, who then sent us to the Moncton hospital for an ultrasound. We were sent to the IWK children's hospital in Halifax and stayed there a week so Sawyer could be closely monitored. He was diagnosed with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (right and left ventricle were reversed). He also had a large hole (which was a good thing at first, as it allowed blood flow) and his right ventricle was too small to do the proper work.
Typically babies with his condition need surgery at 1 month, 6 months and 3 years of age. Sawyer was doing so well in the beginning that we were able to wait and do two procedures in the one surgery at 6 months. At 4 months he went for a heart catherization procedure so the cardiologists could get a good look at his heart, take measurements and monitor blood flow. During the procedure his heart skipped and his rhythm was thrown off, so he needed a temporary pacemaker. After about 20 minutes it recovered on it's own but then happened again during the procedure. The cardiologists backed off, as they didn't want his heart to do it a third time. What was supposed to be an overnight visit ended up being us staying in the ICU with him for 2 weeks.
He slowly recovered and we were sent home for him to get a little bigger and stronger for his open heart surgery. On November 5,2013, he had his surgery and came out very strong. They did a DKS and a Bi-directional Glenn procedure, changing his heart's anatomy to a singular venticle system. When he woke up he was extrememly irritated and was having panic attacks for two days. During these attacks his breathing was extremely laboured and he had a look of terror in his eyes. He would recover from them but one morning he couldn't snap out of it. He turned purple and was gasping for air. At this point he was re-intubated and sedated for a week. They took him to the catherization lab and found that he must have caught a virus from the intubator and had a large pocket of fluid in his lungs. They put a chest tube in and it drained for 5 days!
So, he was not only dealing with the confusion of being a 5 month old baby in a strange place, chest pain from the incision, migraine from the change of blood flow (goes from the heart to the head now, creating a great deal of pressure in the beginning), low oxygen as his lungs adjust to new anatomy and blood flow, he was dealing with pneumonia as well. The second time he woke up things were better, although his kidneys were very strained from the surgery and the catherization, causing his blood pressure to sky rocket for about 2 weeks. We spent a month in the ICU. When we were finally allowed to leave, Sawyer progressed instantly! When we left the hospital he was 6 months old and his weight dropped to 12lbs 2 ounces. He is now 10 months old and is 19lbs 4 ounces! He is doing amazing and does not have to have his other surgery until he is 3. Our life has settled down again and we are finally more at ease.
Although I was not officially studying homeopathy the past few years, it was a large part of my daily life. It helped me and my family during those difficult times with Sawyer, and continues to make a difference for us on a daily basis. The healthcare professionals even let me give Sawyer some remedies while he was recovering in the ICU. The positive impact it made on him was instantly obvious. I am still passionate about homeopathy and determined to continue on with the distance course now that our lives are stable again.