Back to reality

You may have noticed that I have been in some sort of la-la-land lately, what with the shopping sprees and what not. Perhaps this has been my way of keeping my mind off seeing Dr. Glickstein on Friday for our first of several fetal echocardiograms that Natalie and I will be subjected to over the next few months, and probably Natalie's first year.

Julie Glickstein, pediatric cardiologist, is one of the most forthright and compassionate physicians I have ever met. She was tremendously kind and helpful to us when she diagnosed Julian with cardiomyopathy in utero, and was there for us during the days following his birth, and months following his death. Although she has pretty much seen it all, she was clearly shaken by the rarity and timing of the onset of Julian's condition, and vowed never to let that happen to us again. Realistically, DH and I know that there is no way for her to guarantee us a successful outcome, but I also know that we trust and respect this woman's judgment immensely after pretty much having put our son's life in her hands.

We haven't seen her in over a year, so I expect that the meeting will be filled with anxiety and emotion. A few weeks ago, DH said that he hoped Natalie would grow up to be a doctor like Dr. Glickstein. While it's pretty moving in a Lifetime movie sort of way to think that Natalie could devote her life to curing the disease that killed her brother, my biggest hope for her at this point is that she grows up, period.