Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of Tommy’s “gotcha day”. Gotcha day is the term used in the adoption community to celebrate and remember the day that a child came to your home to stay. I have already written about the problems that we had with Tommy’s behavior and the fact that he had a “heart scar” down the middle of his chest with no explanation from the state.
Tommy came to us one month after his brother Caleb had joined our family. Caleb had a very rough first month of his life. Now that we know almost all of their stories, both of the boys are very fortunate to be alive. They were both rescued from dire circumstances which occurred prior to living with us.
Our three oldest adopted children: Matthew Walter, Tommy and Jacob were living in poor conditions. The people caring for them were doing the bare minimum in terms of child care. Essentially, the caretakers were “squeezing” the boys’ welfare checks as an income source.
On two different occasions before he was two years old, Tommy was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital in congestive heart failure. Both times, he was stabilized and then had open heart surgery to repair his mitral valve. The hospital records indicate that there was a suspicion the second time that he had not been given his required medications. At least, the people caring for him got it together enough to take him in.
His surgeries were very serious. The first time that I met the doctor, who had been his cardiologist during these ordeals, he said that he was quite a celebrity with the hospital staff. He also said that it was one of the few times that they had a child there on a ventilator with no adult with him. His birth mother had tried to visit and the security people took one look at her and would not let her in the hospital.
Considering everything that has happened, Tommy’s condition has really improved. He probably will need to have the valve replaced in ten years or so. We pray for a miraculous solution that does not involve surgery.
The chief of the surgical staff performed Tommy’s second operation. His notes on the operation indicate that it was one of the most defective valves that he had ever seen. He added that he was determined to repair it. And he did.
Tommy is fortunate to be alive today. Before I knew Tommy, the Lord and a world-class pediatric heart surgeon were watching over him.