Welcome to the blog....

After some thought and deliberation, I decided to create a blog regarding Samantha. To be honest I never thought I would create a blog--and certainly not one dedicated to educating friends and family on Samantha's medical issues. However, I am hoping that this format will help keep those who care about Samantha informed about what is going on with her health, life, doctor appointments etc. Although we don't mind sharing medical information face to face with our loved ones, Valerie and I are hoping that this blog will help somewhat with allowing us to enjoy our time with everyone a little more. It is not always "fun" to talk about medical stuff at family gatherings and/or birthday parties. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't ask us questions if/when you happen to have them.

In addition to keeping friends and family informed, I am also interested in helping other families who may be even newer to this journey than we are. I have spent countless hours and many sleepless nights reading blogs created by other parents who have children that have medical issues similar to Samantha. I have found it tremendously helpful. And, I am grateful that they were generous enough to bother writing it all down.

Please note--I am making no claims regarding my writing skills. Just because I am keeping a blog doesn't mean I will be good at it. So, please go easy on me if you happen to notice some spelling or grammar issues. And, if it turns out to be a little bit on the boring side---I'm sorry about that as well.

Despite the underlying reason for this blog--in addition to all the medical talk I do hope to share from time to time some of the amazing moments of our incredible days. Samantha (if I may be so brazen to brag about my kid), is an incredibly beautiful, sweet, loving, caring, funny, adorable (are you getting the hint yet???) perfect human being. We are so, so lucky to have her.

So yes, we celebrate her everyday, and will continue to do so.

Going forward it seems Samantha's path is going to be a bit different than most. Not any worse, not any better--just different. She'll be doing things her way, in her own time, and to the best of her ability. That is absolutely fine with us. As long as we can keep her smiling and giggling--we feel we are doing our job as parents.

Welcome to the blog. Over the next post or two I will try to go back and document how this medical journey began, and where we are right now in the process.

Signing off for now,

Monica