Happy Birthday, Stephenie!

Yeah, I know, a day late, but I hope you had a wonderful 36th birthday.  

Yeah, I also know it coulda been better - but you are here to chat about it and that is what counts.


36 years ago, we had a wonderful 9 lb 6 oz little girl.  

Here you are at 4 days old... 

That was just about the time we found out you had supraventricular tachycardia.  Your heart was racing at 317 beats a minute...  We almost lost you then... but we didn't. 

Many times over the next 16 years, it was close... oh so close.  We could have lost you so many times, but we didn't.

When you were 16, you collapsed on the band field in the middle of a performance at a football game... we didn't lose you then either... but we could have.  We got your heart converted back to a normal rhythm and went home.

A day or so later, we took you to the hospital in New Orleans just as the ambulance attendants told us to do and showed them a 'strip' of EKG.  Your Dr took one look at it and took you back to try to duplicate it.  You 'converted', had trouble 'reverting' and finally, they told us you were safe, but very, very sick.  The Drs said that what you had could have caused 'sudden death' at any time in your life, but it hadn't.

Surgery lasted hours and hours and hours.  So many hours Drs were taking shifts; coming out and giving us results as their shift ended.  It took forever to find the electrical pathway that could have killed you many times over... but it didn't.

You came through the surgery like a champ, but you never wanted to go through that again!  Thankfully, though your heart isn't 'fixed', it isn't "sudden death" like the Drs said it was before the surgery.

A few weeks ago, you took an awful fall off of a horse.  You dislocated your arm, fractured it several times, chipped the elbow, and tore the cartilage in it.  Surgery repaired all they could; ligaments and tendons were severed, bone chips removed, cartilage cleaned up... Yes, these are awful injuries; they will likely change your life.  But falling off of a horse that is half Clydesdale - yeah, that could have killed you.  But it didn't.

I am going to tell you something about yourself.  You are a survivor.  You could have died so many times; physically, from heart 'beats', from 'heartbreaks', from scares, life changes... from life... but you didn't!  You have certainly been through some tough times, but you have BEEN THROUGH those tough times!  What makes you think you won't get through this as well? 

You came from a family of fighters. YOU are a fighter!

Don't let this get you down.  It's gonna be tough.  It is going to take time.  It won't be easy... 

But...

You are loved.  You are cherished.

You are strong-willed.  You are determined.  You are strong.

You are one hell of a woman.  

You can do anything!

Home school your daughter?  You are doing it!

Move half way across the country and start a farm?  You did it!

Make soap?  You rocked it!

Anything you sent your mind to, you DO it!

What in the world makes you think you won't get through this with flying colors?

LOOK at you!  Look at who is behind you!

You could have gotten killed! 

But you didn't.  

You are still here blessing us with your smile; 36 years of those wonderful smiles.  


We love you.

You are strong and you can get through this.
 
We will go through this with you.

Together - just as we always have.

We will ALL be there with you.

You put out the work and we will cheer you on... encourage you... just as we always have.

You will get through this.

We are just so thankful you are here to get through this.

I love you.  We love you.  We all love you.

Happy, happy birthday, sweetie.