It’s Friday, which means it’s time for a weekly update and recap. 

Monday was our surgery day where the team placed a stitch on the aorta and stitches on part of the innominate artery to connect it to the sternum which would lift those arteries off the trachea to create a more open airway. 

Surgery did what it was supposed to do and most of the week was then working on pain management and recovery for our sweet baby girl. A chest tube was removed, but breathing and feeding tubes remain. Throughout this week, the team has also monitored her lungs and heart a little more closely and we’ll see where that takes us. 

We felt a lot of love and support on Monday with the Believe in Magic shirts, pictures, and texts. We also had a fun break on Tuesday when the Utah Jazz team showed up to play and hang out with patients and families at Primary Children’s. Friends have spoiled us all week, too, causing this week to really fly by. 

As I’ve reflected this week, I keep coming back to the idea that this is hard and it sucks, but you are strongest when you have no other option than to be strong. I had a student present in class this week and he said, “you’re better than you believe and you can do hard things.” It hit me, and I know it applies to whoever reads this, too. Trials are trials and we all have them, and right now seems to be a funk for many, so if I can give a piece of advice, it would be to believe in yourself to endure and wrestle in your trial. I’m cheering you on, and I thank you for cheering me on, too.