Thank you so much for your kind response. I'm sorry it has taken so long to respond. I would love to find a good therapist, but live in a small rural town. We travel often to Denver for medical appointments, but at this point my son's needs are priority. If I just knew of a great therapist I would travel to go! I'm just afraid it is going to take awhile to find one. Journaling does help. I should do that more often. I think just getting my thoughts out on paper is good to see what I'm dealing with.

It's so true that life is before and after. I felt like that after my first son was stillborn. After Owen's PICU stay, it is even more so. A lot of my friends have not been through these situations so it has felt quite lonely. They just don't get it, don't ask and so I don't get the chance to talk through things. It's almost not worth the effort to keep up some friendships. Hope that doesn't sound selfish.

We participated in the Courage Classic fundraiser for Children's Hospital last weekend. That was a healing event, giving back to the hospital and being able to look back over the past year and see how far we have come. Our son (19 months) rode with us, and it was a huge mental victory to be able to do it with him. It made me feel not so alone as many other families and kids with medical challenges participated.

Owen is doing remarkably well now, considering everything his little body has been through. He went into multi-organ failure last summer and the cause is still unknown. The fear of that is with me all the time. During that PICU stay he had nine surgeries and was seen by many specialists. After discharge two months later, he came home with a colostomy, feeding tube, tons of follow up viists, and a paralyzed foot and severe peroneal nerve damage supposedly from a bloodclot and organ failure. Over the past year, we all worked incredibly hard and he no longer has a colostomy, feeding tube or any meds. The main issue now is his leg injury which is why he is going to Mayo Clinic next month. He is happy, bright, determined and a complete joy. It has been a journey.

I did want to ask you, do you ever feel fear from your ICU stay? I fight fear all the time after the traumatic things our family has endured. I have to try really hard not to be paranoid about everything my kids do. The unknown cause of Owen's illness contributes hugely to that fear. I am unsure how to deal with it!