August 23, 2020

“But He said to them, ‘why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Mathew 8:26

Since Sophia was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy we had to put physical therapy and occupational therapy on hold till we know how we will proceed. After talking to her doctors, we decided we will stop all therapy and enjoy every single day with her. I had to explain to Sophia what the cardiologist told me and ask her to let me know anytime she feels any shortness of breath or dizziness. Again, her reaction of peace and calmness was beyond normal.

We planned our trip to the zoo and as luck would have it, there was a special event that day with Peppa Pig (one of Sophia’s favorite cartoon characters). We had an amazing time at the zoo and saw most of the animals. We even had an opportunity to take pictures with Peppa Pig. Also, Sophia loved police officers and firefighters. Because of John’s work, she had the chance to visit the police department and attend many of their social events, but she had never been to a fire department. We were blessed to arrange a visit to the Fire Department through one of John’s client who also is a personal friend. Sophia had an amazing time at the fire department and she not only got to ride in a fire truck, but they also surprised her with her very own fire helmet and sweatshirt with their logo on it.  Sophia had the greatest time. 

Friday, April 26, 2019 was our Good Friday. We woke up and Sophia said: “Mom I’m having a hard time breathing.” I had an oximeter to check her pulse and it was reading between 126 to 130, which was pretty high considering all of the medications she was taking. I called her pediatric doctor and asked the nurse to get me in asap to see her doctor. She went to talk to the doctor and came back and said, “take Sophia to ER right now, we reserved a bed for her.” John was at work so I called him to let him know and then I rushed Sophia to the ER. As soon as I checked her in they had a room and staff prepared for her, but having all the staff around her and trying to hook her up to heart monitors scared her and me. So, I had to stop them and calm Sophia down and ask them to not scare her because her heart rate will jump up. They started to monitor her heart and within a few minutes the machine beeped and her heart rate went up to 136. The doctor said I need to reach her cardiologist to see what he wants us to do. I requested them to do an echo. An ICU pediatric doctor came to me and had to talk to me about what if the result of the echo came back low, since we signed the DNR papers, are you going to keep her in the hospital? I told him: “No, I will take her home, because I don’t want her to be hooked to any machines.”

By that time Angelina and John came to the hospital. I remember that day I couldn’t pray because I didn’t know what I should pray for, all I knew was that I was scared. Sophia was so irritated and she just wanted to go home, it was 5:30 pm and we had been in the hospital from 10:00 am. Around 5:45pm the cardiologist called me and gave me the result of the echocardiogram and her numbers went up to 44. Everyone was relieved and happy to see that the medicine was working and Sophia was getting better, so we went home happy despite being in the emergency room all day on Good Friday. 

A couple of months after Sophia was diagnosed with her heart condition one of my closest friends was going in for a very dangerous surgery and she was so scared. So, Sophia and I decided to visit her before her surgery. That day when I was getting Sophia ready she said: “Mom, Adra (Virgin Mary) said to tell tant she will be ok” I was shocked, so I asked her: “did Adra (Virgin Mary) come to you and tell you that?” Sophia pointed at the Virgin Mary’s statue in her room and said “her statue talked to me and said ‘tell tant she will be ok’ so, I need to take the statue with me and tell her what Adra (Virgin Mary) told me.” Sophia insisted on holding the statue, which is made out of porcelain, in her arms during the entire trip in the car, but only after wrapping it in a small blanket to protect it, and she delivered the message herself to my friend. My friend’s surgery went well and everything was ok for the first week, but everything went downhill after that and she was not doing ok. My friend had to go for another surgery and she was even more scared. I had to remind her of the message that she received from Sophia. God knew what my friend was going to go through and He wanted to assure her that she will be ok even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment. And yes, she had to go through two surgeries instead of one and the recovery was very bumpy and it took months instead of weeks but at the end she was ok just like what Virgin Mary told Sophia. Our faith gets shaken a lot through several situations that we face in our lives, but if we strengthen our faith we will have peace during any storm. 

Lessons Learned:

• God never promised us an easy life, but He promised to be with us in this life
• We will find peace during our challenges if we remember that God is always in control.

PLEASE NOTE – for all of the “lessons learned”, we did not always see it that way during the events that were occurring which are mentioned in the posts. Many of these lessons were learned weeks, months, or even years later when we looked back and reflected on the circumstances.