Changed My Life 4-Ever.

First I want to apologize to all my followers, I haven't forgoten and I haven't left. Now I did have a life changing family event take place. Sometimes in life god gives you a test or an obstacle to over come, and most times I feel it is meant to get your priorities back in line.

So I figured it was time to share my experience with my steemit family, now this will be a several post series, as this was a real life changer for me. I was fortunate enough that my son wanted me document this event for him.

This post will be day one.

It was Tuesday May 15th, it was early and everything seemed ok. On our way to the Childrens hospital in Birmingham Alabama. First before i get into the heart of this post, please consider making a donation to children's hospitals, they really are miracle workers.

It was early but he was full of laughter, even if he was scared as hell. He was full of spirit and ready to get this day behind him and no one could tell he was scared.

This was the kid I see everyday, full of life and always positive. Well it was our time, the made the announcement for Brockman. At this point and time my stomach had made its way a little higher and closer to my mouth, As this was becoming real. We where taken back to a empty area that was for pre-surgery. At this time we where able to meet the staff and Doctors that would be taking care of my son. The entire time they where helpful and very interactive with @sidewayzs13 trying to make him feel at ease and not scared or worried.

Still holding on to that smile that he is none for, I could tell he was starting to get a little worried, you could tell by the tone in his voice. At this time we where introduced to the Anesthesiologist. He could also tell that Codey was starting to get a little scared, so he asked him if he would like something that would calm him down a little. Which come to find out this is very common for Anesthesiologist to do for heart patients, it also helps control the blood pressure, which naturally goes up during stressful time.

So they went ahead and set up the IV so the could try and get his blood pressure back down and calm him down a little, all along this was becoming more and more real for my wife and myself. There is nothing worse than feeeling helpless when it comes to one of your children, but at this point there was nothing I could do or say that would make this situation any better or even stop it.

This was all it took, one simple incection and a since of calming came back to my son. His blood pressure got back normal and everything was going as scheduled. This was also the point that I asked myself, "have I been the best father I could be?" Once you ask yourself this question, you have to give yourself an answer. My answer was NO I could have done a lot better, I could have paid attention better, I could have been there more, I could have been a lot more understanding and tolerant. Now once you realize that you may have possibly missed your opportunity to be the best father you can be, a since of loss comes over you.

Now the next picture that I share with you was a turning point in my life, I thought long and hard about posting it publicly, but then decided with the help of Codey that it was ok. Codey said this " dad if it opens up peoples eyes, how can you not post it?" So with his permission here goes nothing.

Man this was a rough for me to see, how or why would one kid who has been nothing short of a blessing have to go through this. I know that there are a lot of serious surgery's that take place every day but to me this was the worst. The surgery went very well, we where blessed by the fact that once the surgery started, the doctor realized that the hole in his heart was 3 times the size they thought it was, basically half the size of a pencil eraser. Part of the hole was being covered up by one of the valve's. Now he went on Bypass at 9:32am, Bypass basically means that he has been placed on life support and the heart has been stopped. They restarted the Heart at 10:07am. Now I am not sure what happened or what he went through during this 35 mins, but what I can tell you is this. Once Codey came out from under anesthesia and began to wake up he grabbed my hand and said this " I love you dad, we need to get to church more often." Now this comment has played over and over in my head as to why this was the first thing he said to me, was he visited by someone during that 35 min time frame? I have not asked him and will not ask him, if he wants to share it with me then he will one day.

So at this point I was really emotional and need to step away for a few minutes. I made my way down stairs and out of the hospital to find a spot where I could catch a cigarette, most hospital campuses in our area are smoke free any where on the campus. So I walked about a block and smoked 2, happened to look down and seen this,

Who has decorative sewer covers? kinda cool tho.

So this was day 1. I will try and do each day as a post by itself. I want everyone to understand and realize this, it is easy to get so tied up in life whether it be steemit or something else. Understand this, when it comes to family you get one shot, its up to you to make it the best.

Now with this being said, I have stepped back from steemit a little, I have also been a lot less active on Discord. I am still trying to stay involved with the two extra things I have going on with @ssg-community and @rewards-pool, but there are some really special people who are involved in these project as well that have been really tolerant of my absence. Just another example of what a awesome place steemit is.

God bless all of you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ray

@raybrockman.