Strokes for Dummies

So if you look to the right side of my home page you will see I have a spot for blogs entitled "my heroes." Now I separated these few blogs because they are people...most whom I have never met personally...but whom I feel like I know...who I connect with on a level that others can't understand...who have also at times cheered for me and given me words of encouragement when I needed it most through comments, texts, emails, etc....they are those AMAZING individuals who have been through, are currently going through, or may even have a lifetime of going through a big trial that they never asked for but are living with such grace. They are individuals who I look up to with love, respect, and admiration for how they are living their lives despite what they have been through.

Everyone knows the quote "misery loves company" and that sounds horrible but I have to say it is somewhat true in a way. I don't wish my trials upon my worst enemy (not that I have any...I really don't!) or any trials for that matter. I wish the best for everyone BUT when you are going through something hard...there is some comfort in knowing that someone else out there is hurting too...that they understand...even if it's in a different way...they have felt what pain in your heart really feels like. And it's those people who really help you through and give you hope and strength that you can get through it too!

I LOVE blogs in the way that they can connect you to SO many people whom you would have never known otherwise. Don't you love how you can feel like you know somebody SO well but yet you have never even seen them in "REAL" life. These people are like celebrities to me...and maybe one day I will get to meet some of them...give them not just a handshake...but a big ol hug and say THANK YOU!!!

So...to my point...one of these heroes is a lady named Jodi. As a young mom...JUST having had her 3rd baby a few days old...she had a stroke that left her hospitalized for a long time and unable to take care of herself or her family for over a year. She had a trach, peg tube (like Dakota's g-tube), had to learn how to hold her head up and sit up and everything physical again. She is still recovering but home now with her family and doing amazing and recording it all on her blog.

I first came to know her because she left me a comment on one of my posts quite awhile ago and talked a bit about how she could relate with Dakota...people cheered for her too when she first rolled over!! She too was cheering for Dakota! I checked out her blog strokes for dummies and fell in love with this woman and ALL that she has overcome. It intrigued me that there was someone with whom I could ask questions to about some of the things Dakota might be feeling or experiencing that she in some way knows. Although their situations are different she has gone through pieces of what Dakota has experienced so a little while ago I asked her a lot of questions...to help me better understand how Dakota feels and help me be a better mom to him. Things like how does it feel to be suctioned out of the trach??? The doctors and nurses can tell me how to do it and what it is doing but not what it might feel like to him...they have never experienced it! She has been SO kind and willing to share anything and everything to me and it has been such a neat opportunity chat with her. She answered my questions with blog posts...2 separate ones cuz I continue to think of more and more. Check them out answers and dear tessie. She is someone most definitely worth following!!

THANK YOU JODI...YOU ARE MY HERO!!! (and Dakota's too)