I started this shawl, sitting in the critical care waiting room at Sick Kids, TO, while my 15 y/o daughter had a VAD, heart pump, installed in a four hour, open heart surgery. This operation saved her life. She is still recovering in critical care one week later. Hopefully soon she will be well enough to be moved to a regular hospital room to continue recovery which will take months.

Bronwyn beat leukemia but it cost her her heart. Two weeks after her last chemo treatment she suffered heart failure. She was left with only 20% heart function. Her white blood cell count and platelets, for fighting infection and clotting blood respectively, also devastated by the chemo, rebounded just as her condition was deteriorating making her eligible for a heart pump, VAD. She has a long, hard road ahead of her as she waits for a new heart but we couldn’t be more thrilled she is still with us.

June 10th and Barry and I are feeling so good about Bronwyn’s recovery we actually left the hospital together, had lunch together! I took the opportunity to have my own little WWKIP Day celebration. While I knit on the patio of the little sushi place across the street from Sick Kids I asked Barry to take a picture of me knitting in public. He snapped pics with his new flash for several minutes on his fancy camera, taking none with my camera which is what I asked. Oh well,

After the first repeat of the sun chart it is really small. I guess it will get bigger. The knitting 3 together is tricky and knitting 4 together bites! Purling 3 together is so much easier.

Dec 5th: Done! This thing has kicked around for a few months, waiting to get blocked. It looked so pathetic before blocking I was afraid it was a waste of time or blocking was going to be back breaking. Fortunately it turned out to be the latter as it is soooooo BEAUTIFUL!! I love it!

What I didn’t love about it: Knitting four together was difficult but knitting seven together?…..that’s a bitch! I had to undo the row before the k7tog row and reknit it with a much larger needle. I slid the work back onto the correct sized needles and the k7tog row was a breeze. I would never knit it again and will avoid knitting with rows and rows of ridiculous numbers of stitches to be knit together in the future but I am so glad I did this one. It is simply gorgeous.

It is now a symbol of Bronwyn’s struggle. So much hard work had to be done to get where we are but I am so happy we did it. She is so worth it.

Bronwyn was discharged from Sick Kids in August. This is a first for Sick Kids. Usually kids have to stay in the hospital with such devices as they wait for a heart transplant but Bronwyn’s VAD is so small and dependable she is the first of what, I’m sure, will be many children to use this new model and live a relatively normal life. Her energy level is greatly reduced from that of a normal teenager. She uses a walker and often a wheelchair. She is on blood thinners and bruises like a delicate peach. But compared to the months of recovery from heart failure that left her so weak she had to relearn how to walk life is a dream we thought wasn’t possible. The doctors at Sick Kids are friggin’ geniuses, the best in the world.