You think that I am probably thinking about getting over a break-up don’t you? No, I am talking about your actual heart. February is American Heart Month. Most of us think of heart disease as something that affects adults as they grow older, and that there is plenty out there on how to prevent heart disease, like eating healthy foods and exercise. But children have heart problems, with the most common being a congenital heart defect - something they are born with.
February 7 thru February 14 is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. Each year almost 40,000 babies are born with a heart defect. CHD affects approximately 1.8 millions families in the U.S. and this subject is very special to my heart since each week I take care of a child with a heart defect.
The CDC webpage has some great information, as does Congenital Heart Information Network and this video. It uses a lot of fancy words but in simple English these children’s hearts did not develop correctly:
February in Toronto means several things. It used to mean grey skies, grey slush, grey clothing, and grey faces. That hasn’t changed, except for the grey slush – snow has not made much of an appearance this year.
Did you ever have tea parties as a child? I did. One of my favorite gifts as a young girl was a lovely little china tea set covered with pink roses. Several times a week I would pull out my china set and have a tea party either with my friends, my mother, or my dolls. I didn’t actually like tea at that age. More often than not my tea pot either contained Kool-Aid or was empty.
