It's a Girl (aka Sunshine and Shadows) February 28, 1975

Originally Published Dec. 2012

“IT’S A GIRL!” shouted my doctor.  I looked over at Norm and since we already had three boys, said to him, “He better not be kidding.”  And, that’s the start of the “Sunshine” portion of this story.

Our daughter, Rebecca Mary McGraw, was born on Friday, February 28, 1975 and weighed 8-1/2 pounds and was 21” in length.  Back in those days, the mother got to stay in the hospital for five days after giving birth.  Therefore, I did not think it odd that the pediatrician or nurse would come in every day to give me an update on how Rebecca was doing.  On the second morning, however, the nurse came in and asked me to sit down.  I had no idea how my world was going to change with the next words that came out of her mouth.

“We’ve noticed an irregularity in your daughter’s heartbeat and have called in a cardiologist to have a look at her.”  I won’t go into all the details – but the cardiologist recommended that another special pediatric cardiologist examine her and after many tests, including a heart catherization, were conducted, we were told that she had a VSD, which stands for Ventricular Septal Defect.  In fact, she had two of them - one defect was very large and the other a bit smaller.  And back in 1975, heart surgery was the only treatment for her.  We later found out that in 1935, Rebecca’s aunt (Doris Jean McGraw – Norm’s sister) had died of that condition at the age of four days.  Norm’s sister, Catherine, also had a son (Chuck) born with a Left VSD and because of medical advances in the ‘70’s, is alive and well today.

And so, the “Shadows” portion of my story begins.  The doctors wanted her to weigh a lot more than she did before they would submit her to surgery.  But, she was blue around her mouth and was losing weight because she didn’t have enough strength to suck.  We tried “preemie” nipples that were a lot softer than normal ones so she wouldn’t have such a hard time getting her milk.  

Her pediatric cardiologist was an older woman direct from Germany.  Dr. Lade was a very caring doctor but was also one to tell the truth and not “dance around” my questions.  She placed Rebecca on Lanoxin, which is a digitalis.  I had to give her .6cc’s every 12 hours.  I remember being told that if I gave Rebecca a dosage at 6:00 in the evening, I would have to give her the next dose at 6:00 in the morning.  I then asked what would happen if I overslept and was a little late in giving her the medicine and Dr. Lade simply looked at me and said, “she’ll die.”  So, for the next year, every 12 hours, Rebecca got her lime-smelling medicine (which she loved!)… on time.

But, you know that song from “Annie” where she sings, “The sun will come up… tomorrow”?  Well, we did come out of the shadows and the sun began to shine again for Rebecca.

At 10-1/2 months, we were getting ready to schedule her surgery when Dr. Lade told me that she was canceling it.  I didn’t know what to think since I was told that surgery was the only option we had for her.  But, as Dr. Lade explained, the defects were starting to close a little and they wanted to wait and see what would happen.  We waited 6 more years.  At first going in to see the doctor 3 times a week, then twice and then once a week.  After a while, we only had to check in every 3 months, then every 6 months.  Finally, when Rebecca was seven years’ old, the defects had closely completely – without any surgery!

The doctor who had performed her heart catherization actually called in his partners to meet the child who he called a miracle.  He said that when applying for insurance from now on, we didn’t even have to mention this episode in her life.  She was completely cured.  We truly believe that the “sun” shining down on us was actually God’s “son.”  Our prayers to Jesus had been answered!

Rebecca is now married and has given us two wonderful grandsons.  Medical science has advanced a lot in the last 35 years where nowadays, repairing a couple of VSDs is probably performed as an out-patient procedure.  I also think that the “sunshine to shadows and back to again to sunshine” circle is constantly being played out.  Rebecca called me last night and told me that our oldest grandchild, Dean, who is 7, fell off his bike and broke his arm.  Looks like this summer will not be as sunny as she expected.  And, so…. the circle continues!