Exciting News!

It's official! Today I received the faxed contract from Pepper Adair and I'll be speaking at the American Heart Association Heart Heroes conference on October 6, 2007. I'm very excited about that. Anyone from the Miami area who is interested in attending this conference, please let me know at jaworski@vvm.com and I will have an invitation sent to you. We need a headcount for the conference because, for one thing, a complimentary copy of The Heart of a Mother will be given to each family registered for the conference. And get this -- the cost of the conference to participants -- free! You can't beat that! There will be a number of excellent speakers discussing relevant topics for congenital heart defect families. Once I have the schedule, I'll post it to my website (www.babyheartspress.com).


(Alex on stage for spelling bee)


(Alex at the cookie walk)

I said I would write about Alex's Harry Potter experience. It was interesting. We went to the mall because Borders had a special extravaganza the whole night long. There was to be a spelling bee, a cookie walk, face painting, etc. Alex was very excited. Things didn't work out completely as planned, but the most important thing was that we got our books and got home by about 12:30. Alex, being much younger and more curious, stayed up until 8:30 a.m. reading the book. I had awakened around 7 a.m. to finish off where I started. I couldn't keep my eyes open past the second chapter. I was amazed to learn that Alex had already finished the book!

Alex was a perfect gentleman. He didn't let any of the information slip, but as soon as I finished reading the book, we hid out in Frank's office with the door closed so we could discuss the details. Frank and Joey finished the book within a couple of days and now we're free to talk about whatever we want to -- except with certain friends who aren't quite as voracious in their reading as the Jaworski family is.

More exciting news: we've planned a trip to San Francisco and are eager to catch up with some other heart family friends we know there. Plus, this is the first time for the boys to visit the city. We're planning on going on the trolley, visiting Alcatraz, walking along the pier, touring the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory and viewing the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. We can't wait! Alex is excited about visiting Chinatown where he hopes to find a cool Chinese dragon to add to his collection. The boys are also looking forward to authentic Chinese cuisine.

Last bit of news:

I was finally able to get in touch with the lab which did Alex's last blood draw and . . . 146,000 platelet count! In fact it was so close to normal, that's why they never called or emailed me! I'm so relieved. I don't know why Alex had that extreme dip in his platelet count earlier this year, but I'm hopeful that now his count is normal again, we can decide what the next best course of action for Alex will be. More on that once I have some answers.

Sincerely,

Anna Jaworski