tiernan's "beads of courage" had arrived!
the following is a photo series of all his beads and what test, surgery, iv, milestone he went through to earn them.
if you can't see it, the little bag they sent has yellow sports cars on it. way cool!
All of his beads. Every color and shape represents something he has endured.
These are special selection beads that represent 3 significant or extraordinary events. The purple one is for his initial diagnosis. the olive and blue swirly one is for the night he crashed and was reintubated and the light green with orange bubbles is for the tachycardia episode he experienced following his G tube placement. He has been through so much!
These 3 beads represent being discharged from hospitalizations. They are handmade by members of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers. a few of them came with these sweet notes of encouragement, making them all the more treasured.
this bead was made specially for Tiernan and sponsored by someone inspired by his story. truly precious to us.
the next groups of beads are estimated numbers of the different experiences. i am sure they are low estimates but the impact is stunning nonetheless.
80
75
33
52
15
3
30
50
15
and these glow in the dark. :)
40
3
these represent most of the first 5 months of his life.
11
2
3
10
these are purple, by the way. the color did not come through.
3
these are for him learning to crawl and walk after all that hard work at OT, switching from his GJ to his GT feeds and starting to eat and drink orally. soon i hope we can add one for getting rid of that button all together!!
5
these little pink beads represent some of the most terrifying days of our lives.
4
GT placement, GJ placement, wound cleaning surgery and 1 for good measure.
(i cannot think of what it was.)
4
these are dark green. again, the color did not show up.
5
2
3
i look at these as the 3 big ones. there have been several other admissions, but not overnighters.
so 448 beads later, jason and i sat together on our couch and strung them all together. after much discussion, we decided to group them all together by type rather than go with the random method. while i like the random look better, jason made the excellent point that the impact of seeing all of those beads grouped together is more intense. so that is what we did.
he loved the sound they made on the floor.
i cannot explain what these beads mean to me. they are this beautiful representation of all the pain and fear and triumphs our brave boy has been through in just 24 months of life. this strand will grow. unfortunately it will likely grow much, much longer. but i pray these serve as the intended reminder of just how tough and courageous he is and has always been.
i look at these as the 3 big ones. there have been several other admissions, but not overnighters.
so 448 beads later, jason and i sat together on our couch and strung them all together. after much discussion, we decided to group them all together by type rather than go with the random method. while i like the random look better, jason made the excellent point that the impact of seeing all of those beads grouped together is more intense. so that is what we did.
this morning when he woke up he knew just what to do with those beads.
he loved the sound they made on the floor.
i cannot explain what these beads mean to me. they are this beautiful representation of all the pain and fear and triumphs our brave boy has been through in just 24 months of life. this strand will grow. unfortunately it will likely grow much, much longer. but i pray these serve as the intended reminder of just how tough and courageous he is and has always been.
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