Scared, Nervous, and frightened... a 10 year olds perspective on heart attacks

Brenna and Gus.. Blog guests

Today as I write my blog my 10 year old daughter Brenna sits beside me. It's her first day of spring break and I explained to her that I have been writing a blog about my heart attack.  Up until this point I have written about how the heart attack has effected me and not from my families perspective.

I've asked her to share with me her thoughts about how our lives have changed over this past month. Don't get me wrong we've talked about the incident but she has really been quiet and reserved. Brenna has the personality of just dancing through life, smiles all the time and just goes. So having this time one on one this morning I wanted to ask her a few questions.

Q: Brenna what did you think when you found out I had a heart attack?

"That morning when dad woke me up and started talking to me about what happened to mom I thought it was all a dream" Brenna says. Brenna and Parker both handle stress in different ways. They knew that day that I had a heart attack but were unsure of what really happened or the outcome.
"We always watch Code Black, Chicago Med, and Grey's Anatomy whenever people have heart attacks on these shows I thought it was life or death" says Brenna.  Brenna said "scared, nervous, frightened, sad and weird were the emotions that went through her head.

Q: What did you think as dad was driving you to see me for the first time?

"I was just tyring to keep my mind off of it, so I wouldn't freak out." "On the way up to the CCU room dad said don't be scared."

Q: How has your life changed since this happened?

 "I have to clean more which I don't like, it just scares me that it might happen again."

Q:  Have positive things came out of this experience?

"I'm closer with my mom now and I get to ride the bus to and from school everyday!"


Q: What words of advice do you have for other parents who have to talk to their kids about any type of sickness or disease?

" Be honest and tell them everything is going to be okay!

After we got done talking I asked Brenna if she had anything else to say and she just gave me a big hug!! This is a common theme in our house over the past month that I hope never changes. Nobody leaves the house without a hug and I love you.

I asked Brenna to give me a picture for my blog and this is what she felt best represents her!

Always remember that a heart attack not only affects you it also affects your whole family!

Being open and honest with your kids no matter what age will help to make the healing process better and more understandable for all.