On the left are Moira’s health hands.  Plump, pink, little eight-year-old hands.  On the right are Liam’s hands.  See the bands of black at his knuckles?

He’s apparently fine, though I will be calling his cardiologist in the morning.  His hands, after a long warm bath, are no longer black.  He had chest pain today, in his sternum. . . which has been sawed through five different times.   I think that’s a bone break pain in response to cold.  Yesterday it was 82 degrees here at 4:00 pm.  By 5:30 it was 45.  Today it was about 37.  It should snow in the next 24 hours.  We live at close to 5000 feet above sea level.  These are not ideal conditions for a kid with half a heart.

Liam’s blood works differently than mine or Moira’s.  Liam’s blood uses gravity to get around half of its route.  So, a sudden and severe  change in barometric pressure and temperature is not an easy adjustment.  We’ve seen Liam turn purple from spending time in a swimming pool, so I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised today.  Yet, I was and beyond relieved when the warm water brought him to the same place that the rest of us take for granted. . . I take nothing for granted when it comes to Liam or being his mom.

I will call the doctor tomorrow to test my theory behind the mystery of the black knuckles.  I will do due diligence, but for now I am enormously relieved at the return of flesh toned fingers.  The life of a Wyvern mom is stretches of gratitude punctuated with gasps of fear and deep sighs of relief.  I love my life.  I love my life.  I love my life. . . sigh.