Day 294 | JULY 01, 2022

Good evening, Friends, today is day 294 of our new and amazing life.

Today my day start at a regular time 🙂, Julien slept all night and London was slow to wake up 🙂

Our morning was very special, because Charlie called in early and pretty much was on a video call with us the entire morning, She had so much fun “being” there and seeing the boys having breakfast, I also took her with us on the car when I took London to school, and for the first time, Charlie participated on my morning routine with London, when I ask him for the 3 things he is grateful for today, than I said my 3 things and today Charlie said her 3 things, it is very important to me that our children learn from early on the value in being grateful.

I also have been talking with London about what it takes to be happy, and we think that a big part of being happy is to focus on things that we have, not what we want, or what we lost. If we can just focus on the present, there is so much to be happy for.

I had a difficult day in terms of my ability to concentrate, I think part of my struggle was having to be responsible for the boy's morning routine solo, since currently we don’t have child care, our new nanny will start on July 18, until then it is just me and Vovó.

I am still learning to deal with my derealization “spells”, I know it is something that I have to be constantly working on, and it takes a lot of focus to not fall into the dream. The word dream may sound nice, but trust me it is not!

I am aware that I am being extreme vulnerable by sharing my mental health issues, and the only reason why I am doing it so publicly is to let anyone that is struggling with any mental health issues, that it is ok to talk about, it is ok to ask for help, don’t fear judgement, you can only get help if you ask for, I know that is not easy to talk about ,in my case , losing my mind, there is a lot of shame on mental health issues, and it should not be this way.

Please don’t wait you have an extreme incident, like I have experienced, it can be as simple as, feeling sad for few days, feeling fearful or ashamed, things will start small, and it is easier to deal with a small issue than to let it grow into something huge, it is ok to ask for help, always.

Around 4pm, I made my way to see Charlie, but I made a stop at the grocery store to pick up Charlie’s breakfast items, snacks and coffee drinks 🙂

When I arrived, Charlie was in her wheelchair, and had the biggest smile. She was so happy to see me, I was also so happy to see her.

Charlie had a busy day, she met with one of her surgeons, tomorrow she is having a procedure, where they will take down the dressings, inspect the allograft (cadaver skin), and if all look , clean, infection free, they close it up and in 5 days, she will have her actual second surgery, to harvest her donor skin, and cover her openings with that skin.

She also had her first session with her new psychologist, Charlie is also seeing the hospital psychologist, this time around she is getting excellent mental health care 🙂

Charlie remains so positive and grateful, it is just remarkable how strong she is, and I love her new positive attitude.

We have spent our visits just talking, Charlie has started to journal and she is starting to enjoy, it is very therapeutic to write, I highly recommend anyone to write.

Today I end my night grateful, I am grateful for my mom, she has been working so hard taking care of the boys, I am also grateful to Charlie, she has been so supportive of me, and I am grateful to the few friends that have reached out and offered their help, I am so blessed to have such incredible support system.

I kindly ask you for your prayers, for Charlie’s procedure tomorrow.

Thank you for your generosity, prayers and support!

Charlie is looking great for having surgery just a few days ago, she is wearing her birthday gift, earrings.

Thank you,

André