I'm Graham, and I'm five years old. In case you don't know it, I was really sick when I was born. I had what they call a Right Sided Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia, CDH for short, there is a link at the bottom of the page so you can find out what it's all about. So I guess I was so sick that I was in the hospital for 101 days, that seems like a long time! I was on ECMO twice, and had a lot of surgeries. Anyway, I'm doing fine now. I have a tube that gives me food because I'm still learning how to eat. I love to eat crackers and peanut butter and sometimes even chicken nuggets!
I'm also learning how to talk and how to sign because I'm Deaf. When I wear my yayas(hearing aids) I can hear pretty good, but I like when people sign to me too. I go to a really neat school where the teachers and the kids sign, and a lot of them have yayas like me. Even with my yayas in it helps when you don't talk too fast, and it also helps if you face me when you're talking, that way I can understand better
It was my turn to have a birthday party last week. Not Baby Dottie's turn, MY turn this time. I went bowling with Mommy and Daddy and when we got there, my friends were there! Some friends from school and some friends who go to a different school. We played bowling and then I got to go into this thing with a lot of tickets flying around me.... I'm not sure what I was supposed to do with the tickets... they were hitting me in the face and everything... I got scared and wanted to get out...I guess it was funny because Mommy was laughing a lot....
After that we went into a room where everyone sang 'Happy Birthday'... I liked that part. I ate some cake but not the ice cream. Then the BEST part! I got to open PRESENTS! I got a lot of books, some animals, a game, and some play doh! We played in the arcade for a long time before we had to go home. I had a lot of fun and I think my friends had fun too!!!
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