Twitter as Social Support

Many of you know I went through a bit of a family crisis recently. My 5 1/2 year daughter Kate was hospitalized, then put in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and soon after that, put on a ventilator. Not only is it remarkable how fast it all went down but also how fast she recovered. Within a little over 24 hours after being removed from the ventilator, she was sent home.

Over the years, people have asked how I can air my grievances/likes/dislikes/personal stuff/etc openly via this blog. I have never really had a good answer...usually something about taking control of my online persona comes out...

Over these same few years, I've been privately contacted by many people. Some completely random; like recently, a mother who's 1 year old daughter was going in for the first of a few syndactyly surgeries and then others, who read the blog, who have similar family situations (a sick child) or know someone close to them that does.

I've gotten quite a lot out of those encounters...something I would never have been able to get had I just kept to myself.

So here's one argument for putting personal stuff "out there." Support.






















































































In case you weren't counting, there are 83 replies there. A couple of duplicates. Most of you, I have never met in real life.

Pardon my language, but how fucking cool is that? You all rock!