BACKGROUND

As many of you know, Jodie was born with congenital heart defects and had surgery at 10 days and 18 months old. She did ok throughout childhood, but had to be on some medications through high school, then another was added in college. Jodie went on to grad school, and unexpectedly required a valve replacement in 2007. It turned out she was in the early stages of heart failure, but only found out after the procedure. She needed to get a pacemaker since her heart stopped beating on its own, and then a few months later upgraded to a pacemaker/ defibrillator due to low heart function. In 2008, Jodie was told that she would eventually need a heart transplant, and that the doctor predicted it to be necessary within the next 5 years.

In the 12+ years since then, Jodie was upgraded to a bi-ventricular pacemaker/defibrillator which helped her feel better but didn't improve her numbers, had it replaced two more times due to the battery almost running out (normal process), was put on a new medication that helped her feel much better but still didn't improve the numbers. Then in April of 2019 things started to get interesting. Jodie went into an atrial flutter and after 3 weeks, had to be cardioverted (think being shocked with paddles, but more controlled and while under anesthesia) to get her rhythm back to normal. Then over the summer she started feeling more and more tired, and having slightly worse symptoms. Jodie had some tests in August that showed things were worse, and the doctor told us in October that we would need to check back in early 2020 to see how things are. After having those tests, its clear that Jodie needs to have a heart transplant.


WHY DID WE START THIS BLOG?

Jodie and Peter decided to keep this blog for a few reasons. First, as a way to keep our friends and family up to date. Second, as a way to share how we are doing and what we are going through (and potentially what we need). Third, as a way to document this journey.

We have learned that we want the people around us, and those who care about us, to know what is going on, but don't always have the energy to talk about it over and over. We will be sharing was is "on our hearts" as we go through this journey. We welcome you to check in as often as you like. Thoughts and prayers are much appreciated. You are always welcome to reach out individually, but please feel free to leave comments on our posts and we will try to respond to everyone when we can. We are also planning to use this platform to share news when we don't have time or energy to send to everyone.

Some of our posts may be more emotional, and some may be about more mundane things. Once we get to step 4, it could take anywhere between 1 day and a year or more to reach step 5. We have no way to know. As we are in that waiting period, we do know that one of the things that will be helpful to us will be to keep busy - board game nights, movies, etc. If you are nearby, please do reach out. While Jodie can't be doing anything too strenuous right now, we still want to connect with people. If things come up that we need or could use help on, we may post it here, or reach out specifically to those who have let us know they want to help.

Thank you for walking with us through this journey as we share what is on our hearts. Please check back for updates. We will add information as it becomes available and as we go through the process ahead.

God bless,
Jodie & Peter Elliott

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Dogs make everything better

I got a good night sleep last night.  They didn't let anyone in between midnight and 6am, and I'm pretty sure I almost slept a full 8+ hours.  So nice. I'm really grateful for the short hair, as it has been fairly easy to deal with.

Peter got here pretty early after stopping at the store to get me a few things - we figure if I can't have visitors, might as well have a few treats. He brought in crackers, goat cheese, and a little bit of candy for me.

We have been having a nice day together.  We read some Harry Potter, he helped me take a real shower (I will never stop appreciating a real shower), took a walk around the unit, had lunch, and then I needed a short nap.

In the afternoon, our friends went to our house and got Stella and the extendable leash.  They headed towards us and Peter got a wheelchair to take me downstairs.  There is a circle of grass and paths in between a few of the buildings, and we went over there.  Colleen and Matt brought Stella over, and I could tell she was excited by the way she was trotting when I first saw her.  She did not seem to know quite what was going on though.  When she got close enough that the extendable would reach, I called out to her.  Stella perked up her ears and started looking around.  I called her name again, and she excitedly ran over with a wagging tail.  She came right up to me and just wanted pets.  We had set up my IV so it would be high up and out of the way.  I let her jump up to have her paws in my lap, and I just hugged her and pet her. It was so, so good to see her after two weeks.  Stella seemed really happy to see me, and after some cuddling just sat down at my feet and was smiling.  Our friends stayed about 8 feet away at the end of the leash - good human social distancing.  We caught up a little, but to be honest I was mostly just paying attention to the puppers.



 
 

Let me tell you, a dog is great medicine!  It was so calming, and we spent about 30 minutes with her before I figured we should get back upstairs.   When I got back up and we hooked up the heart rate monitor, my heart rate was a bit lower than it had been all day.

Now to just enjoy the rest of my time with Peter before he isn't allowed to visit for awhile.  We are going to have dinner and a quiet night in.

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One month post transplant!

Wow.  It is almost unbelievable that it has been one month since the transplant.  So much has happened, with two weeks in the hospital, and ...