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

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving

Today was a different kind of Thanksgiving. We aren't traveling, in part because Catherine's wedding was less than 2 weeks ago so if we, somehow, did catch covid and don't know, we aren't in the safe zone yet of not being infectious. We also didn't want to risk it with how high the numbers are. Last night we made a Jello dish and peter made some pumpkin pies (two small ones), and we started the turkey brining.  

Today we made a turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and roasted root veggies. I even bought individual snack packs of black olives, as its not a holiday for me without olives. I made deviled eggs for breakfast, we got the turkey in the oven, and then we did a Zoom with Peter's family. We had to get off to get the veggies chopped and deal with the turkey, but it was nice to see everyone. We got everything in, and then I had a nice call with my dad, Lupe, and Craig. Then it was onto making mashed potatoes and gravy (using turkey stock I made this weekend). 

 Our friend Amanda, who is also working from home and is not really socializing, and the few times she does it is outside with a mask, came over. We had a long conversation about our potential risks, and both decided that we felt like the risk was low and something we were willing to do, and that we would both plan to isolate for two weeks afterwards. We had decided that it would be safest for us each to just cook our own meals, and she sat on the opposite side of the table outside. Peter set up a fan in the middle to blow out, with the idea that any of our breathe/particle we breathe out will get caught in the fan's breeze and pushed away from all of us. It was nice to share Thanksgiving with her, and we visited for a little outside. 

 Then I took a turkey nap, got up, and had a short chat with Shaun. He updated us about their wedding, and given the infectivity rate in Chicago and that the ceremony is going to be in a little over two weeks, when there is likely going to be a spike, I told him that we can't come in. Not going to lie, it was really hard to not just say but accept. At the same time, given my risk level, I know it is the right choice right now. Harvard has a tool out that looks at the rate of cases in each county and you can put in the size of the gathering, and it will tell you the probability that someone there has covid. According to this, which I know is not a perfect tool, the risk is about 65% as of today. Even with everyone having a mask on, that is still really unnerving.


 I do want to talk about the incubation period of covid for everyone who did see family/friends for Thanksgiving. The incubation period can be be from 1-14 days, although most people become syptomatic by day 7. So if you got a covid test before and were negative, that could mean a few things - you were actually negative or you were infected but it had not incubated long enough to show up on the test. If you know you were exposed to someone and got tested right away (within a few days), most likely it was negative but that only means that you weren't positive then, and you could still be infected. So the safest thing to do is to isolate/quarantine for the next 14 days. Don't go out. Don't visit. I think about when I was in the hospital, wondering if things would shut down before I could get my transplant. Hospitals are really full. Someone in the hospital now is wondering that same thing. So please be kind to everyone. I really feel that if you chose to take the risk of seeing people, then it is your responsibility to now isolate for 14 days to make sure you don't spread the infection around in case someone actually had it. And you may not know, but thats what is so hard about covid. It is less deadly than we originally thought, but it still causing a lot of issues for many people. I urge you to do the right thing. Peter and I will not be going anywhere to keep ourselves, but just as importantly, the rest of our community, safe. Until we all start thinking about not just ourselves, this isn't going to get better.
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