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

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

venturing out

Peter's sister Catherine is getting married on Saturday in Columbus, OH. Tuesday is not a busy day at work for me or Peter, so we drove up to Columbus with the intention of working the rest of the week from Ohio. We boarded Stella and drove up today. In preparation we stocked up on snacks and bagels/cream cheese from Panera so we didn't have to go in anywhere.  We were obviously concerned about interacting with people on the way up, so we bought a camping toilet, corresponding bags for it, a small pop up tent, and lots of hand sanitizer. 
We had an easy drive and got to Columbus before the sun set. Peters other sister Sarah and her family were kind enough to move in with his parents while we are here so we have somewhere to stay. Patty, Jay, and Sarah stopped by tonight briefly. My doctor's had said that if I had an n95 and everyone else had masks, we were ok inside for short periods of time. We brought extras of the kn95s (can't find real n95s but these are fda approved as equivalent and have a good seal) to be extra safe, and actually got to see people and get a hug! We distanced inside after and kept it under an hour, but we are here. It's been nerve-wracking because we know covid rates are high, but we are being really careful and are excited to see Catherine and Travis get married Saturday. We both are working during the day the next three days, but will have the evenings for short socialization, outside as much as possible, with the good masks for inside. And yes, my cloth mask over the kn95 is probably redundant, but it can't hurt.

Please be careful. But also, it's awesome we now know enough about covid that I can make a plan based on science (and use my pathogen biology degree) that is as safe as possible. The last time Patty and Jay saw me in person, I was in the ICU after my dry run really not doing well. Such a difference between then and now!
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