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

Monday, March 8, 2021

So much has changed in a year

 I've been meaning to do another post for awhile, and then, puppy.  This is going to be a long one. While Bosun is a joy to have, in terms of sleep he is like a newborn, and during the day he is like a toddler.  He is taking a ton of energy right now.  It will be worth it in the end, as the more we do when he is younger the easier he will be to manage as he gets older.  He is just so smart!  We are definitely going to have to be firm or he will take advantage of us.  He is doing well with the potty training, not loving crate training, and settling in to our routine a little.  Peter and I just need to get that routine down a bit more now. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1UytjoV1vmqKnmH2fWyH5Q7wi5QNfKTTH

We really enjoyed the rest of our vacation in Maine.  We were able to relax, get to know Bosun, get Stella used to and even a little excited about him, and by the last few days we had even figured out how to get a little bit done.  We brought some board games with us thinking that we usually have all this free time at night - didn't work out so well.  But we really loved the new (to them) house Patty and Jay bought, and are looking forward to going back for years. 

We started our drive back on a Thursday, and Bosun did well on my lap or in the wheelwell at my feet.  Our first night we stayed outside Boston.  We did a park meetup with my friend Mickey and her son Forest, and with Matt and Colleen and their dog Josie.  It was so good to see them!  That night, after feeding the pups, we met up with Sylvi and Vinay and had a masked tour of their now house.  We figured that since they haven't moved in yet, there wouldn't be much of anything for Bosun to get into.  But in true puppy style, he still found ways to be  mischievious.  We had a really nice time with them. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1U81smSwA4rbNABDBRiEy93U2b692SZNvhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1y3S-qrHv9PJawHhG-JsTgme7iYZ0eAIS

The next day we left quite early and stopped in East Greenwich RI at my friend/old coworker Matt's house.  His two youngest daughters were still around, and we had a visit with the pets outside.  The twins had wanted to start a dog walking club pre-covid, so they LOVED getting to walk and play with both dogs.  We had a nice time, and the pups went straight to sleep in the car. We then drove another hour and a half until we get to Guilford CT, where we checked out Peter's Aunt Jeannie's studio.  It was really fun to see, and she let me pick out something for my birthday.  I got a gorgeous pair of earrning and bought the matching necklace so now I have a set. Then we headed down to NYC and stopped in Harlem to have a stoop visit with Brogiin.  Unfortunatley, her son was napping so we didn't get to meet him, but it was so nice to see her. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1QI4CFaRwbMqzYpLwvuJ5DZGEp_-09lrQhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1GWA5Nxmt9oenxmXBmlaMUdxp2MJSvS8_https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1jcx_TG8WXUMC5KOTHm93VHWhWN93Hxibhttps://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Kj5RVptmsmGeEo2-rLuWde9t4MiU3jMO

That night we were supposed to stay at another Airbnb, but despite it being a "whole guest suite" there was no door to the hosts living space, and it was hard to wrangle the pets.  Peter went to grab us dinner and when he got back, the hosts had a family with kids over and they were all just hanging out downstairs.  We decided we weren't really comfortable, and that we were only 5 hours or so from home.  We reloaded the car and got home aroudn 2:30am.  It was a long day, but nice to be home. 


We had two low key days at home, including my birthday that Sunday.  We got cupcakes and take out so we had a nice dinner, but otherwise it was laundry, trying to do more pupppy proofing, and just enjoying being home. 

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1BIU-fT-YiAD_4y3K8XbhOuCuigAaENWD

This past week we have gotten into more of a routine.  Bosun has not been as happy in the crate here, so we are trying a new method to get him to sleep and like the crate better.  We have learned that Bosun has a stubborn personality, so its giving us more motivation to really train him right.  He had a good vet visit, and today we start puppy socialization classes.  This week we were able to get him on a food schedule, mostly on a schedule for going outside, and if we get him and stella to play in the morning and during lunch time, he is usually good to just sleep under my desk while I work.  Puppies are a lot of work!

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=19wDX07ZyzfetLBKZdhtIJgCGncG2nzKQ

He has been a good distraction from thinking about last year too much, but I still find myself getting comtemplative.  Last year, this weekend was super stressful as we were prepping for me to go into the hospital to go on IV meds until they found me a heart.  This year, we've had a much less stressful time. We went for a long walk with the pups and spent a bunch of time outside, and even had an indoor kn95 board game night with vaccinated friend.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1_sbap9Nj0-LXPfKGKgwdfSdSf-gWZt2L

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1T3dJvX1pBw9d7ARvK7yIu5Nlevuu2Ugj

  I'm so grateful to Amanda, Cindy and family, Leah, and Brenda, who all came overa year ago  and helped to get the house clean, prepped meals for me for post surgery, etc.  It was so, so appreciated.  Last year in the afternoon we got the call they had a heart for me, and I remember how nervous and scared and excited we were going in. I now know that that heart didn't work, and my trying to ignore this virus called "covid" that was starting to be in the news because I didn't want to be too stressed didn't work for long. 


There are a lot of ways I'm feeling now, and I'm sitting in the complex emotions and just allowing myself to remember that vulnerability.  Its different being on this side of transplant and knowing so much more, but its also easy to remember a lot of the emotions from then. 

This also means that the world is about a year into covid and restrictions. I doubt many of us thought it would go on so long back then.  I'm hopeful about more people getting vaccinated soon, and going from there. Peter meets the current classification due to his job, and has an appointment this afternoon for dose 1! Really excited he will also be fully vaccinated soon. Over that happens, we may be able to form a pod with other vaccinated friends. Please be safe, wear your mask, and when you get the opportunity, get your vaccine!  I want to come see you all soon. 


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