September 27, 2021

Today marks 6 months!

Happy 6 month heartiversary my love!

It’s been a long rough road and we appreciate all the support we’ve received from our family and friends! Below is a bit of a recap for you. As we move forward we will continue to ask for donations to Hope Help Live to help us with the on-going costs.

3/26/2021 - the miracle of David getting a new heart!

4/9/2021 - this was welcome home day after his heart transplant

4/12/2021 - it was a quick weekend and back in ICU - for some hydration

4/14/2021 - The beginning of regular (2 to 3 times a week visits) this was blood, ekg, echos, all the work up. Weekly Right Heart Cath, which is a procedure where the take a biopsy of the heart.

5/20/2021 - too many issues and back in the hospital for a 3 day visit

6/2/2021 - way too many issues and in the hospital for 23 days. (Celebrating fathers day in the hospital)

6/30/2021 - back in the hospital for another 8 days missing the 4th of July

7/14/2021 - back in ER for a quick hydration visit

7/20/2021 - we started plasma transfusion a few days a week

9/15/2021 - 3 more days in the hospital, unable to eat or keep food down

We are so grateful for his heart that it’s hard to say how complicated of a road this has been. I know people are in much worse situations.

The Nurses: We’ve certainly gotten to know the nurses at Mayo and they are all amazing, they have seen both the agitated side of us as well as the fun side of us. They had to hear all about the bad food service from the hospital. It’s expected to have not great food in a hospital, but the service is extremely bad. If you follow David on facebook, I’m sure you’ve seen a rant or two about the food.

Security: The struggle with covid has also added an interesting element. when david started this it was one visitor only, then moved to two, and now back to one visitor per day. Savannah is officially too young to visit as they have 13 year and older policy. We did have an argument with security at one point and had to get some rules changed at times.

Valet: The valet service has helped me keep some sanity as I try to balance work, savannah, and David.

With all that said, we are FINALLY on a good path. David is getting an IV of hydration 5 days a week which is a big help to his orthostatic hypertension. (when he stands his blood pressure drops anywhere from 40 to 100 points).

We are both learning a lot from the amazing team of doctors we have (and there is a lot), the pharmacist, and our personal Aetna nurse. - probably a lot more people i’m not thinking of a the moment.

The medicine bag we have is BIG and some of the pills are $100 per pill. Thank goodness for insurance its been a huge help! We’ve reached our max out of pocket so most costs are fully covered right now, HOWEVER…

As we start preparing for the costs of next year, we are asking for your help once again. Once January is here our insurance out of pocket maximum will start over. Please donate what you can and keep us in your prayers, hearts, thoughts.

David, Jackson, Savannah, and I are forever grateful to everyone who has helped us!

May 24, 2021

The adventure continues - 5/20/2021

The first several weeks at home were really good, followed by some not so great weeks.

On 5/20 we were back in the ER and found out about Orthostatic hypotension. When he would go from laying to standing his blood pressure dropped dramatically and he was getting light headed and unbalanced.

4 days in the hospital reducing medicine and adding compression socks and a binder around his abdomen.

Back home now, still the same issues - lots more tests coming up in the next few weeks.