Three whole weeks with a new heart...it still amazes us and I don't think it will ever stop amazing us!  Our first week and a half home has been an interesting one. I think the boys and I were on autopilot for quite awhile and now that Mike is home our bodies caught up with us. Blake got a nasty cough and cold the day Mike had his transplant. After talking with the doctor and seeing the doctor it is decided that he has a viral cold that will take a long time to get rid of, three weeks in and he is still coughing. Easton is on day 3 with a fever and developing that nasty cough as well. I had a sore throat (negative for step) and am trying so hard to not get this cough and cold from the boys. With this, Mike has been enjoying some alone time in the basement, wearing his mask in the house upstairs, and using the warm weather to spend time with us as we walk up and down our street. Definitely not how we saw Mike's homecoming going. We are longing for the day we can eat meals togeth

 As Mike and I walked down our road hand in hand we couldn't help but ask each other if this was all but one big bad dream. How could the last 52 days turn into a beautiful Saturday afternoon 2 weeks post transplant together as a family. It's like our brains went on autopilot and we just existed, now we have woken up to a whole new world.  September 18th Mike and I spent the morning together in his hospital room. People coming in and out, going over education, and checking off all the boxes to move towards discharge. The Pharmacy team came in and laid out all his medications; 20 new bottles to keep track of. They lined them all up in two lines explaining each medication; medications you need to take daily, and medications that are as needed. Out of the medicaitons that he needs to take daily there are 29 pills and 1 liquid; we were told this is on the lower end of what most people go home with. Then the team diligently went over each medication again letting us know the brand n

 20 years ago Mike and I started dating. But before we started dating we had a conversation.  Mike discussed with me about his dad passing and about his heart disease. He told me he was looking for a wife, not just a girlfriend. Then he posed this question: Would you be willing to marry me, have a family, and then one day you become a widow with young kids. Mike just thought that his fate would become his dad's fate. I thought, prayed, and talked with my mom for three days. I don't think as a seventeen year old you can truly comprehend what that would look like and feel like. However, I knew that the life we would create would outweigh the fate that he portrayed, every second we would have together would be worth the devastating loss in the end.  My husband almost died twice on me...but now he has a new heart...a new life...a new ending.  I am beginning to see that ending, picturing us growing old together and having him around as the boys grow older. Something that we never th

 It's been 3 days since Mike got his new heart, and I can hardly believe that it actually happened.  On Thursday September 5th Mike was told we had another match. Dr. Hooker said he was bound and determined to get Mike a new heart by the Michigan game that Saturday. At this point Mike was a level one on the Unos Heart Transplant List and basically top of the top. With both sides of his heart being supported he needed a new one badly. Mike, the boys, and I shared this little secret that Friday and went on about our day. The more we learned the more we became excited that this was actually the heart. This heart was a DBD heart (Donation after Brain Death). Througout the day we learned that it was a great match and Mike's OR time was set for Saturday, September 7th at 10am. We were confused that we were not given a donor OR time, and as time went on we realized there was no transport time for the heart...the heart was in the same hospital as Mike.  I got to spend time with Mike th

 A normal resting heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute. If you listen to a heart it often is describe as if saying Lub-Dub Lub-Dub. Mike's heart rate is between 120-140.  If he laughs hard (which is often), gets agitated, or someones gets him on his favortie topic of finace it starts to soar about 140+. Every once in a while it will peak up to 180 when he gets into V Tach and it skips a few beats. The nurses watch him carefully as he walks on the treadmill and talks away or while he is working, and sometimes they have to shut him down for a bit. Except for some weight and muscle loss Mike's body and mind are in good working condition, but his heart is just failing him.  I had previously reported that on August 7th Mike recieved the Impella Pump to support the left side of his heart. Since then the left side has significantly decreased in function and is almost not moving at all on its own. Over the past few weeks they have been watching the right side of heart and s