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 ...

 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 ...

 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 M...

 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...

 The Power of Prayer is so Mighty!  On Wednesday, August 28th I was driving to the hospital with Mike's morning coffee in hand. Like normal I was listening to WCSG Christian radio station. Jeremy and Amanada came on telling a story of a man named Bill who had recently recieved a heart transplant from Meijer Heart Center in Grand Rapids. He had a dry run and needed a heart very very soon. The radio station prayed for him over the air and the surgeon ended up telling his wife that he heard the prayers on the radio. That next day he got his heart. I of course started bawling and called the radio station and was patched through to Jeremy and Amanda. Not holding it together very well, I told them about Mike and told them how encouraged I was to hear about Bill and his story. Everyone has their own heart journey, but I just felt like God was telling me it was going to be okay.  I went in to visit with Mike with a renewed hope and feeling like anyday would be the day. We enjoyed...

 If you have been following along you would have read about what a dry run is...if you haven't, let me sum it up. You think you have matched heart...and then you don't.  On Tuesday, August 20th I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night from 3am-5am. I stood outside on the patio looking up at the full blue moon in an air that felt crisp, like fall was on its way. It was mezmerizing, so big and full and it was truly blue casting a bright light over all the yard and into the field behind us. I prayed so hard for a heart that night. I snoozed my alarm as it rang and woke up at 7:15am. Realizing that I was a little behind schedule, I jumped into the shower before the boys woke up. With shampoo dripping down my head my phone rang and it was Mike. He put the doctor on the phone and I heard the most amazing words 'We have a Heart' The tears started flowing as I quickly finished my shower and called my mom. I couldn't believe that it was happening, I don't think I ...