3rd Heart-Aversary

I had my "annual" visit for my heart transplant to check how everything is going with my heart.

I can not believe that it has been 3 years since I received my amazing heart. Sometimes it feels like it has been forever ago and yet really it is hard to comprehend that it has already been 3 years.

The "annual" visit takes you through a couple of days of blood draws, tests, x-rays, EKG's, Echo's, bone density tests PLUS right and left heart catherization, which checks your heart pressures and how the veins and arteries around the heart are doing. 

I DID NOT have to have a biopsy BECAUSE my Allomap tests came back really good. 

This year's Cath-lab picture pretty cool... 

Hum...do the little wires holding my sternum look like little hearts??? 

Tonight to celebrate my heart-aversary

We made heart shaped personal size pizzas.

pre-cooked dough

We had the table with everyone's favorite fixings.

They turned out pretty darn cute and really yummy.

The girls were really excited to have their own heart pizza.

Miss C was pretty sure that they were going to be cookies.

After eating pizza until we were stuffed, Kira pulled out sky lanterns.

The blue one on the table will be sent to my donor's family.

Each of us wrote a small note to them.

( My clinical social worker will send it to the donor's family. I do not know anything about my donor)

Kirk, Josh, Ali, Kira and Sergio signed the lantern,

Kira traced the girls hands putting their names and ages.

Kira always goes above and beyond to make this anniversary so very special.

I do not know what I would do with out her.

Not only did she have a lantern for my donor's family but also 3 for us to light and send up.

Yep, photo bombing Kirk and Josh lighting their lantern.

Having these lanterns are such a fun thing to do.

 Watching the lanterns start to fill with warm air from the candle inside...

and before you know it...it is up in the air and in no time out of sight,

Oh, how things have changed in the past 3 years.

These two little cousins had not even been born.

Here we are a few hours before my heart transplant.

Sergio, Derek, Josh

Kira, Kirk and myself.

Ali wasn't able to be with us because she was less than 4 weeks from having our first grand baby.

3 yrs later:

Sergio, Kira, Kirk, myself, Josh, Ali

Miss H, Miss C and Miss E

Derek wasn't able to be here tonight.

Life is good.

Tonight...like many, I think of my donor, who they where, what happen that I received their heart...

But, inside of me there is a feeling of sadness...that someone is missing a family member today. Were flowers taken to their grave? Is there a grave?  Did their friends and family get together and have a "miss you" party?

Did someone just want to stay in bed and not think about what happen 3 years ago?

Oh, how I wish I could share how grateful I am for "my hero". 

How we celebrate the way they took such good care of their body to have had such an amazing heart.

How strong it is and that it loves... it loves theirs family and mine.

I have such gratitude to them, to my family, to my friends, to those in our church but mostly to my Father in heaven who gave me this miracle. Who has helped me go through the transplant process so well.

I am blessed... I do not take these facts for granite.

REJECTION...

re·jec·tion (r-jkshn) n.
1. The act of rejecting or the state of being rejected.
2. Something rejected.
3. Medicine The failure of a recipient's body to accept a transplanted tissue or organ as the result of immunological incompatability; immunological resistance to foreign tissue.

This past week has been strange with a lot of different feelings.

The thoughts of my body not being kind to my new heart has really been emotional to me.

I knew and I still know that having a new organ can and WILL bring some types of rejection.

I have not had my head in a hole in the ground.

My rejection is not TERRIBLE....by any means. It was just a real reality check.

This his how they grade rejection levels:

Acute Organ Rejection - ISHLT Grades and Treatment
Grade
Patients Status
Early (less than 3 months)
Late (after 3 months)
0
Stable
No changes
Standard immunosuppression
1A
Stable
No changes
Standard immunosuppression
1B
Stable
No changes
Adjust drug doses
2
Stable
No changes
Adjust drug doses
2
Unstable, meaning:rising CVP and PCWP, decreasing EFarrhythmias and other symptoms
Increase drug dosespossibly add 100mg prednisone TID
Same as for early treatment
3A
Stable
Increase drug doses100mg prednisone TID
Same as for early treatment
3A
Unstable, meaning:rising CVP and PCWP, decreasing EFarrhythmias and other symptoms
one gram IV prednisoneIncrease drug doses
Same as for early treatment
3B
Stable
one gram IV prednisoneIncrease drug doses
100mg oral prednisone TID
3B
Unstable, meaning:rising CVP and PCWP, decreasing EFarrhythmias and other symptoms
ALG, ATG, or OKT3 for 7 to 10 days
one gram IV prednisone for 3 days
4
Irrelevant
ALG, ATG, or OKT3 for 7 to 10 days

My rejection numbers have been "0" and "1A"...

See not bad....

Even my labs and biopsy came back great...but my echo was not as good as it should be.

Am I grateful for amazing doctors who are so aware of something that was just a blurb on on echo.

So, tomorrow I am back to Utah for another Cath Lab, an Echo and Clinic.

Oh how I hope and pray I am back home tomorrow...

and just in case...I am packing an overnight bag.

Biopsy

Each Monday I will "get" to have a biopsy of my new heart. It is how they check for rejection.

I asked if I could have a picture, mostly because the wires on my sternum...but you can also see the biopsy prob in this photo.

Isn't modern medicine AMAZING!