We have gone through a lot since our journey with heart failure started. Amanda was in the hospital for a little over two weeks after we spent the first 24 hours going from cold symptoms at urgent care to being moved three more times from ER, to ICU, to Cardiology ICU at the University of Minnesota. During that time she was poked and prodded more than anyone should be in a lifetime. She had a right heart catheter in her neck on two separate occasions, one of which was left in for two days, an arterial line in her wrist almost the whole time we were there. Blood work every four hours for the entirety of our stay and a defibrillator implanted to keep her heart rhythms in range in the event she ever goes in to cardiac arrest again. I won’t go into much detail about the hospital staff itself but let’s just say that at times, that was half the battle. For every great nurse or doctor we had, there was someone else that replaced them on shift change that were just awful, both from a human standpoint and a professional one. Anyways, the weeks that followed after being discharged have been challenging. She is hooked to an IV with a pump that needs to be changed daily, and carried around in a fanny pack because she needs it to live. Having a cord constantly connected to your arm 24/7 to live isn’t something you should have to deal with at 35. Managing a household with five kids is hard enough, but trying to apply for help, raising funding to help with medical expenses, and keeping the kids lives as “normal” as possible while keeping up with all the new medicine, appointments, limitations and lifestyle changes, has added a new level of challenges in our lives. We could use an additional 10 hours in each day to accomplish what needs to be done. For now, the “to do” list just keeps growing but we are doing our best. Amanda’s heart health as declined since leaving the hospital to the point that we are currently going through the process to be added to the heart transplant list. This means a head to toe medical clearance that includes about 15 different appointments with 15 different doctors, including the dentist. Difficult decisions on quality of life if things take a turn for the worse during an operation or in general, completing a healthcare directive before we enter the next stage of our journey, and learning about the alternatives to the transplant in the event that a match isn’t available before hers completely fails. Spoiled alert, there are only two, death, and a major surgery that prolongs her wait for a heart transplant by a minimum of 6 months. So that’s where we are at the moment. This upcoming week will be a busy one as we complete the rest of her appointments to get on the transplant list. Keep us in your prayers and thank you for your support.