My thoughts, one year later

 As of March 2014, I am completely off of all my heart medication and have a clean bill of health.  It's amazing in so many ways that I am healthy and alive.  Doctors are still baffled by my case.  This past year has been really difficult but it also has been a blessing.  Despite being really sick, I was still able to accomplish so much because I was surrounded by an amazing group of friends and family.  My wonderful friends did so much for us and made it possible for me to put our house up on the market and move with 4 kids.  They helped pack my house, painted for me, watched my kids, packed the truck and cleaned my house before we left.  I still feel so overwhelmed with gratitude from all of their service.  The year of recovery and "taking it easy" wasn't easy.  For the first six to eight months, I was supposed to keep my heart rate below 100 and the medication made me tired and groggy. 
Once we got settled in Rochester, in August of 2013 I met with a new Cardiologist.  I had another Echocardiogram and a stress test.  My echo was "interesting".  The ultra sound tech almost gave me a heart attack.  She said she thought she saw a spot on my heart and rushed out of the room to get the Radiologist.  I was freaking out quietly while I waited for the doctor to check my heart.  It turned out that everything was fine!   My new Cardiologist said I should remain on heart medication until one year at least but he did say I could exercise and not worry about my heart rate.  I was disappointed a bit but glad I didn't have any restrictions. 
As the month of December approached, I started to focus a lot on what happened but not in a bad way.  It was mostly more thoughts of gratitude for my life and for all the service we received.  We celebrated JD's 1st birthday and we all felt so thankful that the little guy was healthy too.  The dates in December were important.  I would say, "just 12 months ago I was in the ICU on ECHMO", or "today is December 18th, I came home from the hospital today".
Now one year later it's kind of like it never happened in some ways because JD and I have no ill effects from what happened.  All I have is a small scar on my neck which is hardly noticeable.  I do think it's something that shouldn't be forgotten.

 It was a miracle.

 

JD's first birthday celebration

JD turned ONE on December 5th.  He is such a fun and happy kid.  JD loves to give hugs and kisses.  His kisses can be pretty scary though.  They are usually him lunging at you with his mouth wide open but that's ok.  When he hugs, he wraps his arms around our necks and squeezes.  It's really cute.
Lately he's been pretty high maintenance but it comes with the age.  He's walking but still falling a lot and doesn't like me to do anything besides pay attention to him.   His eczema has improved so much.  It hardly flares up but we make sure and use his creams and do bleach baths once in a while.  JD knows some baby signs and says a few words.  His favorite thing is to make grunting noises and shrug his shoulders.  We can't imagine life without this adorable little guy.





JD's favorite toys are balls and all electronic things like our phones, the IPad and computer.







Last two photos by Sarah Martin

Kassie's Piano Recital

Kassie had her first piano recital here.  She takes lessons at the Nazareth College of Music.  Her teacher is Dr. Choi.  Kassie says Dr. Choi is much more strict then Sister Anderson back in Indiana.  Kassie's been making great progress.  I enjoy hearing her practice while I do the dishes at night.



Rochester's Children's Museum of Play

We have a fantastic children's museum here in Rochester.  It's always crazy busy, so I usually go when Lee has a day off.  It can get kind of overwhelming with 4 kids when I'm on my own.  Samantha tends to have a desire to run off and not stay with us and not listen and be crazy.

Kassie took this picture because she wanted to remember the "awesome fort" they made.

Samantha cracks me up in these pictures.  She's acting like the butterflies are spooky creatures that are going to attack her.

The last Thanksgiving in Ohio

Over the past 10 years while Lee has been doing his training, we have been fortunate to live within driving distance to my Aunt and Uncle in Canton, Ohio.  We have spent many Thanksgivings there eating lots of turkey and Stampin' it Up!  Since we're moving back to Az this summer, we spent our last Thanksgiving with them.  The weather was horrible (it was the beginning of the "great polar vortex) and the roads were pretty scary but we made it safe and sound.  We love A. Who and Uncle Fud!  They have been like our surrogate parents.

This is a great time to introduce our lovely and incredible long driveway.  I think I'm going to have nightmares about how terrible it has been to shovel the dang thing.  I do need to add that it slopes down at the bottom creating a snow pile up at the end.  It's great!

This was the day we left.  I shoveled it three times.  Lee had a sprained ankle at the time, poor him.  No poor me!

Look at all that snow.  All you Az friends and family, it's not as pretty as it looks.

We saw a few cars on the side of the road and even a huge semi that had jack knifed but lucky we didn't have any problems.

The kids thought it was too exhausting to see all of the snow. 

My cousin brought her dog over and Kassie was so happy to take charge and "train" Gracie!

We love the Ohio Hecks!  And the kids loved Jayden their 11 year old second cousin Jaden.  I don't have his picture here but Samantha still talks about him.

A few random fall pics

I have to say, Samantha is a pretty creative kid.  She is always thinking of new things to entertain herself, including pulling the bulldozer on a blue sled down the middle of the street.

Here are Kassie and Violet the neighbor.  Kassie has a gun and rollerblades on.  I guess Violet was pulling her around the cul-de-sac.

Samantha and JD loved the fish hatchery.  Did I mention yet that Sam has issues with NOT wearing underwear?!

This buck was in our neighbor's front yard. 



And here are a few in our backyard.  You can see one trying to jump through a small slot in the face that is broken.

Lee was out of town one weekend so the kids and I went to a fall festival that had huge corn tee-pees.

Kass is now called the bird lady!

Lee and I took a trip out to Az for a job interview and left the older three with a babysitter.  Apparently they acted like Warrior Cats most of the time which probably wasn't a good thing.  Just imagine three maniac kids acting like cats. Warrior Cats are from a book series by Erin Hunter that Kassie is obsessed with.

Tommy thought it was funny to let a katydid crawl on his head.

And last but not least.  Samantha refusing to put pants on and come on a walk with JD.  I left her inside crying while we took a short walk.  Now that I think about it, I think she locked us out and I had to threaten her with all sorts of things before she opened the door.  Nice!

Kassie had a girl's night. Instead of a sleepover, we did what I call a "late night".  The moms picked them up around 9:30-10pm.  They stuffed their faces with ice-cream sundaes and watched a movie.

 The first snow!



Halloween 2013