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Showing posts with the label DORV

A Topsy-Turvy Month of March

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Topsy-turvy...that's the only word I can think of to describe the month of March. It's been disorderly, chaotic, and a bit out of joint. There have been ups and downs. Highs and lows.  It all started out well enough. My dad celebrated his 75th birthday. This was an especially big deal as he gave us all a scare last month when he came down with a staph infection, which entered his bloodstream. He was very sick and his doctor said if he would have waited 1 more day before going to the ER, the outcome might have been different.  Celebrating my dad's 75th birthday!  On his birthday, we just had a small party as he was not yet feeling 100 percent. A couple of weeks later, when Dawn was here with Faith and I stayed with my parents, I noticed he seemed like he had more energy and was feeling better. I am very thankful for that!  Another person in my family (my sister Tesa) also had a milestone birthday this month. She turned 50! We were all hoping it would work out to have ...

50 Years Ago Today: My First Open Heart Surgery

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I'm tired today. And a bit stressed. I've been dealing with trying to get approved to go to Mayo to get my pacemaker replaced and it hasn't been fun. But today I'm also thinking about how it was 50 years ago today that I had my first open heart surgery. It was called a Waterston shunt and was supposed to improve blood flow and cyanosis. It didn't help my cyanosis much, though because I still had blue lips and fingernails afterward.  Me as a baby with my parents and brother.  Me at 5 1/2 months old, 2 weeks before my first open heart surgery.  It's amazing that my parents were even able to navigate the medical world at that time. They lived in rural Montana and then western North Dakota. Somehow, they managed to find a pediatric cardiologist in Bismarck who referred them to the University of Minnesota. Up until I had a heart catheterization, they had no idea what was going on with my heart.  The doctors just thought that I had a hole in my heart, which is why I ...