Out of surgery, heading to ICU

Surgery went well, heading to ICU.

Love to all, Rob

3 Little Requests

Tomorrow is the big day. And I am definitely anxious to get this over and done with and start moving on!

Many people have been asking what they can do to help. I thought I'd take a moment to tell you exactly what I would like tomorrow because there are 3 things you can do that would make me extra happy.

1. Think about me between 7am - 1pm PST. Send all your good vibes, happy thoughts, prayers and just all over positive energy my way on Tuesday morning for a smooth, complication-free operation.

2. Hug your loved ones extra tight. Take a moment to pause and squeeze them just a little more than usual.

3. Do something nice for someone.  I absolutely love the Starbucks Valentine's message this year to Celebrate Everylove. If you haven't seen the videos, check them out because they are so nice and uplifting. So whether it's buying coffee for the person behind you in the drive-thru, or picking up lunch for a co-worker or calling someone you haven't talked to in a long time, please do it tomorrow. I think that would be awesome and I'd love to hear the stories afterwards.

With that, I'm signing off.  The next few updates will come from Rob.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!
xoxox

Embracing the Kindness

Admittedly, the last 2 weeks have been fairly stressful and quite an emotional ride. I was trying to get everything in order and wrap up things at work so I could comfortably step away for awhile to take care of this little heart thing. At the same time, I was also beginning to share the news with more and more people as to my current situation. And wouldn't you know it, all along the way, people are being so nice and so kind to me! And as weird as it is to say, I wasn't ready for that. And I mean, literally... I wasn't ready for that, not that I was surprised it was happening.

I was talking to my sister one morning on my way to the ferry and sharing my latest stresses and what was bothering me. And she said something wise (like she always does) to the effect of, "At some point you gotta realize there are a lot of people who care about you and just embrace it." It hit me at that moment that I wasn't embracing it whatsoever. In fact, I was putting up a big wall trying to push it away.

Maybe embracing it made it all that more real. Or maybe embracing it showed my vulnerability. Or maybe I really just wasn't ready.

Then somewhere along the way, I realized I was ready. Ready to accept it. Ready to finally feel all the love and kindness and just plain goodness that was being given to me by so many people. Ready to actually embrace it. And this time it felt good. Crazy good as we would say in one of my projects at work.

I am so glad I finally made it to this point. Last night was such a wonderful night just being together with my favorite Starbucks partners. And accepting all the words and hugs and thoughtfulness each of them has been trying to give me that I had actually been avoiding. It was more special to me than I think any of my words expressed. I am truly, truly thankful.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Today was a big day! I had to do a test in the morning from a possible complication from my last round of tests. The good news is that everything came back good on that and no concerns going forward. That was a huge relief.

Then Rob and I met with the surgeon in the afternoon. It was a good meeting with a lot of overwhelming information to say the least. We are still digesting everything, but in the end we felt comfortable enough to go ahead and schedule surgery with him.

So, we are all set for Valentine's Day! I know this may sound crazy, but I was really excited about getting it scheduled for this day. As much as I am dreading the whole experience, I am looking forward to being able to commemorate this day afterwards and use Valentine's Day as a way to celebrate my healthy heart year after year.

So we now have a date and are starting to work towards it and make our plans.

Snow Delay

We were supposed to meet with the surgeon today, but wouldn't you know it...we had our first snow storm of the year and everything came to a screeching halt. It was a fun day playing in the snow with the kiddos in between work meetings, but alas, now we have to wait and see when we can get the appointment rescheduled.

It's not a huge deal given I have time to do this. Just annoying as I'm anxious to learn more and set a date so we can have a final plan. But since we can't, I'll just go out and play in the snow. I love living in a place that shuts down a few times a year for snow. It's a great excuse to pause your life and just play without any other worries.

Valve Job - To Repair or Replace?

Rob and I have been joking about my need for a "valve job." The biggest question we were waiting to answer was whether the valve would be repaired or if it needed to be replaced.

To answer that question and ensure I was ready for surgery, I had 2 final tests done today. One was a Transesophageal Echocardiogram (TEE) to get a better picture of my mitral valve and the other was a heart catheter to make sure the rest of the heart looked good and there wouldn't be any other surprises come surgery time.

After a ridiculously early morning and then 6 hours in the hospital, we got the answer we were hoping for... The valve does indeed look repairable and other than the wimpy valve, my heart looks great! This is wonderful news because a replacement comes with many more potential complications for the rest of my life. With a repair, I have hopes of not having to deal with anything significant again after the surgery. I'm super happy to say the very least.

Next stop on the journey is a meeting with the potential surgeon on Wednesday afternoon. With that we'll have more information and be another step closer to the final plan.

Good day!