Family update

In case you are wondering how I could have time to do so many posts in one day... On Monday I had my top wisdom teeth removed. Yes, I am a teething Mama, like someone said! I always thought I am one of the lucky people who will never get wisdom teeth, so I was very surprised this winter when what I thought was just a sore spot or ulcer on my gums turned out to be a new tooth!

In May we took a family trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We also spent a day in Cody, WY. Of course we took lots of pictures, 1800 to be exact. :) After my SCAD episode we gave the girls a Nikon D5200 as a gift for helping so much when I was laid up. They have turned into pretty good photographers.

The famous barns with the Grand Tetons in the background.

Dad and Mom in front of the courting buggy :)

Irene 18, Annetta 17, Marian 10, Ruth Anna 6, Rhoda 3

Jonathan 8, Michael almost 2, Joel 14, Simon 12

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

A Year Later

 I went back to Creighton to have a CT angiogram done to see if the artery has healed. The next day I saw Dr. Holmberg to get the results. It looks fine, he said. There was one part where the stents overlap that they couldn't see. Earlier he told me if everything looks fine I can get off all the blood thinners except aspirin. Now he said because of where the dissection occurred and the stents are placed he wants me to stay on blood thinners. He switched me from Effient to Plavix, which isn't as strong. The stents are at the top of the LAD (left anterior descending) artery, which feeds 75% of the heart. He said several times they really don't know how to treat this. It isn't heart disease and it's very rare. I have been his third patient in 20 years. Mayo Clinic is doing a research study on spontaneous coronary artery dissection. I have entered that study. So far all I had to do was release my medical records. Dr. Holmberg talked about calling the cardiologists from Mayo to ask them what they have found out. We have been so grateful for doctors and the wisdom God has given them.

Somehow once I passed that first anniversary I felt more of a rest in my spirit. Maybe it was just hearing the doctor say, "Your artery is healed and the stents look ok". Whatever... I am just so grateful for a full recovery. I asked Dr. Holmberg if I still need to take care in the heat. "Well", he chuckled, "If the temperature is 110 and the humidity 90% you should probably let Edward do the work." My only restriction is to not lift too heavy stuff.

1. I will end with a song that expresses my feelings...

1. 
   

Cardiac Rehab

Two weeks after I came home I had a follow up appointment with my cardiologist, Dr. Holmberg. He is from Omaha, but comes to the hospital in Atlantic several times a month, so that is where I went to see him. He ordered an echo cardiogram which they were able to do there. The results were good. The fluid around my heart was gone and my heart function was back to almost normal.

I also had my first cardiac rehab that day. Several days earlier I had come in to visit with Peggy, the head nurse of cardiac rehab. She went over what happened, what medications I'm taking etc etc. She also gave me some educational material about cholesterol and heart health. My cholesterol was too high (240), it should be under 200. So she talked about what foods I should and should not eat. She gave a DVD "Take a Load off Your Heart", which was a cardiologist and a man who had to have by pass surgery speaking about heart health. That was very informative. The doctors told me I do not have heart disease, so some of that didn't apply to my case, but I did learn a lot on how to keep my heart healthy. Basically it's just eat a healthy, well balanced diet, get plenty of exercise, and learn how to handle stress. Stress is really bad for your heart.

When I came to do rehab the first thing they did was put a heart monitor on me and take my blood pressure. My blood pressure was always very low like 90 over 60. They wanted me to drink a lot, because just the extra fluid can raise blood pressure.Then once everything was hooked up and I showed up on their computer I started with stretches to warm up. That first day I didn't do much. Walked about 5 minutes on the treadmill, rested, then on the Nustep, rested, then on the bicycle. For the first two weeks I was not allowed to use my arms on the Nustep and the bicycle. That was orders from Dr. Holmberg and was because of the dissection. Usually that just applies for those who had open heart surgery.

I had 36 sessions of cardiac rehab - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Slowly they increased my exercise until I was spending 45 minutes. I was on the treadmill 20 minutes (1 mile), Nustep 15 minutes and on the treadmill again for 10 minutes (1/2 mile). The rehab helped me so much. I was scared to do anything at first. Working out at cardiac rehab with a heart monitor on and knowing that everything was fine gave me the confidence I needed. The nurses were great and I made some good friends there. I was not allowed to drive for 4 weeks, so Irene took me where I needed to go. I often took some of the children with me. They enjoyed it and the people there enjoyed having the children there. How often is a mother with a 4 week old baby at cardiac rehab?! All the other people were elderly.

By the time I was done in early November I was fully recovered. Those three months the drs. told me it would take to recover were not as long as they sounded when I was flat on my back. Praise the Lord for healing! I still dealt some with anxiety, but that gradually got better too.

Peggy Perkins, head nurse in cardiac rehab.


Nu step... you pedal with your feet and the things you hold onto with your hands go back and forth

A Friend In Need Is a Friend Indeed!

Matthew 25:36 ...I was sick, and ye visited me:...
Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Galatians 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

We were so blessed with friends in our time of need. After Michael was born, families from church were bringing us meals. While I was in the hospital and afterwards other people we had learned to know also came and blessed us. We had so much food we had to tell people to stop bringing some. Our freezers and refrigerator were stuffed! I imagine some people were thinking, "Nine children! That must take a lot of food!" Well, yes, but a lot of our children were small, and none of them are big eaters, so it really didn't take that much. And, besides, we had lots of fresh garden goodies to use up too. We did appreciate it all, though. It made us feel so cared for. Those casseroles did come in handy later on busy days, and there is never anything like too many cookies, is there? :) While I was in the hospital Elaine Krambeck, Irene's piano teacher called. They were bringing some food. They brought a lot...several pizza breads (French bread with pizza toppings), salad, and cookies. Jill Grove, our supervising teacher, stopped in with cookies and encouraged the children who were staying at home. After Teresa Smidt and children visited me in the hospital Edward and the children found several casseroles in the freezer and some baked goods on the counter when they came home. Apparently they had stopped at our house before coming in to Omaha. Chris Charles's visited me in the hospital. I believe I listed their blessings in a previous post. The first Sunday I was at home, I was resting upstairs when I heard a car drive in. Here it was Marty Bopp, a lady from Griswold that Edward had done a lot of work for. She and her granddaughter brought enough food for 50 people!!! A huge casserole, huge exotic salad, and cake. Wow! I felt so unworthy how local people reached out to help us.

My mother (God bless her) called every day for a while to see how I was doing. This meant a lot to me. She has Parkinson's disease, and it's not easy for her even to do something like make these phone calls. She is unable to travel from PA to IA to visit us. I could feel her loving care through those calls and it meant so much to me. She also started a card shower from cousins and aunts and uncles. That was such an encouragement to get all those cards and letters while I was unable to do much. Many of them included monetary gifts to help with our expenses. May the Lord reward all these people for their kindness.

A couple weeks after I came home Edward sent a text saying Elvin and Rachel are coming tonight. They will bring supper. What a happy surprise! They had sold a puppy to someone in Omaha and decided to meet them in Griswold so that they could visit us. Since they had traveled so far they got pizza, pop, and chips at Casey's for supper. They encouraged us and prayed for us before they left. What a blessing!

One day the UPS truck roared up to the house. The man carried in a heavy box. This is what it was...

A forty pound block of Wisconsin cheese from my sister who lives on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. :)

We did not have to buy diapers or wipes for a long time!