3 year Anniversary

I wanted to post yesterday but it was so busy that I did not have time.
Yesterday marked Makenzie's 3 year anniversary of being a heart transplant patient. We are hoping there are going to be many more anniversaries that we can celebrate Makenzie's life and honor her donor. What a roller coaster it has been with all the ups and downs that we/she has gone through. But we could not ask for anything more, she is still here with us considering we almost lost her last year. Makenzie is an amazing little girl who I am so thankful that she is my daughter. Even though she is so little and very shy, she has such an impact on people. She has come along way over the 3 years. She is writing and has learned to spell her name. She also has learned to identify her alphabets, shapes and colors. We are now working on the sounds of the alphabets so she can start learning to read. We are also trying to teach her to be more social not just with kids which she is doing pretty well with but also with adults.
We could not have taught her all that if she didn't get a second chance. And for that we are so thankful for the amazing family that decided to donate there loved one's organs to save my daughters life and who knows how many others there might have been. Thinking everyday how hard it is to have lost someone especially a child and have to decide a very unselfish act at the most hardest time I couldn't even imagine, to donate there loved one's organs to save another child so they could have a second chance at life and so there family can enjoy another day with there child.
There are no words to thank the family but to just honor them by having Makenzie live a normal life and keep her as healthy as we possibly can and teach her how important it is to take all her meds. So we can show how much we appreciate what they have done for us and her. Even though we do not no the family or anything about the donor our hearts go out to them and again thank them for there generous gift.
The gift of life.
Be a Hero Be a Donor

Home away from Home!!!

Monthly visits to the doctors, Watching your child cry when the nurses take them back to the OR, worried about germs, rejection on the back of your mind when she gets sick, making sure they take there medications on time daily, Yearly Cath's.
Life as a Heart Mommy can be very mentally exhausting ( I cry about everything now) . But I am sure it is a lot harder to be a transplant patient, and having to go through it all. But I would not change my life or my daughter for the world. She is one of the best thing that has ever happened to me (including my family of course). You would think I would say why me I can't mentally take care of a child who needs constant care, but she has brought our family closer then we ever imagined. We have gone back to the church, got sealed in the temple as a family. Which was far from our minds a couple of years ago. And the Lord gives you what you can handle, and I am guessing he thinks I can handle it. So far I believe I have done the best I can to care for her and getting her the best care I possible can.
So off to Denver we go for Makenzie's yearly Cath. We left for Denver on Thursday May 6th to be there by Friday Morning. An 8 1/2 hour drive with two toddler's in a back seat of a saturn was actually not as bad as we thought it was going to be. UNTIL we got about 1/2 hour into Colorado we start hearing "are we there yet" "are we there yet". But we made it safe and sounds. We were lucky enough to get into the Ronald McDonald house in Aurora, which is an amazing charity if I might add
.
Friday we had to check into the hospital at 10:30 a.m, get her an Echo and an EKG. Then from about 11:30a.m to 2:00 p.m we just laid in her room while doctor's and nurses came in and out of the room checking on her until she was ready to go back to the OR room. They finally gave her some versed which made her a little loopy which was cute but once they came to get her to go back she just started crying and hanging on to me. And I know that I should be strong for my child and not cry but I did, tears came rolling down my face. Just thinking I am letting my child into somebody else's hands and I am not there to watch her to make sure she is ok.
About 30 Minutes later after they came and got her I get a phone call from the OR room telling me that she is doing good. It took the doctor which was Dr. Pietra a little longer to get the Cath in her leg but she is sedated and is doing great so far.
It was really nice to see Susan, James and Allison there also. We were able to sit and chat with Susan and James in the waiting room while Allison was back in the recovery room.
After about an hour of waiting we get another phone call saying they are just finishing up and Dr. Pietra will be out to talk to us. So about 20 minutes later they came and got us to go back to the recovery room to see Makenzie. She was in tears wanting mommy so I gave her a big hug and told her I am not leaving you again. So we just waited for the Doctor to come to talk to us, so during that we sat and watched movies and tried to keep Makenzie laying flat for 4 hours, it is a lot harder then you think.
We finally got to talk to Dr. Pietra and Carrie, they showed us pictures of her heart the function and the squeeze. The numbers all looked good her Pressures were awesome no damage to her coronary arteries. So all in all she got a good grade. She did amazing and we are so proud of her. She was finally discharged at 8 p.m and we all went back to the Ronald McDonald house and just crashed into bed.
Carrie called on Saturday with the biopsy results. And said she was a 1R which means that there is a little army of lymphocytes in her heart. We were hoping for a 0 which means nothing is going on in her heart but they said that a 1R is next to nothing. It doesn't sound that way to me but you have to trust in the doctor's and I have talked to a few people about it and they said the same thing. So we can come home, so it must be nothing to worry about or they would have kept her. On Saturday we got the chance to go to the Denver children's museum which the kids loved they loved the grocery shopping part the most. Then after we were able to go and visit grandma Judy (a lady we met last year at church when we stayed for 3 month) It was really nice to see her.


On Sunday we got to go to church and see all the nice people that helped us last year. I love that ward and the people in it, the bishop is an amazing man, and his wife is so sweet.
We finally left after church to come back home another 8 1/2 hour drive which again was not that bad I got a little car sick about 20 min away from home but we made it back home around 10:30 p.m.
Carrie called me on Monday with more news they want Makenzie to take steroids to fight off the army that is in her heart. And a really disgusting medication. It was not the news I was expecting so it made me cry; again, told you an emotional wreck. Luckily she only has to take it for 11 days so hopefully it works. We get to go back to Denver next year for another Cath.
Thank you all for the prayers that were sent her way. She is an amazing daughter and we love her so much.
BE A HERO BE A DONOR!!!!