Sorry about the typing on that last post... My arm was aching from the IV, and I forgot to spell check it :`/ All is going well.. but I'm still trying to get used to the different settings on my Pacemker... It keeps me up sometimes, but In a week or so, it'll be easier. My little incision is healing right up, and is a little sore, but hasn't bled at all. This procedure was way easier than everyone made it out to be!! Was actually quite simple, so yearly will not be too bad. I caught a cold though, so I was pretty yucky feeling yesterday. Feeling so much better today, though, So maybe it was just a two day cold... HoPeFuLlY :) The Doctor managed to schedule my next cardiac visit on the same day as my Stress Test, so all I get to have is one day in the hospital! YAYAYAY!!! C'mon get Happyyyy!! September 27 is the day. So I just wanted to give you a small update, and I'm goung to try and give them to you weekly, unless something changes. Adios for now!

Well Hello folks! Just wanted to give you an update of today! Got up at 6:00am :P *yay* and literally put on my sweats, tank top, jacket, and ducky slippers (wore my ducky slippers last time I had surgery) and walked across the block to the hospital. We checked in, and went straight to the Cath Lab. My nurse, Jo was very helpful, and I put the little gown and pants on, and let the doctors introduce themselves, and give me a numbing patch on my forearm, where the IV would be inserted. Let me tell you something for those of you reading this who maybe don't know: I HATE NEEDLES!! But.. that numbing patch... They should sell them at Wally World! They really work! Anyway, after they inserted the IV, it had already been 2 hours, so it was 8 am... they flushed my IV with Saline, then gave me something to calm me down (I was already as calm as could be, so I'm not quite sure why I had to be even MORE calm... I was just ready to get it done, you know?) Everything was a blur after that... My vision was all *wooooo weeeee* If you get what I'm trying to say ;) and I remember someone saying something like, let's go. And then the next thing I Know, I'm in this room and they are switching my bed, and putting a blue hair net on me, and getting oxygen masks ready. I will tell you a secret: This lady says: Ok, I'm just making a few marks on your feet, but I couldn't really feel it good. I knew something was being done, but I was thinking, "I'd never know if they were cutting my feet! Well, there goes my Achilles tendon!" HAHAHA at the same time, the anesthesiologist says Alright, have a good sleep, and A few peope pat me on the arm and say the same. The next thing I know I'm waking up to my mom taking pictures of me with my One Direction Dolls on the bed with me:)! That was at about 11... I'd gotten out of surgery at 10am, so I only slept for around an hour. JO checked on me, and I talked for a little while, then watched Big Brother on the computer for about 3 hours... I couldn't get up until four, so I had a looong time to wait! Then a bajillion doctors came in, and it was 4pm already!! Goes by fast with BB14 and doctors talking. They'd set my pacemaker up to 100, meaning that 100 BPM would be the lowest my heart could go during the surgery. That put my blood pressure really low though, and so did my previous pacemaker settings, so they decided to set it up to 80 BPM, which is where I wanted it in the first place. The doctors are also told me that they were thinking of taking me off of one of my meds, because it wasn't really doing anything to help, and it was making me dizzy. After a while, the Doctor in charge of the Transplantations came to talk to us. He said that yes, I was symptomatic, but after all the data they collected today, and reviewed from previous tests, that I was not anywhere close to needing to be on the transplant list. He said that I probably wouldn't need one for quite a while. He wants to schedule a stress test for a couple weeks from now, and wants to get me on the schedule for yearly Caths. So yeah! No transplant for now, and it's been a pretty good day, since I am apparently  one oof the people that doesn't get sore from these, and have had no pain other than this annoying little IV in my arm that throbs when I type this much! So I'm just chillin here in the hospita, eating whatever I can find, and watching WInnie the Pooh, and Pokemon, and talking to you! I'm thinking about posting a few pictures, and after I take a walk, I am goung to create a Facebook Page for the website, so you can go "Like" it, and automatically know when I've updated it:) Love you all, and thank you for the comments! They brighten my day:)

Yesterday, we went up to St. Louis for my Pre-Op. The drive wasn't too bad, though, because I was texting the whole time :) Upon arrival at the hospital, the Doctors ran a few tests, which consisted of: and EKG (When they monitor your heart rate with "leads" and CoLd stickers), a Stroke test, to make sure I hadn't unknowingly had a stroke, and a Urinalysis. We met with a lady who told us all about what happens in a Catheterization, and told us that our appointment was scheduled for !!!6:45!!! on Monday morning!! GAH!! Why is everything always scheduled soooo EARLY?? Well, at least if I get it done in the wee hours of the morning, I wont have to be admitted overnight. So Monday's procedure will go as follows: I will be given meds when I get to the hospital, I will be given a blood thinner, anesthesia through an IV, and a numbing patch on my groin where the cath will go in. As soon as I'm under, The Doctor (Dr. Martin I'm told) will insert the cath through a vein in my groin, directly to the left of my right hip bone, and proceed to move the cath up to my heart. Once there, he will check my blood flow, and measure the walls of my heart, and come back out, which takes a total of 30 minutes. After he's finished, I will be awakened, and have to lay still on the bed in Recovery for a total of 4-6 hours, so as not to bleed, or rip the vein in which they used to cath me. I can then Text, and watch movies, so if you have my number, you can text or call me at about 11:30am. I can go home as soon as the 6 hours are up, and the only problem I will have is that my leg will be sore. It will feel like I've been punched in my leg, and will most likely be limping. I cannot swim, or sit on anything that I'd have to straddle, so as not to rip the vein back open. I will update the blog again on Monday, after the surgery. Thanks for reading!

So Here's My Story: In 7th grade -after years and years of tests and not being sure what was causing the pains I kept getting in my chest- I was diagnosed with a heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardio Myopathy.. most abbreiviate it as HCM. It means that the left ventricle of my heart is thicker than it should be. This is the same disease that causes many deaths in active teens every years. Thankfully, mine was caught by the doctors early enough -If it had been just a few months later, I would have been involved in Basketball and Volleyball through school. After being diagnosed, I was restricted to absolutely no physical activity. My BPM, Beats Per Minute, could not even go higher than 80, because it could cause me to have a heart attack. So after almost 2 years of no P.E., Sports, or even running, I discovered my love and passion for writing. For so long, I had dreamed of being the star Volleyball player, and then after that was taken away, I wasn't sure what I would be. I think it took all of that, though, for me to write as much as I did, and find out that I was happier with writing than I ever imagined I could be with sports. Time passed, and I was doing just fine -all my cardiology appointments had gone well, and nothing had worsened in my heart- until April 4, 2012 at 11:28pm, after a normal day of school, when I stopped breathing and went into Cardiac Arest during my sleep. When they put me into the ambulance about 10 minutes later, my BPM was only at 23.. That's extremely low. Upon arrival at the local ER the doctor on call did not want to have me at his hospital because I was such a risk. We didn't know what had gone wrong, and this doctor decided to send me to St. Louis, MO because they are such a great children's hospital that specializes in Pediatric Cardiology. I literally remember the doctor saying "If she makes it to St. Louis, she'll be out of our hands." So I flew in the itty bitty plane to St. Louis, where they ran some tests and decided that it would be in my best intrest to have a Pacemaker/Defibrillator placed, and that the reason I went into Cardiac Arrest in the first lace was because I went into complete Heart Block (So basically, my heart fired on the top, and the bottom failed to squeeze in reply). The next morning, Good Friday: April 6, 2012 I had my first ever surgery. The device was implanted, and all was well. I went home the next day, and came back to the hospital regularly for check-ups. Now that I have the device, and have had it for 4 months, we have recently learned that my heart muscle is getting worse, and I will most likely have to have a transplant. Before I can go onto the transplant list, though, I have to have a Cardiac catheterization done. This is when they go up to my heart through veins in my thighs to take measurements of my heart muscle, to see exactly how soon we need to put me on The List. We have just scheduled this test to be done on September 10, 2012. As the date approaches and as the test is completed, I will keep this blog updated. This is so you can follow my doctors appointments if you wish, and will always know what's around the corner for me. You can email me, and/or comment with any questions or thoughts you may have, and I encourage you to do so! This blog, will be a record of My Journey from One Heart 2 Another.