I don't often blog about my personal life these days. With me managing this business plus homeschooling, helping my oldest with severe autism, running a local homeschool group, and just in general being a mom... there's always something going on behind the scenes. I just figure none of that is all that interesting to write about for a photography blog. haha
However now there's been some recent developments in our life that I've been carrying mostly in private, save a select few family and friends. The reason for holding all this close was because we knew there would be a lot of questions that frankly we didn't have answers for quite yet. For those that follow me pretty religiously, I had a feeling it was becoming obvious that I had pulled back from posting on my feed lately. Like I'm pretty sure I've posted maybe three times on my instagram over the last month, which is weird for me, because I used to post daily. I also had taken on fewer sessions this fall for a specific reason. I hesitated to share much, but I have so many loving people in my life that came to me through Wildflower. It felt fake and weird not to allow you guys to know what's been going on.
For those not aware, Brad (the guy I married) and I have been together since I was 17. We met as kids, became friends and spent the better part of our early teens doing that whole on again off again flirty thing. We dated for a long time and got married in our mid-20s. Brad was born with a rare congenital heart condition where basically his arteries and ventricles are swapped. He's been limited in some ways growing up (ie. no contact sports, can't be in high elevations, etc). Our college years weren't spent at frat parties or doing the normal college thing. Instead, we once spent our spring break in the ER when he started having mini strokes. I also sprained my ankle really bad trying to bring balloons I got him down the stairs and tripped. He'd literally just gotten home from heart surgery, and his dad had to turn right back and take me to the hospital. hahaha Oops. After that, Brad was able to stay pretty healthy. He did have an emergency pacemaker put in back in 2021 bc his heart was stopping, but that was the last major thing to happen.
Fast forward to now. A few months ago, Brad went to a routine cardiology visit where they found that the leak in one of his arteries had worsened. He was diagnosed with heart failure. They had hoped that adjusting his pacemaker settings and meds may help, but he started developing heart failure symptoms a few weeks ago like fatigue and shortness of breath. The last three months consisted of us mentally preparing ourselves for open heart surgery shortly after Christmas. The issue with Brad is that his condition is so incredibly rare (about 0.5% of the population) that they were concerned his heart wouldn't be able to handle a valve replacement, so there was also the potential for a full heart transplant if his ventricle failed. We spent several weeks of him going through tests, his cardiologist team discussing best options, etc.
Personally, I've been holding up okay. This man has been my rock for the majority of my life. We've grown up together, and it's just always been us. Even during tough times, we've found our way through. I kept refusing to let my mind wander to the worst case scenario (which was very difficult, honestly) and just focus on his recovery and keeping things as stable as possible for our kids. With him in ICU and then recovering for several months, that would leave me taking over every aspect of our lives, so you could say I've been a tiny bit overwhelmed. lol Just processing it all mentally is a lot. I'm so grateful I have both our families nearby plus friends willing and ready to help. We had friends offering to send gift cards, family wanting to set up a GoFundMe, and homeschool mom friends offering to help with the kids. Brad's family also traveled to see him before his potential surgery, so while it looked like a pre-Thanksgiving reunion, it was really to hang out with Brad before our lives turned upside down.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Brad went in for another MRI. They wanted to check the ejection fraction (how much blood was getting pumped). That Saturday, we got the results... and frankly were shocked.
His heart had improved. He had gone from severe to moderate heart function. We're talking percentages going from 57% to 23%, which is like miracle level improvement especially in this short amount of time. We had to wait another week or so after the holiday before hearing from his cardiology team. As of yesterday, they're officially saying surgery isn't needed at this time anymore!! That he should continue doing whatever he's been doing and they'll reassess in three months!! Y'all we got our own little Christmas miracle! :)
We truly appreciate the support from the small network of people we had told. It's been a stressful, scary few months. And if I'm being honest, worrying about how much and how often I focus on my Wildflower world took a major back seat aside from taking care of the clients I'd already booked. I'm excited to take a mental/emotional break during the holidays and get back into the swing of things soon.
All the love and hugs to everyone! Have an amazing Christmas!
- Hailey
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