Heart4Ash (Skwig)

Yet again, I am so very blessed for the small and simple things I am able to do now. For example, today, I mowed my front lawn with a mask and I only took 1 break. Before my new ticker I couldn't even finish. I know some of you might be thinking, "it's just a lawn, what's so hard about it?" When someone has heart failure like I had using your arms can make the person easily fatigue real quick  and if you have ever mowed a lawn you would understand that it's quite a bit of arm strengthen. I was impressed with myself and that my body was able to do something that I used to not be able to do. I am so excited for the future and what it has to bring for me. I feel like I am back in high school. This afternoon, my aunt and I went out for lunch at Even Stevens downtown, a way good place for sandwiches and they have gluten free bread from City Cake and Cafe, also downtown. What I like about Even Stevens is they donate a sandwich to a non-profit organization every tim

Long day! It started off with me waking, getting ready and me driving all by myself to the hospital. Yupp all by myself. It felt weird to be alone in the car and me driving the car, but I just turned up the music and sang my way to the hospital. Got my blood drawn first, everything came back great. My prograf   troft  level was 18.8, a little high, but they aren't changing anything. They will probably lower my dose next clinic visit. Then the biopsy. That went well too, other than them slicing my neck open with a scalpel :) The result was the same as my last biopsy. Good work ticker! Now off to my echocardiogram . I had a good tech today she was very nice and quick. My ejection fraction is amazing at 67% (plus or minus 5%). I always think the plus ! Then I had to meet with the good ol' docs. I am feeling so great lately it is hard to take it easy. This is what we talked about during our visit. I understand where they are coming from, but I don't think they know. I haven

What a week it has been. Last Tuesday guess who went on a walk/little jog all be herself like a big girl? Yup I did! And my oh, oh my did it feel good to be all by myself. I mean I love my husband to death, but it was time for me and myself to be alone it's been almost 6 weeks! Everybody needs there alone time and I finally got mine. Anywho, I jogged! I felt good afterwards too, I went the same distance I could jog before getting my LVAD Gus. And today, I went on a walk/jog again and felt great! I am so glad the my ticker is doing so well. I hope one day I will be able to meet the donors family and say thank you so very much and hear all the stories about their daughter. A lot of people have asked me if its weird to have someone else heart in me and yes it is, but if I think of it as a gift of life its not weird at all. Now I am not going to be a table tennis and walk around the block lady. I am going to be that young lady that can do whatever she puts her mind too. To me that is m

Another successful clinic visit goes down in the books today. My blood work came back great. Hematocrit  - 36, White blood cells - 14, kidneys are functioning well and my prograf  is at 16 (they want  me in between 12-16). I have been feeling great. My energy level is also increasing, which I like a lot!! I feel like a kid again. I want to go to the park and play on the playground and swing on the swings, go ride my dad's townie (bike) around, go screw around with a soccer ball and freaking RUN!!! I haven't been able to run for a long distance for 5 years now and all I want to do is go for a nice easy jog. Next Monday I have another biopsy and echocardiogram . I also have a clinic visit with my surgeon to clear me to do weights and hopefully RUN! Every single day is a blessing and I am so very grateful to the donor families and again I am sorry for your loss. Thank you again for your support and I feel all your prayers. You guys are the greatest ever. Ashley Paige Irvin

Last night I was thinking to myself about mental toughness and how incredible our minds are. If you say you can't do something then your body just shuts off, but if you tell yourself you can do this or you can handle this then your body does whatever you are doing or handling. Like I said in my last post, I am so grateful for where I am at now than where I was a month ago. A month ago I was wishing I was where I am today. If you stay positive and optimistic about what you do each day your mental toughness will take you along and carry you through your day, but if not your days are going to be hard. By the end of my walk today I was getting pretty tired and I told myself, "Come on Paige you got this" and I finished strong. No matter what you are doing everyone can finish. Never give up on yourself, maybe someone else is better but who cares. This is something that I need to learn. Someday I will be back to my old self and be able to do whatever I want ... SOMEDAY! I can&#

It has been a whole month today since I received my new heart!! It is soo  crazy to think where I was a month ago to where I am now. The human body blows my mind every single day. I am becoming stronger every day. I am ready to try jogging, but have to wait til  the 6 week mark that's what cardiac rehab says. Chomping at the bits. Yesterday Steve and I went out and flew a kite before the storm came in. Flying a kite is no easy task either it is kinda  tough. Good thing Steve had mad skills to get it up in the sky. ... and then I decided to land it in the tree probably 45 mins later :( Today, to celebrate my 1 month with my new ticker, we went to Sweet Cake (full on gluten free bakery) in downtown Salt Lake and got some cookies and mini cupcakes. Yes, I ate them all. NUMM NUM! Other than that just kick it back today. Crazy weather we are having here!!! My next clinic visit is Monday the 20th. YES for only going in once a week rather than twice a week. My right hand a

I didn't forget about cha don't you be worrying! My laptop decided to be a little bit slow so I had to take her in to Simply Mac and it is taking fooorrevverrrr ! Hopefully tomorrow I will get it back, cross your fingers. Today is Monday and I did not sleep at all last night, my brain would not shut off and this morning I had another biopsy, echocardiogram  and clinic visit. No more twice a week visits , thank goodness.  I am sooo  sick of biopsy, the doctor really numb me up real good today, I could flick my chin afterwards :) Here are the results: Everything is the SAME!! Boring I know, but hey I am glad I am boring actually! I hope I am going to be a plain ol'  janer  patient from here on out for a long time. I have been feeling great lately. I have been going on walks, enjoying this great sunshine with sunscreen and a large hat and trying to put some LB's on me. Steve, my dad and I went golfing today, well they did the golfing I was there for  moral support an

Today was a great day! I feel so blessed. I started to write to the donor family of the hearts I received, yes I said HEARTS! Crazy to think about what happened to me only about 4 weeks ago. So today I woke up made myself an egg, strawberries and some chai tea for breakfast. Then I took all the pills I have to take and started to work on handwriting the letters to the donor families. My mom insisted me to handwrite  the letters, she said it's more meaningful. I absolutely hate my handwriting ever since my stroke. It took me probably an hour to finish one letter, plus my hand shakes because of the prograf  (one of the many anti-rejection drug) that I am taking. So you can say it took much concentration. Two letters down, one to go! Then we went to Target to get the donor families a card to put the letter in. Steve found the perfect card and he said that the one in only talented Katie Buckley could do her sweet calligraphy in the cards. Yup, she amazing pretty much, THANK YOU

What a great weekend it was!! Saturday my mom and aunt Lo Lo went to the movies, we went to an early showing so there weren't a lot of people in the movie theaters when we went. The Sugarhouse theaters are the place to go though, they remodeled and so everything is very clean and plus they have these amazing chairs . The chairs are lazy boy reclining chairs, dead serious! Plus, I didn't take a nap this whole weekend, but I was dead tired when the clock stuck 9 o'clock. Easter day was a nice laid back day. Watched conference with the fam bam  and then had these incredible ribs that my papa made with some potato salad that Steve and I made. I am so very grateful for each person in my family, even if they are full of hair and have 4 legs or not, even though sometimes we are a little crazy. But hey, we all have our corks and that makes us who we are :) This morning I had another biopsy, echocardiogram  and clinic visit. My biopsy went great, still think the little th

Nailed it! The doc's said everything is looking good. My thrush in my mouth is starting to go away, I got my staples out of my stomach where Gus came out of me, my scar is healing up nicely, and I have a small bald spot on the back of my head. I have an appointment to see a dermatologist today at 2:45pm. So we shall see what he tells me. Other than that everything is going up. Cardiac rehab was great. Walked for 20 minutes and I didn't even get tired. They told me that I must have gotten a athletes' heart because my heart rate was in the 80's and usually new transplant patients heart rates are in the high 90's to 100. Me just walking on the good ol' treadmill.

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!! I am thinking about getting my mom, but not sure what to do yet. Today was my 2nd night that I was able to sleep the whole night without getting up and moving to the couch or waking up absolutely miserable. Also, I can kind of sleep on my stomach now and it is heavenly. Throughout my recovery I have been reminded on a daily basis to NOT take the small and simple things for granted. For example, walking upstairs to go get something, simply putting on legging or even taking a shower without your mother sitting on the toilet making sure you don't fall. I never would have thought that I would ever experience these things until I was like older ya  know? But I am thankful that I am getting a little lesson of appreciation of my body, mind and strength. I am becoming stronger each and every day. This morning I made my own breakfast, some eggs and a banana :) Yesterday I went for a nice walk outside that took Steve and I 12 minutes. After I felt a little tired, bu