Nothing like a life altering experiences to make you appreciate life & want to live it to the fullest. 🙂

Let’s start off by me letting you know who I am and why I started this blog. My name is Dianna and I have a heart that’s decided to die (over time). I just want other’s to know that your life isn’t over because of current, past, or future health issues. We all have a purpose, should encourage, and build each other up. If I make an impact on one life by sharing my story, I’ll feel like I’ve done something right.

I’ve been married to my husband Kent for the past 24 years. He is my first love and will be my last. We have  three wonderful children: Aaron, Benjamin, and Leslie, as well as a wonderful daughter-in-love: Ashley, soon to be son-in-love: Eric, and we have one beautiful grand-daughter: Sarah.

I was a normal wife, mother, friend, aunt, and whatever other hat I’ve carried from time to time. I had a 40 hour a week job, walked everyday with my friend, exercised (dvd’s), ate right, and was active in my children’s school lives and sports. So it was a shock for the health issues that occurred.

In August 2010 I had congestive heart failure, due to a virus that attacked my heart. I had to have a defibrillator/pacemaker implanted in my chest due to the damage on the left side of my heart. I now have to monitor my weight, blood pressure, etc., and I’m not capable of doing things like I did before. It was a great time for me to draw closer to God. I don’t regret anything because I went through all that for a reason.

In February 2014 we moved from Bakersfield, CA to Madera, CA – we thought for my husband’s job, but now we think God definitely had other plans. As we we’re packing up one house to move to another, the defibrillator began shocking me. My heart doctor in Bakersfield (Dr Viral Mehta) tried correcting this by adjusting my medication.

After I arrived in Madera, I had to quickly find a heart doctor, I chose Dr. Ashraf. Dr. Ashraf cared for me locally until they could transfer me to Fresno Heart Hospital. After several complications (which I’ll go into detail later on), I was flown to San Francisco, while intabated and connected to an ECMO machine.

I spent several months in San Francisco for several reasons: I was very sick, went into complete congestive heart failure, flatlined (several times), had 6 surgeries, was in ICU in a coma for 40 days, had seizures, and had to relearn things (walking/talking/fine motor skills).

When I woke up I discovered that the right side of my heart was worse than the doctor’s thought and I had a device called an LVAD doing the work for my heart. It was an adjustment, but not the way you’d think. I was grateful and thankful to be alive, and I know this wouldn’t have been possible without the many, many knowledgable doctors (at various locations), nurses, therapists, family, friends, and continuous prayers.

Through this blog I’d like to share my life through weekly posts, pictures, nutritional information, fun exercises, etc. I hope to hear your comments, questions, and ideas for future posts.