We have been surviving these last few months. No thriving, no coasting, no getting by… surviving.

We barely eat, we definitely haven’t been sleeping and we’ve let our own health go. My clothes are loose, my hair is shedding and I’m taking Motrin daily for pain.

I’m surviving to give 110% of me to my family. Jori is doing the same. We’ve been away from home for 9 weeks. I miss my other kids, my home, my animals and my bed.

Katja requires 24/7 care still. She has a heart monitor with live round the clock monitoring for the next month. She’s dealing with a lot of really yucky side effects. Her hair is starting to fall out (they say this should only be mild- moderate loss), fluctuation between diarrhea and constipation, nausea, GI pain, exhaustion, vitamin deficiencies causing body tremors and moodiness.

As her body adjusts and we get all her levels ironed out these will improve. This could take months. We don’t have a solid timeline. She is on sternum precautions until 6-8 weeks post-op as well.

It’s a lot. We have to juggle medication management of 23 medications which equals 19 pills, 6 liquids and 3 inhalers. We are working as her PT/OT keeping her strength up and helping her do basic things like shower and care for her chest scar (which looks amazing btw).

I know all of you have followed Katja’s story for awhile. We appreciate the love, support and help from everyone. The outpouring has been amazing. I wish I could express in words how grateful we are for the community you all have built for Katja. It’s beyond heart warming.

But we are exhausted. We’ve checked out of our hotel in busy DC to retreat to a quieter area. Where Katja can look out her window and see ducks in a pond instead of buildings and ambulances. We are taking this next week to live and repair. To focus on her healing so she is strong enough to fly home.

We don’t expect to update unless something serious happens. We are just going to be. Enjoy non-hospital food, watch movies, sleep in and attempt to heal the physical and emotional scars these months have caused.

We are unplugging to recharge. We’ll have updates again soon.

Thank you all for getting us here. It wasn’t possible without all of you. Some days, your messages are all that kept us going ❤️