Bri’s Heart Journey

Bri’s Heart Journey Follow along for Bri’s Heart Journey. Bri was diagnosed with a “fatal” congential heart defect at 20. She since then has had multiple open heart surgeries.

06/17/2026

Little update ♥️

Heart- doing ok, having some swelling and pitting edema, and feeling exhausted. Heart failure lab is much higher than it has been in a long time- since before my last open heart. I’m waiting to hear back from the Mayo Clinic team on this. My next follow up at Mayo isn’t until September, they know about these Symtoms and my doctor will be back next week.

Foot- x-rays looked perfect today! Having some pain on the outside of my foot, they believe because this is where the weight has shifted since the rest of my foot is fused. I will be starting water therapy to hopefully help this, still on crutches and in a boot. Hoping to be done with both within a month!

05/20/2026

Just a few little updates ♥️

Heart 🫀 - I had an appt with the U of MN heart failure team, we just went over my meds, how I’ve been feeling and to continue to following closely with the Sioux Falls team. I had labs done and my heart failure lab came back the highest it’s been since before my last open heart surgery… which is a little concerning and we’re not sure why it’s up so much. We’re thinking maybe fluid overload. Last time it was this high I had fluid around my heart, arteries failing and my heart was swollen. I’m waiting to hear back on what their thoughts are on this. I’ve had a little more swelling in my leg, been short of breath easier and my heart rate with randomly jump to 170-180 for no reason. I’m just waiting to hear from everyone, and my next appt is June 10th.

Foot 🤍 I’m 2months post op, and I had x-rays today. My foot is fully fused!! I got the all clear to start putting a little weight on it in the boot, use crutches and use the scooter for longer distance’s.

Hi everyone!! I had posted a few days ago about some care packages. All of the items were purchased! I am sending out th...
05/02/2026

Hi everyone!! I had posted a few days ago about some care packages. All of the items were purchased! I am sending out this morning. I have received multiple messages, and some very kind people reach out to me. I have an Amazon wishlist that I had created to hopefully be able to get some more care packages sent out. I was able to purchase everything for the 6-10 Age Range♥️♥️

The following categories on the wishlist is for
4 and under. I will then separate the age appropriate items and do boxes for 2-4 years old, and 2 - under.

I have linked my wishlist. If you are interested in helping, and unable to purchase even copying this link and sharing it out would help tremendously. Thanks everyone for the support! ♥️

Check out this Gift List I just created.

National zipper day! A representation of not only strength and survival. The scar that tells a story. 🫀 bypass🫀 multiple...
04/29/2026

National zipper day!
A representation of not only strength and survival. The scar that tells a story.
🫀 bypass
🫀 multiple open heart surgeries
And every complication that follows each of these.
The ones with the zipper are the only ones who truly know what it’s like to face a CHD. The chest tubes, arterial and central lines, ventilators, constant meds, feeding tubes etc.

04/27/2026

Little update- Bri has been having shortness of breath, high hr, chest pain on and off. Hr jumping to 160-170s with minimal movement (still non weight bearing). Surgeon ordered a bilateral ultrasound to check for clots in legs- thankfully no DVT. Heart failure team and surgeon advised er- went to the Avera heart hospital and potassium was just a little low, but the D-Dimer came back high. Had a chest ct which thankfully came back clear. Last week I had extra swelling so we increased my diuretics. I lost 10.5lbs in 2 days. We believe this drastic change caused these symptoms and caused my body to over compensate by causing the high hr, shortness of breath etc. essentially we dried the heart out a little too much. Thankful there is no clots 🫀♥️

Hi everyone. I have made an Amazon wishlist. My goal is to make care packages for heart patients admitted at the Avera ...
04/25/2026

Hi everyone.
I have made an Amazon wishlist. My goal is to make care packages for heart patients admitted at the Avera heart hospital. I will then deliver once I have all the items on my list.

Being a heart patient myself dealing with heart failure, a Congential heart defect, and pericardial disease I have spent months in the hospital. I have had multiple open heart surgeries, and 7 other related heart procedures, and countless hospitalization’s. I know how long the hospital stays can get. The items on this list can help make the long days go by a bit faster, bring comfort, and a little joy during challenging times.

For more about my story, and the listing please visit my page Bri’s Heart Journey

PLEASE share this post. The support would mean so much to not only me, but those receiving these gift boxes!! Thank you so much!

04/24/2026

Small update ♥️♥️

Foot -
- had a checkup on Tuesday, unfortunately there is no bone fusion yet, initially I was supposed to be 4-6wks non weight bearing. I will be at least 2 months non weight- bearing. I go back in 4 weeks for more x rays. Still having lots of swelling and numbness in my foot/ toes the worse the swelling gets.

Heart -
- doing ok, a little more swelling, a bit more chest pain/ shortness of breath. I believe it’s just the heart failure acting up because I’m not as mobile right now. I got a call from the U of MN advanced heart failure/ transplant team today. I will be seeing my Dr on May 13th. I am also waiting to hear back from my Mayo Clinic team regarding one of the meds I’m on that protects infections from settling around and in my heart. We had talked about slowly starting to taper this when I was at Mayo in March. I was pretty sick with the dental infection, hospitalizations for the dangerous heart arrhythmia and then influenza so he wanted to wait about 2 months to start trying to taper.I’m a little nervous to taper this med because without it I am extremely sick, and in the hospital constantly. I do the shot every 7 days, on day 6 I start getting chest pain and know it’s almost time to do the shot. We will see what Mayo and the U of MN say about that.
I had to increase the blood clot shots for atleast another month, not a fan of taking these but they are being proactive just given my heart history. I do prefer my daily blood thinner pill over this lol.

Hi everyone ♥️ Just wanted to post a little update since it’s been a bit. Heart wise I’m doing ok- retaining a bit more ...
04/16/2026

Hi everyone ♥️
Just wanted to post a little update since it’s been a bit.
Heart wise I’m doing ok- retaining a bit more fluid and having a little more chest pain. I believe this is due to my foot surgery, and not being able to walk. I took a little extra diuretics and some of the chest pain let up.

Foot wise it’s been a little rough, lots of pain and swelling. Last Friday I slipped and put all my weight through my left foot, I’m non weight bearing and this hurt pretty bad. It’s been pretty swollen. I had to go in last week last minute because my incision wasn’t doing very well and was stuck to the cast. I messaged yesterday asking if I could get in sooner and they got me in again today. I got out of the cast, and into a boot. I’m still non weight bearing. There was so much pressure/ swelling and then some friction from the cast I had a blister on my foot 🤮. The x rays showed the hardware didn’t move when I fell (thank god) the bone is not fuzed at all yet. I go back next Tuesday for more x-rays and to see how I’m doing. I’m very thankful for my surgeon, he knows my heart issue’s and problems with healing, he’s being very cautious and he’s so kind and understanding.

First follow up since foot surgery. I have been in some very severe pain, up until 3 am the last few nights with no reli...
03/31/2026

First follow up since foot surgery. I have been in some very severe pain, up until 3 am the last few nights with no relief with pain meds. Thankfully today they unwrapped everything, and replaced all the bandages. I can’t raise my foot, and couldn’t get the foot flat in the boot. Thankfully they put a cast on it, and it has helped a lot with the pain. I go back next week, and we are going to do a series of casts, instead of the boot until it’s time to start walking. Since we can’t get my foot flat the metal from the boot was causing some severe pain and pressure points. The series of casts will slowly get my foot to 90°. The incision so far is looking good, sutures should come out next week. Non-weight bearing has been pretty tough on the sternum and the recent port placement, thankfully they gave me a knee scooter as well.

My port incision is healing!! NO signs of opening. This is a huge blessing, it’s a miracle what happens when the doctors actually listen and use the right sutures!!

I see the heart failure team tomorrow morning!

Bri had foot surgery #5. 12th surgery in the last few years. Heart did really well under general anesthesia. Surgeon sa...
03/23/2026

Bri had foot surgery #5. 12th surgery in the last few years. Heart did really well under general anesthesia.
Surgeon said the foot looked much worse once they got in there.

I was ran over 5 years ago. This is my 5th reconstruction/ fusion surgery. My big toe, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Tarsometatarsal’s are all fuzed, I had my sesamoids removed, and bone removed from my heel, I have also had metal taken out as my body rejected it. My foot got destroyed! I needed this surgery last summer but my heart has been too unstable. With no active infection my heart I got the go ahead from the heart failure team at Mayo to get this done while I’m stable! There is no cartilage in there the pain was really bad, I tried pt, injections and the boot just to try to get by and pass time until I could have surgery my heart problems started after my last foot surgery, which is how we found out about the CHD and heart failure.

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