The last year has been tough to say the least...

This last year during which I haven't posted anything new was also a very testing one to say the least. As I mentioned in my pregnancy post that I discovered I had SVT halfway through my pregnancy and I honestly was not planning on having a procedure to get rid of it because I was convincing myself it was only during the pregnancy. Who was I kidding? Well here's a little update about it in case you were wondering. I had a few little episodes after pregnancy that I was able to quickly stop with the bearing down breathing technique I learned and mastered along with being on beta blockers for it. On 5/28/15, I had an SVT episode I couldn't stop at work in a meeting and 911 had to be called. It was one of the most traumatic things I've ever experienced at work. That situation got me to the electrophysiologist Eugene Woods right away to talk about the SVT Ablation procedure. I was scared about all the risks and was hoping it wouldn't keep on happening, but I had another episode at work that after 10 minutes of breathing technique I was able to stop and ended up feeling little mini episodes every other day or so. My life became scary and it was difficult to get through the simplest activities. Needless to say this caused me a ton of anxiety that I am still working through.

I finally said enough is enough, I'm too young for this. I had the ablation procedure on 8/25/15. I was scared out of my wits. I didn't know what to expect and the fear was just building with each day closer to the procedure. The extra passageway I was born with ended up being on my left side which is one of the complications of the surgery and what poses more risks, but my surgeon was such a pro and did his thing. I had to be pretty much completely sedated majority of the time because of how scared and nervous I was acting and feeling. It all feels like a big blur to me now. It was just something that had to be done and looking back at it, I would do it again in a heartbeat, just praying I never have to. This obviously caused a tremendous stress on my loved ones in more than one way... 

Now on a total downer note... it was a really hard year for my Grandpa Yakov. He had pneumonia on top of pneumonia all year long. Beginning of October he fell in the nursing home for no reason and broke his hip. We made the call for him to have the hip replacement surgery because we didn't want him to be a vegetable even though is was highly risky for him. He loved to walk and be outside so we didn't see him having any kind of life laying in bed. He made it through. The last few months after returning to the nursing home, his dementia got the best of him with him losing his memory faster than ever before and also prevented him from doing PT and thus he was stuck in a wheelchair. On 1/15 he was taken to ER in CPMC for yet another pneumonia, however this time the doctors told us his lungs were totally depleted due to aspirating and there was no sense of treating him and he had just days left. This is still very fresh to me as it was only two weeks ago that this happened. For 3 long days we watched Grandpa suffer and lay in a hospital bed in a half unconscious and sedated state and on 1/18 this warrior who was almost 89 years old and escaped the concentration camp TWICE in his life took his last breath. It was very traumatic for us all to say good bye to him. And even as I'm typing this now, it doesn't seem real to me. I love you, Dedushka, you will always be missed. He was my last grandparent and now I have no grandparents left and that whole generation is wiped in my family. 

A self portrait Yakov drew of himself

Life is such a crazy thing and it is important to live every day cherishing what you have, appreciating everything around you and showing love to the ones who love you. 

Love, blessings and well wishes to everyone.