Living with Heart Back to the beginning!

Hi my amazing friends and family!

To all the amazing people who have been sending me positive thoughts and prayers!!

Welcome to my first entry as a "blogger".  I have never blogged before, but at the suggestion of my friend Claudia. I thought it was time that I shared my story.  I want to introduce you to my wonderful family.  My husband "The Rock" my son "Miracle Boy", our Dog Lucky and one KEY person missing in this picture is my beautiful mom, "My Angel"!  I will post a picture of her next time :)

My name is Claire Larson, I am a wife, mom, daughter, friend but most importantly a CHILD OF GOD!  As you read my blogs, I hope you will see how God orchestrates our lives in such a way that he is always with us, getting us ready for our bigger purpose in life. 

Imagine yourself at the age of 28/29 and you are finishing up college, you are dating the man you want to marry and you have been an aerobics instructor for about 10 years when suddenly you start feeling dizzy and need to stop while walking around the University campus.  One morning, you find yourself falling down at the gym while riding a stationary bike?  You wake up surrounded by EMT's only to find out that your heart had stopped.  I thought I was the image of “healthy cardiovascular person”.  I thought I was invisible!!  Not at that moment.  This was the beginning of my journey with a BIG HEART!  This was April 2000.

I found myself at the Cottonwood hospital meeting with a cardiologist.  He suggested I wear a Heart monitor for 24 hours.  After noticing how irregular my irregular heart beats were, the cardiologist told me I needed to go to the University of Utah hospital that day and the doctors there would take care of me. I was a senior up at the U of U and this was a day I needed to take a final.  I told them that as soon as I finished my final, I would go and admit myself.  I admitted myself to the University of Utah hospital that day after finals were done.  

So many tests and so many doctors trying to figure out what was going on.  I had a lot of fluid around my heart.  They needed to go in and try to get the fluid out so they could run more tests to make sure they knew what they were dealing with at the time.  I remember being awake while they were trying to get the fluid out, it wasn't going as easily as they had hoped.  I have always been a believer in GOD and in Christ, but I think at that moment, I felt like the only way this was going to happen if God wanted it to happen.  I don't remember a time before that when I prayed so hard and had such conversations with God.  

At the time it was inconclusive what exactly was the cause, but what they did know is that it was congenital and apparently looked like Arrhythmic Right Ventricular Dysplasia.  If you have never heard of ARVC or ARVD, you're not alone.  It's probably because it's not very common.  If you have heard of it, it's probably because you have heard about some athlete who suddenly died of cardiac arrest.  Knowing this information I praised GOD every day.  Not a day goes by that I don't wake up with gratitude for another day.  I am so blessed to know ARVD/ARVC while I am alive!  The week of Easter I was implanted  with an ICD device a life saving device that shocks me back if I have cardiac arrest.  I tried to talk the doctors into letting me leave that Sunday, but no luck.  I did however walk out, got into my car and went home once I was discharged from the hospital.  HAHAHA!  What else was I supposed to do?  Leave my car ;)

I love you for taking the time to read this blog and I would LOVE your feedback!  

XOXOXO  

Until next time!
Claire