Hearts for Khloe

11/03/2025

November 3: We hope you all had a very happy Halloween!! 🧡🖤

Halloween was my late mother's birthday, so to bring me some joy, I decided to put up our Christmas tree! ❤️💚 The girls absolutely LOVE it and are soooo excited for the holiday season! I am so incredibly blessed to have my babies home.

Both girls, including myself are sick with a cold. We are managing well. Today was INR recheck day and Khloe is too low at a 2.1, which I knew she would be. To my surprise we aren't making any changes to her Warfarin dose. Please pray she doesn't drop anymore.

11/02/2025

💙❤️❤️‍🩹

On September 7th, 2022, a baby girl named Khloe was born to Skylar and Jordon Anson of Nash, Texas. Mother Skylar noted that her pregnancy itself was rather uneventful and even what she deemed “easy.” However, as soon as Khloe was delivered, “easy” was entirely out of the equation.

Only moments old, Khloe was observed trying to hold her breath and was slightly blue from her bellybutton downward. When her parents were finally led to the postpartum wing, everything quickly took a turn for the worse. “Every single time Khloe would try to feed, she would grunt, scream, and vomit this red fluid,” Skylar said. “Her daddy and I knew immediately that something wasn’t right.” Eventually, Khloe was taken to the NICU.

Soon after, a neonatologist came to Skylar to deliver some harrowing news: Khloe had a coarctation of the aorta, a congenital heart defect where the aorta, the main artery that carries blood from the heart to the body, becomes narrowed. “He told me that he had called for a helicopter, it was on its way, and that she would need open heart surgery in Little Rock,” Skylar said. Only 22 hours old, Khloe was loaded up in an incubator and flown to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Read Khloe's full story here:
https://www.fourstatesliving.com/feature-stories/2025/10/31/strength-in-every-beat

11/01/2025

November 1: It's pulmonary hypertension awareness month!

This is something I've rarely talked about, but Khloe DOES have pulmonary hypertension secondary to congenital heart disease.

PH is a condition where the blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs is abnormally high. Khloe developed this right after she went into complete heart failure at two months old. Pulmonary hypertension caused by mitral valve disease occurs when problems like stenosis (narrowing) or regurgitation (leaking) in the mitral valve lead to a buildup of pressure in the left atrium, which then backs up into the pulmonary arteries. There is absolutely no cure.

Throughout her life, she has been on a medication called Lasix periodically to help protect her lungs from fluid build up. That has always seemed to help her. Khloe hasn't really had blood pressure issues until after this last surgery. Her blood pressure was steadily rising. I'm talking 130s 140s over 90s. So we made the decision to start her on a blood pressure medication called Enalapril. Enalapril is a double whammy for Khloe because not only has it helped her blood pressure tremendously, it also helps her heart muscle squeeze. Khloe's heart has stiffened overtime due to her defects, so this medication has allowed that muscle to relax in order to work properly! 🙂

10/31/2025

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎉🥳

Khloe's story is featured in November's issue of Four States Living Magazine!!!!

You can pick up a copy for yourself at Walmart on New Boston Road in the foyer or you can look at the digital copy here: https://www.fourstatesliving.com/

Thank you so much FSLM for giving us the opportunity to share Khloe's journey!!! ❤️

📸: Shane Darby

10/30/2025

October 30: Little Miss went to trunk or treat at the church last night! She was the sweetest Peppa Pig! We didn't last long as it was cold and SUPER windy! Both girls are snotty as is.

Today was INR recheck today. We've had to check three times this week. 😞 Today she's in range at the maximum of 3.5, so I'm on edge. I don't understand her metabolism at all.

10/28/2025

Halloween is right around the corner. It’s a holiday where people put on a costume and get to pretend to be something they aren’t. I can’t help but think how every day is Halloween for the heart mom.

Why?

Because every day we put on a mask.

From the moment you find out your baby is going to fight for their life, you start perfecting your mask. Because everyone just wants you to be okay and after a while, it becomes so exhausting to say how you are truly doing so you pretend. You put on your mask and act as if everything people keep saying is true.

"You are SO brave!"
"You are SO strong!"
"You are carrying everything SO well!"

But you don't feel that way.

You are tired of being brave. You are tired of being strong. You are tired of carrying this impossible load and having to pretend it is light as a feather.

You are tired.

In the deep within your bones, no amount of sleep can fix, tired. Existing is so difficult at times but no one wants to hear that. No one wants to know about the days you spend crying or curled up in a corner somewhere or wishing you could be anywhere but here.

So you continue to put your mask on every day.

You shove your anger, sadness and guilt deep down saving it for later when you are alone. When you can finally take off your mask and be real. When you can admit to a silent room, you are not okay.

Your grief. Your stress. Your anger. Your sadness. Your overwhelming amount of emotions. All hidden behind your mask.

The temptation is always there when someone asks you how you are doing to rip off your mask and scream "I'M NOT OKAY!". You want to let all the emotions pour out of you like an uncontrollable river expressing everything you keep to yourself that keeps you up at night and set free all the tears you cry alone.

But you don't.

Instead, you continue to put your mask on, force a smile onto your face and lie and say "I'm hanging in there" or "I'm doing okay".

This is the mask we carry.
For the rest of our life.

Because we are the medical mama.
The heart mama.
The angel mama.

10/28/2025

October 28: We got baby Bug's INR back to a beautiful 2.9!! I suspect she will continue to drop for a little bit.

10/27/2025

October 27: INR day.

4.5 way too high. I kinda knew it was going to be high, but seeing the actual number makes me nauseated. We are obviously going to back off on the Warfarin to get her number back down. Maybe her body will level out as time goes on. It did take two whole years to get her stable. She's only 90 days post op, she's still fresh. These high numbers scare me more than the low numbers. I hate the mechanical valve life. 😑

10/25/2025

I am thankful that Khloe falls in the 50% who doesn't. Unless you count her pulmonary hypertension, but that's because of her CHDs.

No two CDH stories look the same. Some Tiny Heroes face extra hurdles, but each one shows us what it means to fight with courage and heart.

To all the Tiny Heroes and families facing multiple challenges, we see you and we’re with you. 💙

10/23/2025

October 23: INR recheck day, Khloe is still in range at a 3.0. ❤️‍🩹

Today I'm in my feels. Something got me remembering Khloe has a pacemaker. It's not just that, she has wires on her heart. Wires, clips, patches, and pyrolytic carbon keeping her alive. Don't get me wrong, I thank God everyday that she is here with me, warm; but that doesn't mean I can't grieve what was supposed to be. You won't understand until you live it. I got to reliving when her temporary pacemaker was losing capture and her heart stopped and just absolutely cannot believe we lived through that terror. Tomorrow makes 90 days since her new valve was placed. ❤️💙❤️‍🩹