Hello friends! If you follow us on Facebook then I’m sure you have an idea of what this post is about. With that in mind, some of this info will not be new to you but I’m hoping to share some of our latest updates through this post as well.

Our family has been going through quite a bit lately & I wanted to take the time to address is on here & share some more recent updates with you.

Some of our followers know our family personally & some of you don’t. But to us, you’re all a part of the Cherished Cottage family so we’d like to share some news with all of you.

Dennis is a HUGE and very important part of our family. He isn’t just the woodworker/painter in our business, he is also Lisa’s husband as well as Jessica & Alissa’s dad.

Dennis has had heart issues since he was a child; when he was in his early 30’s he had to get emergency open heart surgery which resulted in a valve replacement. At the time, Dennis & Lisa had just got married and he was a few months away from adopting Jessica & Alissa as his own daughters.

Fast forward to now- Dennis & Lisa have been married 22 years & together have adopted two more children who are now 13 and 10.
Since his heart surgery Dennis goes in to his Dr. for routine yearly heart exams. Part of the purpose of these exams has been to keep an eye on an aortic aneurysm that developed a few years ago.
All these years the aneurysm has stayed the same size & hasn’t been too much of a concern. However, the results of Dennis’ recent exam show that his aneurysm has grown exponentially.

One of the main concerns here is that when Dennis had his initial heart surgery it was to correct the aortic valve as well. His initial surgery was what is called the Ross Procedure; which is where they completely removed Dennis’ bad aortic valve, replaced it with his own pulmonary valve, and then replaced the pulmonary valve with a healthy one from a cadaver. This procedure saved Dennis’ life & we are so grateful to the Dr. who performed it.

On Friday (2/7) Dennis had his CT scan & we received the results later that day. It wasn’t the news we were hoping for & it’s led to more questions & concerns. The Dr’s initial diagnosis was in fact, correct.

This is were things have become a little confusing; when we received the initial diagnosis the cardiologist said that if he was correct Dennis would need another open heart surgery & he thought Dennis would be an excellent candidate for a TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) which is the most minimally invasive option. Basically they perform the surgery microscopically through the groin & would be the minimally invasive option. While awaiting for the CT scan appointment to arrive Lisa began looking around for a good heart surgeon. She’d been frequently recommended one in Philadelphia (which is about 2 hours from us) so she got in touch with him & he said that 1. he’d be more than willing to perform the surgery and 2. if the aneurysm was as bad as they assumed it to be Dennis would not be a good candidate for the TAVR procedure. Instead he’d need another open heart surgery.

We have an appointment with this surgeon in Philadelphia at the beginning of March. We have been trying to figure out all the details & find the best surgeon/options we can for Dennis. Our family has been very stressed & worried but we are trying very hard to stay positive.

Thank you to everyone who’s been with us for so long; we are so grateful for our Cherished Cottage family. We wanted to share this news with all of you since we consider you all so important & special to us. As of now this won’t cause an issue with our orders & other business aspects. But we do plan to keep you all updated and we ask that you keep us in your thoughts.