About Us:
Hello, We are Andy and Kristina Cronin, owners of Francis & Co. We both grew up here in Holstein, Iowa and have enjoyed seeing our little town evolve over the years. We bought the building that is now home to Francis & Co. back in June of 2022, and with the help of some handy friends we were able to remodel and bring new life to this building. When Andy is not helping me with display projects at the store, he is busy working full time for a local farmer. He also drives truck for his dad sometimes and runs a silage chopper for a friend. I, Kristina, run all operations for Francis & Co. I am also a real estate agent with EXIT Realty Midwest. We have two kids; Francis who is our wild, monster truck loving 3 year old boy and Dottie, our youngest and now sweet angel.
Dottie’s CHD Journey:
This past year our lives forever changed when we learned Dottie had a rare and complex congenital heart defect that would require her to have her 1st open heart surgery just days after being born. Dottie had hypoplastic left heart syndrome(HLHS for short). We learned of her possible diagnosis at a routine 20 week ultrasound appointment. They referred us to a fetal medicine specialist where her diagnosis of HLHS was confirmed just a few days later. This is the day our journey truly began and the day we decided we would do whatever was necessary to give her the best chances at life. None of the decisions from that day forward were taken lightly. After much research we decided Childrens Minnesota in Minneapolis was going to be the best place. We began monthly appointments in Minneapolis in April and weekly appointments in between with Dr. Fleming in Sioux City. Due to how far we lived from the hospital, about 204 miles to be exact, the decision was made to have me move to Minneapolis at around 36 weeks to be safe. Andy moved me into the Ronald McDonald house in Minneapolis on June 22nd. Andy then joined me on July 4th and we anxiously awaited Dottie’s arrival. Dottie made her grand appearance on July 6th at 6:07am via cesarean. She was quickly whisked away to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit(CVICU) and dad followed her. I was sent to recovery for about an hour before I got the green light to be wheeled up to see her. We spent the next few days getting settled into our new normal and big brother Francis got to meet his sister.
On July 10th at just 4 days old Dottie had her first open heart surgery. She had the Norwood procedure. She came out of surgery on a ventilator, her chest was left open for swelling and she had chest tubes in for drainage. We spent the next few weeks by her side and slept on the couch in her room most nights. After 9 days, Dottie finally got the ventilator tube out and we got to hold her for the first time post surgery. She transitioned from bipap to cpap trials and was finally breathing room air. The nurses and doctors kept ensuring us that she was recovering quite well but to be prepared as feedings can be difficult for heart babies. Dottie had an NG tube placed after birth for feedings and that was the only way she was receiving nutrients aside from oral cares and the trial feedings. After lots of bouts with reflux and difficulty tolerating feeds plus little interest in oral feedings the decision was made to have a GJ tube placed to help Dottie get the nutrients she needed while continuing to work toward bottle/breastfeeding. On August 8th Dottie had surgery to have her GJ tube placed. The plan was to come home soon after she recovered from this surgery. The next few days Dottie just wasn’t herself and seemed off. She was really struggling with bowel movements and seemed very inconsolable at times. In the wee morning hours of August 12th I was woken up by Dottie squirming around and making noise as her and I were sleeping together in the recliner. I woke Andy up who was sleeping on the couch and we got her to the bed, while I was changing her diaper Andy went in the hall to get the nurse to come help with meds, draw her labs and check on her as something still didn't seem right. It was then when we saw her heart rate drop to 30 on the monitor and it was continuing to drop. The nurse pulled the cord on the wall and Dottie coded. Within seconds the room was filled with doctors, nurses and staff and chest compressions were given. We watched as they quickly brought her back but then she coded again. They brought her back quickly again and emergently intubated her to ultimately keep her safe. The next few days seemed like a blur, Dottie rested and worked on recovering while we tried to process and talked with her cardiovascular team and surgeon on possible causes for this and what our next steps forward would be. Dottie seemed to be recovering as well as she could be from this and was showing progress. She was extubated within the week and back on room air. She was however still struggling with her feeds even with the GJ tube. Dottie continued to work on oral feedings and gross motor skills while we discussed reflux issues with GI and her heart function post coding with her cardiologists and intensivists. We also enjoyed lots of snuggle time and started to see her personality really blossom. Dottie loved to give her doctors lots of sass and the charge nurse even nicknamed her Dramatic Dottie one day. We loved to joke about what her teenage years would look like. Dottie’s echos started to show decreased heart function and for us to be able to make the best choices for her she went to have a heart cath procedure on August 31st. During her heart cath procedure they found an extra blood vessel that was going nowhere and just looping back to the heart. They ended up coiling this vessel as that extra vessel was most likely overworking her heart. Dottie’s echo the next morning showed increased function and less valve leakage. This was good news and we were extremely hopeful with her progression. The next day seemed to be as any other day, we napped in the recliner most of the day and hung out. That evening Dottie’s resting heart rate was higher than usual and they were keeping an eye on it. Overnight it started creeping up and wouldn’t lower much, Dottie remained calm the whole time while I did not. It was in the wee hours of morning on September 2nd that Dottie became very tachycardic with a resting heart rate of 200+. They did an echo, head ultrasound and hooked her up to ekg before making the ultimate decision to re-intubate. Something felt different this time, there seemed to be no explanation for her rapid heart rate and we were truly scared. After a couple blood transfusions and then rapid drop in hemoglobin they wanted to get a CT scan of her brain to check for a brain bleed, even though one wasn’t showing up on brain ultrasounds. Dottie finally seemed stable enough to transfer for a brain ct scan. Nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists got all her equipment loaded up and we headed downstairs for a CT scan. In true Andy fashion, he tried to make light of the situation and cracked jokes the entire long haul down hallways and elevators to the CT Scan room and back. Neurology reviewed the scans and the doctor sat us down to tell us Dottie did in fact have a pretty significant brain bleed. We didn’t know fully what the outcome would be yet, but knew it was too dangerous to do surgery. They kept her hooked up to ekg to monitor brain activity while we waited for what seemed to be the inevitable. We spent the next days laying with her, staring at her, doing crafts with her, and soaking up every moment. On the morning of September 6th we met with cardiology and neurology and this is when they informed us she had no brain activity and that she wouldn’t recover. We discussed our options from there. That afternoon she passed peacefully in our arms at exactly 2 months old. After 62 days in the hospital we were leaving without our baby girl. Our lives forever changed. We may never know why this happened to us and our sweet Dottie but we must find reasons to move forward.
CHD Awareness:
February is heart month so we have decided to join in the efforts of raising CHD awareness while also raising some funds for research. Did you know 1 in 100 babies are born in the United States each year with a Congenital Heart Defect? This is equivalent to nearly 40,000 babies each year born with a CHD. During our journey we met many of these heart families. Some left without their babies just like us while many are still living their CHD journey. If you’ve ever met a heart warrior you know how resilient these kids are. Most of these kids have to fight for their life from the moment of birth and continue to fight throughout their life.
We are having a shirt fundraiser to help spread awareness for Congenital Heart Defects. A portion of each shirt sale will be donated to HLHS Consortium and Heart Works Inc. to help with their research efforts to improve the lives of those with CHD. We also hope when wearing these shirts it’ll spark more conversation around CHD’s. HLHS Consortium is working with Heart Works Inc. to build heart muscle that will be tested in many different shapes and sizes of CHD with a single purpose to repair the defect-thus providing a curative approach for CHD. According to hlhsconsortium.org “Hearts born with a “manufacturing defect” need to be biologically rebuilt, not just surgically repaired as we have been doing for decades. Current technology with stem cells and regenerative medicine provides a pathway forward to bioengineer new heart muscle that is genetically identical to the individual with a congenital heart defect-thus eliminating the need for immunosuppression drugs.”
Please consider ordering a shirt and help us help these kids and families.
Link to shirts: https://chdawareness2024.itemorder.com
To learn more about the HLHS Consortium and Heart Works please check out the links below.
https://www.hlhsconsortium.org/
Heart Month Dates to remember:
February 2nd: Wear Red Day
February 7th -14th: Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week
February 14th: National Congenital Heart Defect Day