Keeping On

I made it out of the hospital in about 3 weeks. Every day I felt a lot better than the day before. Shauna trained me and a core group of friends and family up on my new machine. I have to change my batteries every 3 hours. Lots of medications. Those take a while to settle down but I have been really lucky. The funniest part is at night I sleep plugged into the wall. They don’t want you to sleep on battery because obviously you could sleep through battery changing time. I have a 20 foot cord that just reaches the toilet.

You cannot drive while you have this thing in because they worry about airbags hitting you and causing that piece of metal inside to start slicing things up in there. I also have to have someone with me 24 hours a day. I mentioned Brian Ash before. He and I went to medic school together the year before and he has been there for this whole thing. He kept the department informed on when I could get visits. He updated the dept on my progress. He talked to the insurance company about my LVAD. He set up a sign up sheet for people from Everett FD to come and sit with me when Julie was at work. You will not find a better friend.

But that is the amazing thing about this whole thing. I have received so much support and people have been so kind. I have witnessed the very best in people from this. I will never be able to thank everybody enough for what they have done. I can only hope to pay it forward a bit.

I now am working light duty at the fire department. The City of Everett and the Fire Department have been great during this. Who knows how this thing will turn out but I have been treated like family and could not of asked for a more supportive organization. I am on the list waiting for a transplant. But even though I have not finished this thing I feel content right now. I am doing well on this machine and wake up with Julie and see my kids every day. 10 years ago you did not leave the hospital with this. The heart will come when it does. I have a hard time praying too hard for it because in order for me to get a transplant someone else has to die. I don’t like that part. I have been an organ donor since I got my driver’s license. I figured that if I was not using it then let someone else. I had never thought about it that much. But now I am counting on someone to feel the same way. If you do want to be an organ donor, let someone know. Get it in writing. That is something that is too hard for the family to handle at that time.

The latest news is that I am 1a status for the next 30 days. That means that I am higher on the list. Everyone gets top of the list status for 30 days after they recover from the surgery. They did 5 transplants last month. I could be going in any day now…..