A New Year's Resolution: determination is good

About four years ago, I was basically a goner.  Of course, the sick person is the last to know.  Congestive heart failure can sneak up on you. I had no family medical history except anecdotally.

The signs, though, are clear. Breathing, walking, talking, sitting, standing, sleeping all become difficult or impossible. 

I am most fortunate because I was healthy enough, despite smoking off and on for several decades, to be eligible for a left ventricular assist device or LVAD. There are at least two such devices approved for use in the U.S. Thoratec's HeartMate II LVAD and HeartWare's MVAD.  Both are life savers.

I was implanted with a HeartMate II on April 2, 2010 at St. Marys Hospital of Mayo Clinic.  I learned later that my heart had become so inefficient that I would not have lasted but a few days or weeks at most.

Eligibility for an LVAD follows a strict protocol.  A candidate must have bodily systems--kidneys, liver, lungs etc.--that are healthy.  It took the Mayo team a week of testing to ensure that I was fit enough to accept an LVAD.  My age was also a factor.  I was 65 at the time.

Once I received the LVAD and was discharged from Mayo, I kept the LVAD or rather it kept me for the next 38 months and six days.
Mayo declined to list me as a heart transplant candidate because of my age and that I had an LVAD.  Go figure.

Most of the LVAD/Heart Transplant support group in Fargo were implanted or transplanted at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. After about a year of driving to Rochester from Fargo and back (about 5 hours each way), I decided to see whether the U of MN would accept my aftercare with an LVAD in April, 2011.  I was approved and was listed as a heart transplant candidate in October, 2011.

My LVAD performed as designed until about November, 2012, when problems arose. I got a driveline infection.  It was thought to be an external infection but when the pump and driveline were eventually removed, I learned that the infection was internal as well. A driveline infection can be fatal.  

A few months later, there were signs of clotting in the pump.  Since the pump is made of titanium, a clot or signs of clotting cannot be seen directly.  Experience of the cardiologists and some blood tests are the bellwethers of clotting, which can be fatal.

As a consequence, I spent from November through late May, 2013, as a hospital patient.  I returned to Fargo, observed my 69th birthday on June 2, and got the call(there had been two prior dry runs) that a suitable donor heart was available.

That was June 8, 2013.  The miracle of a new heart happened.

I had no idea what to expect when I got the LVAD and certainly had no expectation of ever receiving a donor heart.  I'm convinced that most people do not know what to expect.  

I am grateful for the three-plus years of life the LVAD gave me. A new heart is another ball game entirely.  I wouldn't want a do-over.  Too much stress on wife, family, and friends.  But I'm here to begin 2014. I'll be doing it a day at a time as we all do but with enhanced appreciation for being above ground.

What got me through was determination not just my own but that of my caregiving wife, children, friends, and the whole team of physicians and nurses who got me through the odyssey so far.

Everyone knows there are no guarantees in life. I awake with a smile and thankfulness for another day that I did not expect to see. 

Syndicated columnist Sidney J. Harris once wrote:  "When I hear somebody sigh 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'