Milestone: 11 months and counting, day by day

May 8 came and passed.  It is significant to me because 11 months ago I was in the process of receiving a heart transplant. Talk about second chances.

My faithful companion, a HeartMate II left ventricular assist device, was disconnected during the procedure.  I was present but unaware of the transplant or the LVAD disappearing from my life. 

It kept me going for 38 months, months I would not have had without it.  Thirty eight months was a long time.  The last 11 months bring the added span to 49 months.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  For now, I'm among the living for a while.  Don't get too cocky, I tell myself.  I've viewed first hand how everything can change in an eye blink.

Meanwhile, son Kevin and I attended the annual trout fishing season opening day last Saturday in central Wisconsin.  It was a treat for many reasons.  The primary one being that I was there.

My friend and newspaper colleague greeted me with a "Welcome corpse.  It walks and talks."  We watched the 1974 Mel Brooks' movie the Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder.  I don't believe in coincidences.

Another friend is waiting for a new heart in Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.  His HeartMate II is giving up the ghost, driveline is separating from the pump itself, which could kill him. His cardio team ordered him into the hospital for the duration. He is the younger of a father and son team, both having LVADs a the same time.  The son, my friend, didn't let a bum ticker slow him down much.  He did the Insanity Workouts, for example, progressing through most of the levels.  I get tired just watching the easiest video.  At any rate, he's been 1-A for five months and counting.  A strong spirit for sure.

To all those readers who know or are related to a transplant recipient or a would be recipient using a mechanical life support device, you know what I mean when I say easy days are a wish but if wishes were horses then everyone would ride.  Attitude is everything for those of us who have taken this road to transplant and beyond.