Let the Testing Begin

"I thought I was going to see a 70 year old man, I am surprised to see you."

That's what the heart failure doctor said when she walked into Mike's hospital room for the first time. His heart cath numbers did not look good. This started us on the road to the Heart and Lung Transplant Center at Spectrum Health. I was instructed to be at every appointment going forward.

We were sat in a tiny room and scheduled to be there from 8:30am - 4:00pm. During this time we were given a handy dandy binder that included a business card holder...the holder is now full. We met with doctors, nurses, LVAD specialist, Transplant specialist, nutritionist, infectious disease, counselor, palliative care, and financial. Financial was the only one to not make us cry that day...he was great! I have never seen a team of people work so closely together and know everyone's jobs. I asked the financial guy a medical question and he was able to answer...they cross train and work as a true team and family. We were assigned a handler...she is called something else but that is my best description for her. She handles all our appointments, questions, she is the one to talk to. A lot of hard decisions were made in the weeks to follow; like who gets our kids if both of us were to die, cremated or buried, when do you pull the plug...you know, things you shouldn't have to talk about at 35 and 38 years old. Lots of tears were shed in those couple months that followed, let's be honest, they are still flowing now.

Mike went through a gauntlet of tests after that horribly emotionally draining day; countless vials of blood, stress tests, MRI, x-rays, ct scans, more blood tests, breathing tests, echo, ekg, more blood tests, and a right and left heart cath (he still wouldn't pack a bag). We met with the heart transplant surgeon and to everyone's great surprise Mike was doing much better than his numbers showed from September...but his heart is still struggling.

The entire team that we met with then gathered with all the test results and met at a council meeting to decide Mike's next medical path.

On December 8th it was decided that Mike be placed on the UNOS Heart Transplant List.

Comments

Miracles Do Happen

It's been 3 days since Mike got his new heart, and I can hardly believe that it actually happened. On Thursday September 5th Mike was told we had another match. Dr. Hooker said he was bound and determined to get Mike a new heart by the Michigan game that Saturday. At this point Mike was a level one on the Unos Heart Transplant List and basically top of the top. With both sides of his heart being supported he needed a new one badly. Mike, the boys, and I shared this little secret that Friday and went on about our day. The more we learned the more we became excited that this was actually the heart. This heart was a DBD heart (Donation after Brain Death). Througout the day we learned that it was a great match and Mike's OR time was set for Saturday, September 7th at 10am. We were confused that we were not given a donor OR time, and as time went on we realized there was no transport time for the heart...the heart was in the same hospital as Mike. I got to spend time with M...

Lub-Dub Lub-Dub

A normal resting heart rate is between 60 to 100 beats per minute. If you listen to a heart it often is describe as if saying Lub-Dub Lub-Dub. Mike's heart rate is between 120-140. If he laughs hard (which is often), gets agitated, or someones gets him on his favortie topic of finace it starts to soar about 140+. Every once in a while it will peak up to 180 when he gets into V Tach and it skips a few beats. The nurses watch him carefully as he walks on the treadmill and talks away or while he is working, and sometimes they have to shut him down for a bit. Except for some weight and muscle loss Mike's body and mind are in good working condition, but his heart is just failing him. I had previously reported that on August 7th Mike recieved the Impella Pump to support the left side of his heart. Since then the left side has significantly decreased in function and is almost not moving at all on its own. Over the past few weeks they have been watching the right side of heart...

Dry Run #2

The Power of Prayer is so Mighty! On Wednesday, August 28th I was driving to the hospital with Mike's morning coffee in hand. Like normal I was listening to WCSG Christian radio station. Jeremy and Amanada came on telling a story of a man named Bill who had recently recieved a heart transplant from Meijer Heart Center in Grand Rapids. He had a dry run and needed a heart very very soon. The radio station prayed for him over the air and the surgeon ended up telling his wife that he heard the prayers on the radio. That next day he got his heart. I of course started bawling and called the radio station and was patched through to Jeremy and Amanda. Not holding it together very well, I told them about Mike and told them how encouraged I was to hear about Bill and his story. Everyone has their own heart journey, but I just felt like God was telling me it was going to be okay. I went in to visit with Mike with a renewed hope and feeling like anyday would be the day. We enjoyed...

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