Thoratec Visit

I am on my plane returning from San Fransisco.  I arrived on Monday night and left today, Friday the 10th.  Spent 3 days in San Jose, one day in Pleasanton and 1 day in Fairfield and my uncle's house.  The highlight of the trip was definitely time with my family.  However I want to share about my time in Pleasanton.  I went to Thoratec's headquarters.  Thoratec makes my Heartmate 2 LVAD.  I had the VIP welcome, lunch with about 20 people and a factory tour.  What an amazing experience.  After the shock of having 20 people watch your every move as you eat, say your hellos, etc. we had lunch and got down to business.  I think there was representation from marketing, sales, advertising, manufacturing, clinical development, R&D and maybe patient outreach.  If I missed someone I am sorry.  I got to share my story and get asked questions about my experience.  Then I was able to walk through the factory and actually touch a real pump, see it assembled and see the amazing production process.  For those that have this device, take my word for it, this production is absolutely state of the art.  I asked a lot of questions from a patient, care-giver, recipient, and a business perspective.  The thing that struck me was the palpable admiration of the employees in seeing a patient, the caring way they asked their questions, asked about my kids and family, how I am feeling, my input on "living" with the device.  Just awesome.

I arrived at 12 PM and left at 4 PM and drove north.  Then I had cheated and had a glass of great wine and a big steak.  Doesn't get much better than that!