This is Insanity

So we took the plunge and started the Insanity workouts yesterday.  So much for thinking I was in shape, lol.  After the 25 minute fit test which left me on my hands and knees in a pool of my own sweat on our cold basement floor I realized this is INSANE!  Today was day 2 and it was 40 minutes.  I ache all over and am exhausted.  But we are not quitting.  So we will see what happens in 60 days:-)  I will say that for me the best part of this is having my LVAD holster slinging over me like a cargo net or when I am sweating into my eyes I feel like a giant octopus is wrestling with me.  But then I finish and ask myself how many other heart failure patients awaiting heart transplant are doing INSANITY:-)  As my NCOs used to say in the Army, pain is weakness leaving the body.  I must be pretty weak then:-)

Read all about it: Organ Donation

This is a great call to action.  Please pass this article on to anyone and everyone you know.

a-tale-of-two-transplants


Halloween pictures

Welcome to the Board

After the Minneapolis Heart Institute Gala I had the opportunity to have lunch with the President and CEO of the Heart Institute Foundation.  During that meeting I was asked if I would accept, if nominated, an offer to be on Board of Directors.  Long story short I was and I did.   I am not 100% sure all what this means but I think we help provide input and guidance as to the direction the institute moves from a research perspective, marketing, branding, community interaction etc.  Very exciting to me.

RRRAAAAA-OOOOOLLLLLLLLL, Let's go Yankee's

18 months post implant - clinic up date......Where has the time gone.  I had clinic yesterday and I didn't even realize that it had been 18 months since my Heartmate II LVAD was implanted.  It seems like it was yesterday and yet so long ago.  There are times where I am startled by reminders of my stay in the hospital.  Grey's Anatomy just started a new season and something new is the personal phones all the characters have.  They make a chirp instead of a ring.  I know this because all the clinicians at Abbot have the exact same thing.  I felt like Pavlov's dog hearing the chirp and looking for a nurse.

Clinic was unremarkable and eye opening at the same time.  I feel great and my blood work was all very good.  However my echo came back with an EF of 15.  I have to admit that this is surprising given that my workouts have continued to improve steadily.  My chamber volume is back to 5.9, down from the 8.5 cm when I was first sick.  The doctor astutely pointed out that the echo serves as a reminder that while I am doing very well on the surface, but behind the scenes my heart is "profoundly" compromised and will never get better.  He said it is a good reminder for everyone how fortunate I have been.  I left clinic reflecting on our conversation and how truly lucky I am to have tolerated this therapy so well.  It was pointed out that every day I am not transplanted is a day closer to a cure, a day without immunosupression drugs, and another day that the clock doesn't start ticking down.  I have so much to be thankful for and it surprises me how at ease I really am with where things are at in my life right now.

I ran at the gym tonight.  I just needed a break from the elliptical.  Someone can only do the same exercise for so many straight workouts.  I have been on the elliptical since June of 2011, I needed a change:-)

How about them Yankee's

Talk about eye opening

The world renowned Dr. Benjamin Sun, my surgeon

Dr. Dave Feldman, Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation and the overseer of my care

Me and the boss.

Lisa Carter, one of my LVAD coordinators and a nurse extraordinaire at Abbot Northwestern.

We went to the Minneapolis Heart Institute Gala this past weekend.  This celebration honored the 30 years that MHI has been in existence and all the great work that they do.  It was awe inspiring to be in the room with so many world class and world renowned cardiologists and surgeons.  I was very impressed to learn that MHI is the world's leader in cardiac stem cell research.  It was a great opportunity to speak with some of the greatest minds, clinicians, and surgeons in the cardiac care profession alive today.  The evening was capped off by remarks from former US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD.  Here are a couple of pictures from the event

Many new interesting articles

I wonder what I would think about all of this research if I hadn't run from this disease for the past ten years.  Two interesting articles popped up in my google machine last night that I had to share.  The first one has to do with earlier detection and hopefully reversal or elimination of heart failure.  Thanks to our friends at Johns Hopkins:

Johns Hopkins Protein article

The second article has to do with an advanced treatment protocol.  It is interesting to me because in transplant the Vagus nerve is cut which disrupts the regulation of resting heart rate and the sympathetic nervous response, fight or flight.  In short my heart won't know to speed up or slow down because it is "denervated" or the nerve has been cut:-)  Very cool how tapping into this nerve function offers promise to those not facing transplant like me.  Check it out:

Vagus Nerve therapy Article - Allegheny PA

A new Olympic Event - Transplant Coordination

This is a very interesting article found in the NY Times.  It talks about the delicate and precise coordination necessary for a successful transplant.  While the article is about pediatric transplant the same applies, I think, to transplants of all ages.  Here is the link:

"giving-a-child-a-new-heart"

Last week the season finale NY Med the focus was on a cardio thoracic surgeon at Columbia Presbyterian in NY.  The last vignette was a transplant of a 60 something male who had a Heartmate 2 LVAD.  Very interesting to watch.  For me it was curious to see the old heart come out, looking like a deflated Walmart bouncy ball, the kind that we all love to bat out of the cage in the kids toy section, and the new heart looking like it was cut out of a thoroughbred.