Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well

The title of this entry came from a jar I have on my desk. Every time someone in the office gets a fortune cookie they donate their fortune to the jar. From time to time we pull them out and read them for fun.  The one I pulled today appropriately sums up Dad's journey pretty well. I have to say he never complains. With everything he has been through, he just rolls with the punches and gets back in the ring. He is currently at Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston awaiting a few surgeries. The first is two heart caths that will take place tomorrow ( Friday ) and the large surgery for the LVAD ( Left Ventricular Assist Device ) is scheduled for Wednesday. For those of you not familiar with an LVAD,  assuming that is the vast majority of you because we were unaware of what it was until this  past year; the LVAD is an internal heart pump. In simple terms, it pumps the left side of your heart for you so your heart function improves. The pump is run by an external drive line which is attached to a controller and a set of batteries that are carried around with him wherever he goes. He can also be connected to a wall outlet unit so he is able to charge the batteries at night. There are many testimonials from people who say if they knew how good they could feel after this procedure they would have done it a long time ago. He is so used to feeling bad that he doesn't realize it. It has been a gradual decline so with each stage he has had a period of time to get used to it. This is why he never realizes he is in heart failure. His heart has been tired for a while so this is the second major step in the bridge to heart transplant. The first was the Milronone 24/7 IV pump. He will be stopping the Milronone because they feel it may have caused the heart episode on Sunday. They cannot be 100% sure that it was the Milronone, but, it has been known to cause them and they do not want to take any chances.
So he will be at Brigham and Women's for a while. The nurses and doctors there are amazing and we are really lucky because my cousin Gabby is a Pharmacy intern there! She is so sweet she visits everyday and says Uncle Mike keeps everyone laughing. It's so nice to know he is in good hands there.  I will do my best to keep up with the blog. Please pass along this blog address to anyone you know who may not have the address. Thank you to all our family and friends who have always been our source of strength, your support helps more than you will ever know!

I will leave you with a few pictures from Sundays apple picking festivities: