Snow and more snow!!

Note to Al Gore ~ Please bring some of your (alleged) global warming to the frozen and buried in snow areas of our great country!!

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity. We went to see the “little people” (i.e. grand-kids) and we also got to see a MAJOR snow storm. It was amazing to see a major city virtually shut-down.

When we got back home after a wonderful time visiting with the special little people for the weekend, we had snow to deal with here, at My2ndHeartBeat World Headquarters. Lots of snow. Tons of snow. 20″ of snow. We dealt with it, albeit slowly and now we are ready for the next batch ……. today / tomorrow, another 6″ -10″.

At least it gives us something to do. And, I (finally) used the snow-blower for the first time since my heart transplant. In reality, it wasn’t even a taxing cardio exercise, it was just COLD!!

A City Shutdown!!!

Silent Schwinn!

Home ~ Needed to Dig Our Way IN!!!

 

Philadelphia Snow Storm

 

1,000 Extra Days, a Million Thanks

Today, 2/4/2010, marks the one thousandth extra day of LIFE that I’ve been given by way on an anonymous donor, who passed away on May 10, 2007. This persons heart was transplanted into my body, on May 11, 2007. It was a heart transplant that not only saved my life, but truly changed me forever. May God forever BLESS my donor and my donor’s family! 

I’m a “numbers” guy. I enjoy math, statistics, trends, averages, you name it. The number, 1,000, is such a nice round number. Back in 2007, some months after my transplant, I sent a thank you to my donor family, through the proper channels. I never heard back, but I was determined that I would write again at possibly a less painful time, and the “Thousand Days” just kind of popped into my head. 

When I wrote my original thank you, it took me forever. First, the pain of losing a loved one so recently has to be considered. Then there are many limitations what can / can’t be said in correspondence with a donor’s family. It’s all for privacy & protection of both the donor and the recipient. I wrote that first letter about 200 times, before declaring “enough was enough” and I sent it, through channels. I never heard back from the family, but that’s not unusual. I’m not sure of the exact statistics, but I’ve heard that only 5% to 15% do hear back. But, that’s not the goal. The goal is to let that family KNOW that someone out there cares and gives thanks daily for such an AWESOME gift. 

A few of months ago I noted at that time, that my next “clinical visit” would be a little more than a week before my 1,000th day anniversary. I decided to have my letter ready to take with me, so it could be sent through the proper channels. It took me a while to write, and I made many changes ~ always trying to keep the donor family’s emotions in mind. When I was close to having my letter completed, a very nice woman saw one of my posts here (click here to see post) and we started a nice conversation in regard to thank you’s to donor families. I sent her what I had written and she liked it, and that helped me a LOT. (Thanks Deb) 

My beautiful wife helped me pick out a card, and made a small change to the letter and last week I did, indeed, take it along, to go through the channels, to my donor family. 

This is what I wrote ~ 

One Thousand Days, a Million Thoughts of You! 

To my donor family ~  

As I sit here and write this, I am approaching one thousand days of a new life. It’s a life where each and every day is not simply “ordinary”, but each and every day is a very special gift. I look at each day as a gift and a chance to do something nice for someone else. Each day is a day filled with giving thanks to my heart donor and my donor’s family.  

When I think of this gift that I have received, I do get emotional. It’s bittersweet, yet I feel a connection, which I honor with never-ending thankfulness and gratitude. I have my real, very wonderful family, but I also have a family that has given me something precious, something so incredible, and it’s the ultimate gift ~ The gift of life. 

My new heart beats with a wonderful, strong pace. My new heart has allowed me to spend extra time with my lovely wife as well as my son and his family, which now includes two fabulous grand-kids. I also volunteer to help inspire others, to give some hope. 

As I approach this one thousand day milestone, I look forward to many, many more days, yet never forgetting my donor & donor family …. Taking each day separately, enjoying it to the fullest and giving thanks for this very special gift I’ve received. 

I honor my donor daily and give thanks ~ a million times. 

With heartfelt thanks, D and family 

  

Thank you, for my LIFE!!!

 

  

 

News Items

A few days ago I wrote a post called “Readers & Readers, click HERE to read that post.

When I wrote that post, I forgot one major “generational” item that I should have included.  I should have titled it “Readers, Readers and Readers” …… Let me explain a bit. In the original post, I talked about “Google Readers” that I have set up to pounce on “heart transplant” information as soon as it hits the net. Whether its real news, or a blog post, those words (and many others dealing with organ donations, politics) are sent to me ASAP. Very simple, very “real time”.

Enter my 86-year-old Mom. God Bless Mom and others her age that still like to cut articles from the local newspaper or other periodicals that they read, when time and their eyes permit. Instead of these being delivered at lightening bolt speed to my “in-box”, they take the more antiquated speed and routing of the 1940’s through the 1970’s ……. she sees an article of interest and saves that section of the paper until some point when she finds her scissors many weeks later. They are neatly “clipped” and then some comment will be written across the top of the clipping. I’ll get clippings on any and every kind of transplant, especially if the person lives any where in a 500 mile radius of me. The comment / question I love to see is, “Do you know this person?” (Like I might know EVERY person that has been transplanted)) She then queues these into an envelope, until she feels there’s an adequate amount (2 to 3 pounds) to hand deliver to me.

Maybe she was the fore runner to Google Reader?

Ahhh the OLD days!! Faster than a speeding locomotive?

(PS – As a side note, this engine depicted below is #1293. I was heart transplant # 1293 at my Clinic)

Speeding Locomotive

 

Busy Week

This is one of the few weeks out of the year where it seems I have had NO time to actually get anything accomplished.

On Monday, we worked in the guest room that we’ve painted and I also prepared for my (tri-annual) clinical visit on Tuesday, which was to include labs, X-ray, EKG, Echo, and ultimately a heart biopsy and clinical visit to see my transplant coordinator and my cardiologist.

On Tuesday, I did have all of the above tests, and there were some lengthy waits in between various points at my transplant center. It made for a long day as I left at 5:25am (in a heavy snow) and returned home at 4:00pm.

On Wednesday, I was back at my transplant center to volunteer. Two transplants had been completed on Monday & Tuesday, which made for a total of 6 since January 1st.

yesterday, which was Thursday, we had many errands to run so we completed them and then we headed to my transplant center for the third straight day in a row, to go to my monthly heart transplant dinner. Got to see and speak with many heart recipients ….. imagine a room with 30 “hearties”, many with their spouses / significant others. I spoke for a bit with my “mentor” who is approaching ONLY his 22nd anniversary. He amazes me!!

Today, I feel like I’m getting back in the groove here. I have cleaned the hard-wood floor in the guest room and as soon as that dries, I’ll use some hard-wood “reviver” on it.

For the record ……. my biopsy came back 0R, my EF was 59%, all labs looked great, except my creatnine was “marginal” …… which means drink, drink, drink!!!

 

Catching Up

It’s been a busy week here at My2ndHeartBeat World Headquarters.

I’ve already made 2 trips to my transplant center and both went well. On Tuesday, I had an outpatient visit that included labs, EKG, chest X-ray, Echocardiogram and a heart biopsy (right heart cath). All of the results are back at this point, except for the biopsy and all is EXCELLENT. My “ejection fraction” was 59% and my cardiologist and transplant coordinator both told me I was doing very well. And, to keep doing what I have been doing because it’s working ……. mainly that’s eating correctly (most of the time) and getting plenty of exercise. I also took another “thank you” note for my donor family. I am approaching my 1,000th day of extra life and had the desire, the need to thank them once again for this precious gift that I have received.

My other trip was to volunteer, which was yesterday. It was a good day and there were a two more heart transplants in the past few days. I know both people, so it’s a good emotional event for me. Both are doing well.

And, today, just to complete a “Trifecta”, or for you hockey fans, “The Hat Trick”, I am making my third trip in as many day to my Tx Clinic to have dinner with many other heart transplant recipients. It’s a monthly event, and it’s a wonderful thing to see so many people celebrating life!

Tomorrow, maybe we’ll get back to work on that guest room project.

 

Readers and Readers

I love my readers. No, that’s not a slang term for my bifocals (see below) that I have to wear to read virtually everything, it’s for 2 different things.

Reader # 1 ~ It always interests me as to who is reading my words. This site has some statistic things that, at times, can help determine where readers come from. I looked over the past 10 days of data and it seems it can only tell about 50% of the total readers locations. Of the places it could determine, over the past 10 days, I’ve had people read from 17 different states and 12 different countries. I’m a simple guy and that seems incredible to me. Some of the busiest states are Texas, California and North Carolina. I get lots of readers from Canada to my north and as far away as Kuwait. I’ve had a person as close as 30 miles away from me, (from Wooster, OH) on here as well. Never be afraid to ask a question or read a comment ~ I will attempt to respond.

Reader #2 ~ Google Reader ~ I love this little device. I have almost every link (along my right border) going through a Google Reader, so I can read all of my favorites quickly and easily, soon after something is posted. These go through an RSS Reader, I believe. But, I also have Google Readers set up to daily scan the vastness of the Internet looking for news stories or blog posts on things that I want to read. Some of those are “Heart Transplant”, various local politicians, support groups, etc.

Readers

 

Music

“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.”

I hope you can hear the music!!

Music is life, and life is GOOD!!!

Rock on!!

 

Another Winter Week

It’s very common in my part of the world to have snow, either a little or a lot, followed by melting. rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat until about April. I haven’t been a fan of cold weather for quite some time, so I plan “indoor” projects and activities during these periods to keep from getting “cabin fever. Having a 68-year-old house helps, as there is always something that needs looked at, or worked on.

Since the first of the year, we had one project or another “in play” every day. Since I had my heart transplant, I know I have to pace myself, or I will pay a price, which is usually exhaustion.

Late last week, early this week I installed a new laundry tub in the basement. A fairly easy job overall. I hate doing anything that involves plumbing, but at time we must do what we need to do. The sink has been installed, and in the process I found a couple of other cold weather jobs to use up some of this winter …. I installed a new shelving unit and soon I’ll repaint the floor.

It’s not so much that these things NEED to be completed, but it’s more along the lines that I need to be PRODUCTIVE. I enjoy working with my hands, with tools and the winter is such a good time for these activities.

Yesterday, we started working on the guest room …… to be continued, LOL

Laundry

 

April is DonateLife Month

I’m writing this now as a reminder to get myself organized and ready in advance for April, which is DonateLife Month. Last year, I ran a daily series on my blog, that I had at that time, on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace to get people to sign up to be organ donors. I had a fistful of donor cards and DonateLife pins. I signed up 56 people and talked to hundreds more on a daily, one on one basis and I hope I touched some of them as well.

This year my personal challenge is to sign up even more people than what I signed up last year.

Can I challenge you to do the same? If you are a donor, thank you and can you sign up others? If you aren’t can I convince you on the benefits ~ I’m living, breathing proof that donors work!