Heart 131

Rachel has provided me the encouragement for writing this. Her "Following In My Shoes" blog has given me hours of laughs and tears as she has put herself out there for others to be encouraged by. So, I've decided to give this a try as well. Not sure I'll be as funny or interesting as Rachel, but we shall see!

So, where did the title come from? My heart....my second heart. I am St. Francis Transplant Clinic Heart #131......almost 5 years out. When people ask me how old I am, I always reply, "which body part are we talking about?" because this heart is currently 25 and I'm almost double that. The doctors have no idea what caused my heart to start to fail. I went from feeling pretty good to not being able to sleep at all to suddenly gaining lots of water on my lungs. After multiple trips to my PCP (primary care physician), I eventually was sent to a pulmonary specialist who immediately figured out it wasn't related to the lungs and put me in touch with Dr. Doug Endsley and warned me that there was a good chance I would be looking at a heart transplant.

After 13 months of trying multiple medications, I was brought in to have a routine heart biopsy and heart cath ran....only it wasn't routine. A hole was punched in my very stiff heart and for a while, it was a very interesting situation. This "procedure that became the ordeal" (as family and friends refer to it) scared all of us, including the doc. I spent that summer trying to get over the whole ordeal and preparing to go back to school for my counseling position. Another year of tests and changes in medication showed that I was not improving, so in the Fall of 2004 I joined the heart transplant list.

Fortunately (for me....not for others), Oklahoma is a wealth of donors. Apparently, we have a bunch of gunshot and car wreck victims in this state who have been kind enough to sign up as organ donors. Three short months of being on the list got me my page....the trial run...that did not work out. Two months later it was becoming obvious that a transplant was going to have to happen or I was going to be staying a while in the hospital, then suddenly, after arriving at work (yes, I continued to work up to this point) the call came. This heart worked out and I underwent the procedure. Eight days later, I came out with a new heart and a new lease on life.

As this blog continues you'll learn more about how all this worked out, what the experience has taught the "big 3" - my family, my friends, and me - and how I now live. Tim McGraw had it right folks...Live like you are dying. It is a lot more fun!