The Heart of the matter

I started a new job back at my old hospital on the Cardio Thoracic ICU. Already in just two weeks I have learned so much about heart recovery, procedures & heart devices. One patient’s situation struck me & got me thinking-

(a dangerous thing)*

About my life, the value I place on waking up each day in a healthy body able to walk alone, eat, shower & other things without help.

That I am truly blessed to have my & my babies “healthlyness”.

That I could not rely on learning how to use a device A VAD (see below) to keep me alive with the hope of a new heart.

Amazing people I say.

What would you be willing to do just to live and be alive? How many surgeries, stays in the hospital and endless complications would you be willing to endure? Knowing that any moment or day that it could end?

People do it everyday.

Just to breath.

Blows my mind.

What procedures, equipment and amount of pills would you be willing to pop each day just to breathe? 40 +, 50+ hoping to get the combination right eventually?

Trusting a plethora of Doctors, Nurses and other specialists trying to navigate the unknowns with you?

What is the worth of your life to you?

If anyone would be pardoned to have a bad attitude I think that the people who were born knowing you would for sure die young, not really having been able to live a life according to most people’s expectations.

Those people are okay to be honery, bitter and frustrated.

Them.

Those of us with the least to complain about feel the sorriest and the most victimized, boo hooing about what we feel entitled to out of life.

Talk about Fairness!

So knock it off people!

You really have NOTHING TO GRIPE ABOUT!

To those of you that want to be sick and there is nothing wrong with you- trade with those who would give anything to be you!

Quit insisting something is wrong and go live your life!

Strangest thing- most people I meet with death at their bedside have joy. they are not consumed with the sorrow that has been dumped in their laps. Their joy and exuberance are bursting at their seams!

They are EAGER to get out of bed and sit in a chair.

They are eager to learn about the device that will function as their heart until someone that tragically dies will give them life with a new heart.

This man helped me realize AGAIN a very important secret to life.

JOY.

JOY does not come from circumstance or expectations.

JOY can only come from that place inside.

The heart.

That JOY that is not discouraged by things that we cannot change, that we struggle to accept.

That JOY that really does understand that each BREATH and MOMENT really is THAT REMARKABLE

That Joy and peace that God wants us to have, you got it.

So thank you sir for sharing your JOY for me in the direst circumstances I could picture that you have.

Thank you for teaching me about the JOY I can have down in my healthy, beating on its own heart.

Thank you for allowing me to assist you in your

JOYFUL JOURNEY.

I hope that you have many more breaths in your fight for a new HEART

(even though there will never be a more joyful replacement for you).

Wanna know what a VAD is? Here ya go!

A Ventricular assist device, or VAD, is a mechanical circulatory device that is used to partially or completely replace the function of a failing heart. Some VADs are intended for short term use, typically for patients recovering from heart attacks or heart surgery, while others are intended for long term use (months to years and in some cases for life), typically for patients suffering from congestive heart failure.

VADs need to be clearly distinguished from artificial hearts, which are designed to completely take over cardiac function and generally require the removal of the patient's heart.

VADs are designed to assist either the right (RVAD) or left (LVAD) ventricle, or both at once (BiVAD). Which of these types is used depends primarily on the underlying heart disease and the pulmonary arterial resistance that determines the load on the right ventricle.

LVADs are most commonly used, but when pulmonary arterial resistance is high, right ventricular assistance becomes necessary. Long term VADs are normally used to keep patients alive with a good quality of life while they wait for a heart transplantation (known as a "bridge to transplantation"). However, LVADs are sometimes used as destination therapy and sometimes as a bridge to recovery.[1][2]

In the last few years, VADs have improved significantly in terms of providing survival and quality of life among recipients.[3