Long Overdue

Me and Jaimie, not in a hospital

I got out of the hospital a week ago yesterday, that would be Monday, February 25th, exactly a month after getting my heart. The house I'm staying in is perfect, and my sister has been with me since I got here. I've had some issues; the medication gives me some awful tremors making it hard to write or type (I'm keeping an eye out for typos, but I'm sure some will slop through), and I'm starting to retain fluid again. The former issue will get better with time, though I don't know how long that will be. The fluid retention is more frustrating because my kidneys are struggling to work with the diuretics and I've been switched back to a drug that causes a ton of pain throughout my body, mostly my arms and legs. Fortunately, the pill form is less intense than the IV version, so I'm going to try and just tough it out. The other option at this point would be re-admittance to the hospital. I am going to fight that option as long as I can.

Despite all that gloom, I'm staying pretty positive. I have a lot of faith in my post-transplant coordinator and I'm getting used to the new routines of medications, testing, and preventative measures. When you go to the grocery store with a surgical mask and latex gloves, people get out of your way. I should have thought of this earlier.

I know things are tough at home for Melinda. She's working as much as she can and squeezing in frequent trips up here. She's done so much; handling the insurance switch, finding this house, getting me things from home, and keeping me relatively sane. I owe her everything.

But there are a lot of others I'm grateful to as well. Thank you to everyone who has donated, we've madde that money go a long way and hopefully can make it go just a little further. Thank you to Andrew, Jef, Brent, Jaimie, Jennifer, Lindsay, Shawn, and April who have all managed to make it up here to take a shift or two (or three) at being my health care ninja. Thanks to all of them and to Kim, Paul, Sara, Chris, Dave, Sonya, and Russ
for the help at home and all the rides and dog care. And thank you Snorton for the best string of texts I've ever seen.

My biggest regret is that so many people have given me so much of their time and effort that things are falling on fewer and fewer shoulders. I haven't felt like I needed to ask for help in a long time, but there is a small group of people left who are at the breaking point. I need a little more help. Mostly help with the dogs and of course there is plenty of extra room up here if you want to stay in Seattle for a couple of days. I'm required to have someone with me at all times in case I fall and break my hip or something. You might even get to give me a shot!

Anyway, I hope to be able to repay all the kindness when I get home, maybe with gold doubloons or chocolate chip cookies. If you want to help, you can do one of the following...

Email me: astroloach@gmail.com

Contact the group (most of the people mentioned above):
      cyborg-heart-care-team@googlegroups.com

Contact the group managers at (and the 't' isn't a typo): 
      cybortheartcareteam@gmail.com

Thanks again.