I haven’t turned into much of a blogger have I? My last post was on 12/10/09 and I haven’t been back since. I actually forgot all the passwords and had to change them. Shameful.
But I thought I would take another shot. At the very least I owe all 5 of you an update on how George made out. Having just re-read my last post below, it turns out that I was more prophetic than I could have expected.
After that post it was a long month of waiting. I knew that an IABP is only useable for so long, 30 days being pretty much the limit, and this was the ‘timer’ ticking away in my head. Chances of a donor heart, being what they are, did not give me much encouragement either. Still, I ‘kept the faith’ prayed when I could, and asked around for updates. He had a relative working in out plant, but the details were always sketchy, coming through a non-medically trained layman. Then the holiday break came and we were closed for 10 days. I confess that I checked the Obituaries everyday in case the worst happened. I did not want to miss the funeral at the very least.
When we returned to work my first order of business was to look up ‘the relative’ and find out how George was making out. “How’s George doing?” I asked in a tentative manner, expecting not so good news. “Well” the reply came, “he’s at home.” I’m thinking to myself ‘SHOOT! He didn’t make it and they are doing one of those old fashioned wakes in the home or something. That’s really weird.’ “Yeah” the relative adds almost off-handedly, “Why don’t you give him a call and ask him yourself, he’s been asking about you.”
I’m dumbstruck.
I must have sounded like an idiot as the realization flowed over me. “You… You mean he’s alive? And at HOME?!”. I think I blubbered the words out, and I felt that tightness in my throat as I choked back the tears. “Yeah” he said, “He’s weak, but coming along ok, give him a call.” I waited until mid-morning and called George. He sounded GREAT! Turns out the problems with his heart were caused by some sort of infection which the Cardiologist said was nearly impossible to detect in a timely fashion. They tried some courses of treatment and hoped for the best. Turns out they got lucky. George’s heart returned to normal size, cardiac output steadily improved, they removed the pump, and the rest is history. The cardiologist told George that it was a 1 in 10,000 shot that George survived, and he had never seen anything like it in his career.
Eventually, George came back to work. I see him everyday now and each time, for just a millisecond, I am reminded that you have to have faith and you can never give up hope. Life is indeed good.
UU
