Saturday, October 3

Hey there, everyone. One of these days I'll be able to post that John has gotten a new heart, but not yet. We did spend about 4 1/2 hours at Duke's emergency room last Sunday, but everything is okay. At around 9:45 that morning we heard something a bit bizarre, it sounded like a European ambulance running its siren was inside John's chest. We figured out it was coming from his pacemaker/defibrillator, and luckily we didn't panic since we thought it was a low battery warning. However, we couldn't be sure so we headed to the ER. It ended up that it was exactly that, a low battery warning, but they had to do a million tests and EKGs and everything to make sure that it was still working correctly. So, we had to go and see the electrophysiologists this past week, who are the doctors that put the ICD (that's what it is officially called) in about 3 1/2 years ago. Normally they last longer, but between John's running and the huge amounts of shocks it had to give him last March it really drained the battery.

Bottom line is that they are going to have to replace it this coming Friday, Oct 9. They have to replace the whole device, which is a little smaller than a pack of post-it notes. It is normally done as outpatient surgery, but we will see. This is the third ICD that John has had (he's worn out the other ones), and it sure would be nice to get a new heart before this surgery, but we can't bank on that and can't take the chance on waiting. If he needs to be shocked they are afraid it won't have the juice to do it, and since he is totally dependent on it for pacing his heart it's a pretty big deal that it works right. So we will go in for the surgery on Friday and let you know. His device is behind the muscle in his chest, which makes the surgery a little harder (some of them are just under the skin), and because of his dependency on it for pacing his heart beat they are going to be extra careful with him. That means they will give him different anesthesia, deeper stuff than what they usually use, so they can take their time and do it very carefully and be able to monitor him better. Doctors seem very good and nice, and took a lot of time, so that was good.

We also had an appointment with one of the other transplant doctors on the team, and that was good. They are pretty surprised that his transplant hasn't happened yet, which is actually good news since it makes us feel like it can be any time now. So keep up the prayers and good wishes, and we'll try to keep up the news here. It's hard waiting and being away from home, but we still feel that this was the right thing to do.