April Check In

I know it’s been a while since my last post. The last month has been up and down. Our trip to Texas to visit Mark’s daughter, Elyse, was definitely a highlight.

After we returned home, I got pneumonia which had me in bed for almost two weeks. While I was sick, Mark’s dad also came down with pneumonia – but a much worse case of it. He was critically ill and we are very worried about him. We will be making trips to Wausau this spring while he recovers.

I have my next round of cardiac tests on May 10th and 11th. The right heart cath and cardiopulmonary stress test will be on May 10th. I will go back the next day for some repeat transplant “work up” testing – scans and ultrasounds of my entire body to make sure I continue to be a good candidate for transplant. The doctors will be looking at the cardiac index numbers from the right heart cath to determine whether I am ready for hospitalization to wait for a heart. I am currently listed as a status 4 heart transplant patient with little hope of finding a match at this status due to my high antibodies.

I will check in again after I get all of the results from the May testing. My heart transplant doctor will be doing the right heart cath so he may talk to me about the results while I am in the cath lab on May 10th.