Updates!

We have had such an enormous influx of information over the last few days. I’m trying to wrap my head around all of it. [Pardon me while I copy & paste from updates I have already sent around to some of you]. “You’re not a good candidate for a heart transplant...” Cue Disappointed Patrick. “... You’re a PERFECT candidate for a heart transplant.” The specialist, Dr. Mahr (who must have one heck of a sense of humor), says Patrick is as good a candidate as they've ever seen. But they need to do their best to fix and resolve the other secondary issues first, because they don't want him to go through a transplant while under treatment for or suffering from the other issues (his digestion, how he gets sick when he eats, the extreme stomach and chest pressure he feels, etc). Patrick will start two new meds when he gets back and take detailed notes of every single symptom, BP reading, pulse reading, how he feels when he eats, etc. (I'll help him. I'm the spreadsheet queen). Dr. Mahr wanted a follow up on July 25th, when they can schedule a whole battery of tests and start him on the Transplant Track. But the results of yesterday’s stress test changed things in the eyes of Dr. Akhoum, the electrophysiologist. Patrick did better than expected during the stress test, wasn't shocked by his defibrillator like he expected, and his pulmonary function is stellar. He pushed himself to the point of almost vomiting so they stopped the test, even though his heart could have taken more. The results said that the area in which Patrick’s ablation was performed has improved enough that Dr. Akhoum would like to try a second ablation. But the overall function of Patrick’s heart is down enough that, after the ablation if Patrick experiences any v-tachs, they will expedite the transplant list process. One month. One month from now Patrick will have another ablation, and one month after that he might be starting the process to get on the transplant list. That hasty timeline is saving my sanity right now. Hurry Up And Wait is such an awful idea when considering life and death. He also had that in depth ultrasound and they didn't find any blockages, so right now the working hypothesis is that Patrick's heart can't pump enough blood to fully support his stomach during digestion. Hopefully those new meds will help those symptoms. Also, if the ablation does work and Dr. Akhoum is successful in stopping the v-tachs, the transplant will be postponed. It’s this up and down, back and forth, rocket speed and snail’s pace, that have frazzled my mind over the last couple of weeks. I can’t stand flip-flopping, and when I have control of nothing and have to endure this flip-flopping with grace… Well, let’s just say life hasn’t been very graceful this last week. Patrick comes home tomorrow as scheduled. He’s going to come home to a messy table, a covered kitchen island, dishes in the sink, baskets of clean laundry waiting to be folded, and floors not mopped. But the kids are clean, fed, and happy; the shop has been open and running as scheduled while he has been away, and the dog hasn’t eaten anything that will be missed (that I know of). Breathe. Just breathe.