THANK YOU

I sit here on a Wednesday afternoon looking out the window waiting for the start of another nor’easter, the fourth this month. It’s exactly one month since my post announcing to you all that I have to have another transplant. Where is this year going? How are we already almost to the end of March and into April?

So, why am I home? Done with work already? Not quite. As mentioned before, I have been battling some blood pressure issues since before Christmas, which landed me in the hospital for Christmas. Although my pressure has gone down some, using a regimen of 5 blood pressure meds spread throughout the day, I noticed recently that I had developed bumps in the left side of my chest—the same side as my dialysis fistula. The bumps are not very large, however they appeared to be blood vessel related as opposed to fatty tissue or calcium deposits. I had also noticed an increase in cramping in my left arm from the shoulder down, especially in my hand. So much so, that I started to feel like Jim Carey from Liar Liar.

After discussing my concerns and discomfort with my doctor at MassGeneral, they thought that the fistula may have increased in size too much and actually taking blood away from the heart thus making the heart work too hard. was brought up. This would lead to all the above mentioned problems.

One thought was that maybe there was a narrowing in the artery. The test to determine if this was the case is called a fistula gram. In that, they put a port in the artery in my arm and send a cardiac catheter in, and any narrowing that is found is enlarged with a balloon. They somewhat sedate you for this procedure, which for me usually means I will wake up a few times during it, but they also have the area numbed so you don’t feel anything. They have a large screen to watch what the catheter is doing in real time on a monitor. One of the times I woke up, I was able to watch them work the catheter all the way to my heart. Again, there is no pain associated with that but it was pretty trippy to watch. There was one minor narrowing found and corrected, but further action was still needed.

They still felt that the fistula was too big, so they decided to band it to make it smaller. In that procedure, they had to measure cardiac output before, during, and after the banding was complete. They did this by putting a port in my neck and inserting a catheter down to my heart, so they could work on my arm. As I have always done when I have surgery or any procedure, , I passed my phone to one of the nurses in the room before the sedation kicked in, so that she could document what was being done. Again, I woke up during the procedure. However, this time there was some pain involved as they passed a needle back and forth to band the fistula where the artery and vein are connected. Like the prior procedure, this was day surgery. My mom was able to pick me up in the city and bring me home, where Lauren and Madison were waiting. As a result of the procedure, I haven’t been able to fully straighten my left arm and I have a few “holes” left in that arm that are about the size of a Ticonderoga pencil.

Not ideal, but I opted to stay home from work for a few days to allow my arm to heal and get some rest, as sleep is still something that is hard to come by at times.  Unlike when you’re in grade school, or even high school for that matter, staying home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. All I do is look around and see painting that has to get some and some patch work, as well as needing  to get outside and do some debris cleanup to get ready for the annual spring burn. However, with this arm and little Madison in the house, those projects are put on hold for now.

So, what do I do to pass the time? TV . . .Even with a couple of hundred channels there is very little to watch, so that gets played out pretty quickly. Eat . . .  but not looking to turn an opportunity to rest and recover into gaining unneeded weight. Social media . . .with all the “good” things going on in the world today and different views from one person to the next, this also gets  quite old pretty quick. However, the one thing about social media that has been good is all of you.

Since I hit post on the update a month ago, the support has been pouring in. Lauren and I have been blown away by all of the messages, calls, and responses we have received. As many of you know, or have at least seen, there is a fundraiser planned for the 19^th of May at the IBEW union hall in Dorchester. Although I am not very involved with any of the planning or execution of this event, I have seen the response to it . Donations from people I have never met, people I haven’t seen in 10+ years, as well as donations from people I haven’t known for very long are already rolling in. Your generosity is amazing, and more important than that, the moral support and good vibes you are putting into the atmosphere are strongly felt. It definitely makes dealing with feeling like junk a little easier. They say it takes a village to get through things sometimes, and in this case, the village in the size of the USA.  Again, messages and calls have come in from all over, wondering what they can do to help. For now, you are all doing great and we are very much looking forward to seeing you on the 19^th.

One big thing that has come up a number of times: People want to know what they have to do to get tested to see if they are a match. First, allow me to say that to have so many people ask that question is truly amazing. Much like the response, not everyone who has asked that question knows me all that well.

Organ donation is an amazing thing to even consider doing, something that isn’t talked about enough as well as something that saves lives on a daily basis. At this time, there are two people in the process of being evaluated at MGH to see if they are potential donors. When the time is right, or a decision is made as to who is a more viable option to donate, I will update you all. BUT, please know how much your thought, prayers, and messages mean to me and Lauren, as well as my family as a whole. I always still find myself singing, and well dancing along to that song, YMCA, and now I know why. I have the best village people around.