Anything Is Possible

May 19, 2013

The attached Photo illustrates that anything is possible. Get out and walk, run, play tennis, workout, have sex (great exercise) and then rest. Next day walk, swim and play golf (walk no cart) and top it off with a walk before bedtime. I know how important exercise has become in my life. I don’t want to miss a session in the gym with my trainer. I don’t want to miss my Wednesday night tennis clinic. I don’t want to miss my regular doubles matches and I really want to swim at least three times a day.

I am still in my mind 20 pounds overweight. I am determined to fight off old age and be in the best shape of my life. In fact, I am now three and a half years after transplant in the best shape of my life.
Don’t hesitate. This picture is the same guy..Get out there. Anything is possible.

Life is Good!

Walking The Camino de Santiago

May 15, 2013

My fellow Sacramento heart transplant buddy, Tom Inks and his wife Sheila are walking a  part of the Camino De Santiago. If you saw the movie "The Way"
you understand the journey they are embarking upon. They are leaving May 21st and walking about 120 kilometers in 8 days starting from Samos and ending in Santiago.

Here is a history of the Camino de Santiago:

The route known as the Camino de Santiago is neither a road nor a highway. It’s a walkway trod by travelers of all kinds for more than 2,000 years. Christians have traveled it for nearly 1,300 years.

Tom and Sheila Inks

Much of the route described in a 900-year old guidebook is still in use today. Some of it wends its way over the remains of pavement laid down by the Romans two millennia ago. It’s a route that writer James Michener—no stranger to world travel—calls “the finest journey in Spain, and one of two or three in the world.” He did it three times and mentions passing “through landscapes of exquisite beauty.” The European Union has designated it a European Heritage Route.
Christians are attracted to this remote corner of Europe because of a legend that Santiago de Compostela is the burial place of the apostle James the Greater. As such, it ranks along with Rome and Jerusalem as one of Christendom’s great pilgrim destinations.
The Camino de Santiago has its origins in pre-Christian times when people of the Celtic/Iberian tribes made their way from the interior to land’s end on the Atlantic coast of Galicia. For them, watching the sun set over the endless waters was a spiritual experience. As part of their conquest of Europe, the Romans occupied Iberia by 200 B.C. They built infrastructure, including a road from Bordeaux in modern France to Astorga in northwest Spain, to mine the area’s gold and silver. Some of the original road remains on today’s Camino.
When the apostles spread out across the known world to preach the Christian gospel, tradition has it that James the Greater came to Galicia. On returning to Palestine he was beheaded by Herod, becoming the first apostolic martyr. A legend that has persisted for 2,000 years claims that his followers took his body back to Galicia, where it was buried inland.
By the 12th and 13th centuries, half a million pilgrims made their way to and across northern Spain and back each year. Local kings and clergy built hospitals, hostels, roads and bridges to accommodate them. The Knights Templar patrolled the Camino, providing protection, places of hospitality, healing and worship, as well as a banking system that became one source of their fabled wealth.
Among the historical figures who made the pilgrimage to Santiago are Charlemagne, Roldan, Francis of Assisi, Dante Alighieri and Rodrigo Diaz (El Cid, Spain’s great epic hero). In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer tells us that the Wife of Bath had been to Santiago. Not all were enamored of it, however. In the 1500s, Sir Francis Drake, who did more than his share of harassing the imperial Spanish, referred to Santiago as “that center of pernicious superstition.”
A combination of the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment and European wars gradually suppressed the Camino. In the 17th century Louis XIV of France forbade his subjects from going to Santiago in order to stop trade with Spain. The Camino fell into disfavor but was never abandoned.
Now, after centuries of slumber, the Camino is alive with upward of 100,000 pilgrims—and growing—yearly.
I am so impressed that Tom who will celebrate his ten year anniversary with his new heart in September is undertaking this challenge. I wish I could do this walk but realize it requires more hiking experience that I currently have.
It is a joy to see a ten year veteran doing this journey .

Life is Good.

A Selfless Act

April 25, 2013

I saw an article in the Sacramento Bee this morning by C. Brian Bronk. The headline for the article was “A Selfless act that I will remember with every beat of my heart.” I would add my new heart to that sentence because he was referring to his newly transplanted heart. I read the article with great interest for this fellow, Brian Brink, was able to do what I so far have not been able to do. He knew the circumstances of his donor’s passing. In this case a car accident; knew his name, Tommy, and later after trying many times, met the family.

Brian’s story is a wonderful recounting of his diagnosis of heart trouble; his diagnosis was actually” idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.”

His journey started with his admission to Stanford University Medical Center, right down the road from my University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Our stories were different in many ways as I was not as bad off before transplant. I was lucky in many ways in that I was still active and still working before I retired in September of 2008 in order to do all the testing in San Francisco to be listed and thereafter transplanted.

Brian’s story is more emotional than mine. He is a better writer than I am. He has been lucky to meet the donor’s family. He is lucky to know he has the heart of a healthy 19 year old man who was killed in a car accident.

I won’t try and detail anymore of this story of a second chance. I can only ask you to read the attached and share it with friends. His transplant was a gift from a young man whose life was cut short by a terrible accident. Brian Bronk has had this gift of life for nearly 12 years. He was 28 when transplanted.

Please read this story of a gift of new life.

Life is Good.

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/25/5369631/a-selfless-act-that-ill-remember.html

Sleep Study Results

April 19, 2013

Just got a call from the UCSF Medical Center sleep study doctor. He said I passed the test with flying colors. I had a brief episode of sleep apnea when I was on my back but zero while I was sleeping on my side which is where I sleep the vast majority of the time. In fact I only sleep on my back when  I am in the chair. The message was stop sleeping in the chair, sleep on my side as much as possible and keep losing weight .

After four failed attempts at UCD and Sutter Hospital, I successfully completed the dreaded test. He congratulated me on completing the test . I now go back to Dr Ben Goldwyn, my ENT,  to discuss what steps can now be taken to kill my nasal infection and deal with the impact of my deviated septum..

All of this concern about getting enough O2 while sleeping is directly related to the health of the new heart.
It gets the heart docs all excited when there is evidence of sleep apnea.

Life is Good!

Monday and Tuesday at UCSF

April 18, 2013

Sleep Study

Monday afternoon I left for San Francisco at about 2pm and arrived at 4pm.  I left the car in the Parnassus parking garage across the street from the Moffat Hospital and took the shuttle bus over to the Mt Zion UCSF campus. I then walked 6 blocks up Sutter St to 1800 Sutter at the YOMO Hotel. It is a small boutique style hotel right at the entrance to Japan Town.

As usual I was three hours early for the 7:oopm check in for the overnight sleep test.  Unlike the Sutter sleep test center in Sacramento, the UCSF one is in a hotel. Pretty slick. They rented the entire 5th floor of the hotel. Each patient has his/her own room just like a hotel visit. Your own bathroom, great HD TV complete with HBO. It was very comfortable. Finally after one canceled test at UCD and three at Sutter I was all prepped and ready to go. See Pics
.
The tech was a nice lady who made me feel really comfortable. We talked about my previous experiences with this test. She assured me they would not force the CPAP hose on me without my permission which happened at the Sutter lab and then only if I reached a certain threshold of apnea.

I sat in bed and watched the entire movie" Finding Private Ryan" and then fell asleep. It seemed like I was awake and asleep quite often but they assured me I was actually asleep. At 5am I was up and asking to be unhooked to use the john. They said they had enough data if I wanted to stop and I said Okie dokie. I was showered, packed and out of there by 6:00am.

I walked the six blocks down the Sutter Street and took the shuttle back to the main hospital on Parnassus. Had an early breakfast and checked in with the transplant team at their offices in the library building. It was great to see the entire team including Celia Ripken and Anne Fukano .Anne and I talked about three transplant patients over at the hospital. Each at three different stages of pre and post status.

Hospital Visit

It was fun to revisit the 10th floor of the Moffat Hospital on Parnassus where I had my transplant. I saw some of the same nurses and one actually recognized me. It was strange to go into the ICU to visit Tim Ford. It had the same feel to it.

First person I visited with was Tim Heath from Roseville California. He had a long complicated road to transplant. Tim had multi complications but finally had his new heart and was getting ready to check out. He was a runner and in great shape before he developed heart trouble. See Pic .Tim and his wife were both there and we chatted about meds and mutual experiences. He is a patient of UCD. His heart doc is Kathleen Tong, trained at UCSF. Kathy was in her fellowship while I was at UCSF. She subsequently moved home to Sacramento and heads up the cooperative transplant effort of UCD and UCSF.

My second visit was to the ICU –Intensive Care Unit- to see another Tim. This time, Tim Ford. Tim was awaiting formal listing. He was basically bed ridden. He has an LVAD which keeps the heart working. It is a great bridge to transplant because the patient usually can get up and exercise. Many people continue to lead active lives. Former Vice President Cheney had an LVAD and was very active in his post White House period before his transplant. Tim Ford lives in Vacaville CA. I did not have a very long conversation with him. I may have over powered him with too much talk.

An interesting thing about Tim Ford’s situation was that his pace maker went off three times. The deflibulator had a short in the wires and he had three false alarms. I lived in mortal fear that my pace make might go off sometime.I was very relieved when they took it out after transplant.

Lastly, I met with this lovely lady from San Francisco. She lives out near Candle Stick Park. Her name was Marsha Croney. See Pic Marsha was waiting to be put on the list so she could be eligible for a new heart. In her case it was a waiting game. She had a pace maker but needed transplant sooner than later. In fact that afternoon the staff committee was meeting to discuss putting her on the list.

One really nice thing about our visit is that the next day Wednesday, I got an email from Anne Fukano telling me I must have brought Marsha good luck because she got a new heart Tuesday evening.

In all three cases in different ways there was the same comment that the transplant was a gift from God. Every heart transplant recipient I visit with has said the same thing. They all fell this is a gift from God. I share that emotion. The emotion never goes away . I got all chocked up just talking with Tim Heath and his wife about our transplant experiences.

These visitations are a joyous occasion. It never gets old. I want to keep coming back just to see the newbie’s with their new hearts and their second chance at life.

Every morning when I get out of the swimming pool after swimming for over 45 minutes  with no shortness  of breath or lifting weights or  using the stationary bike or playing two sets of tennis. I am reminded of how lucky I am with this new heart.

It is indeed a gift from God and the donor family assisted by a great team of UCSF Med Center Heart Transplant staff.

Life is Good!

 Bob and Tim Heath from Roseville CA, a patient at UCD.

 Bob and Marsha Croney from San Francisco who had her new heart Tuesday night April 16th.

Off To San Francisco

April 14, 2013

Tomorrow Monday the 15th of April, Tax Day, I am off to UCSF to do an overnight sleep test. I am still not certain I have apnea but my heart docs and my new ENT want me to do this test so we can properly diagnosis the cause of my breathing issues. Too bad I don’t have more medical education because I could really annoy the docs with my interfering hehe.

It will be nice to see the hospital again and visit with the transplant team; nurses and docs. After I do the test which is at another facility near the Mt Zion UCSF campus not the Parnassus Moffat Hospital, I am going to visit with a few recent transplant recipients. One is from Sacramento referred by Dr Kathy Tong from UCD.

I get to do my regular Monday 6am swim before I leave for the City. In fact I probably won’t leave until after lunch as the test does not start until 7:30pm check in. I get out of there at 6am Tuesday. I will be looking forward to Starbucks coffee and maybe a coffee cake right there on Parnassus up the hill from the Hospital. I will park my car in the Parnassus garage and the take the shuttle from the Moffat Hospital where I had my transplant over to Mt Zion.

Each day I get to swim or play tennis or workout in the gym, I am grateful for this new heart. Each day is a gift from God and the donor.

Life is Good!

Day After Easter

April 1, 2013

Easter has different meanings to each individual. The traditional message is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. My own view is it represents along with the biblical message of resurrection , it represents a new beginning. Each and every one of those who have had the gift of an organ transplant whether it is a heart a lung or a kidney celebrates their own Easter each and every transplant anniversary. My Easter or new beginning is celebrated on December 18th . So far I have had three anniversaries.

I woke up Easter morning with a sense of gratitude for the chance at new life. New life with Jesus but also new life with a new heart. All the while I bitch and moan about the side effects of the drugs; swelling, dizziness from the BP meds, I am reminded of how small a sacrifice these side effects are. I swear each night when I have to prepare all the pills for that evening and the next day but  I realize how small a deal this really is.

I had an experience on the operating table that was life changing and I acknowledge that gift each day I wake up . Easter is a new beginning and for me each new day is a gift from God.

Life is Good!