Saw my main heart doctor up at Columbia yesterday. It’s been three months since I’ve last seen her (a triumph in itself as I had to go monthly previous to this time).
She came in to see me and immediately said how healthy I looked! I could tell she was happy with the progress we’ve made in a year —after all, in June she admitted me to the hopsital for a heart transplant evaluation. The doc gave me a check up, and felt comfortable where we are at. She told me to keep walking, no heavy exercise, and to keep things as they are on the medicine front. Overall a great feeling when I left the office (an office that is particularly scary to me because it is the transplant center at Columbia and it is a heavy dose of reality every time I sit in that waiting room).
After I got dressed, I passed one of her nurses in the hallway and smiled at her. This nurse practitioner in particular prepped my mother and I the second time I ever saw this doctor. At the time I was still very frail (and any medical personnel who reads my chart is generally horrified by the situation before they meet me). I remember having a conversation with this nurse and teling her I would get better. I said something like “when my heart is better I’ll be able to ….” I will never forget the face she made. She laughed directly at me, pointed, looked to my mom and said “wow, this one’s a positive one huh?” Basically, she didn’t believe me when I said I would get better. She joined the list of many many “naysayers” any of whom if I listened to would have me as an invalid by now. The countless doctors and nurses who tried to put their doubt on me, the awful visits and awful nurses along the way, the ones who laughed in my face, the ones who already had me getting a heart transplant… well LOOK AT ME NOW suckas. No heart transplant waiting list and I am out and about more than ever. Thanks to my kicker I feel safe, and I have some big plans for myself in 09.
Moral of the story? I knew I’d get better from the beginning and still do.
Even with my scarred heart, it will pump to full capacity again. It went from an ejection fraction of 15% in Oct ‘07 to 35% in June ‘08 (Normal is 50%-65%). Just 15% more to go! We will find that out on my next visit in May…
I feel good this weekend.
