LVAD... Left Ventricular Assist Device

THIS BLOG POWERED BY THE THORATEC HEARTMATE II LVAD:















PARTIAL HEART PUMP = LEFT VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE = LVAD = THE HEARTMATE II



THE LVAD ALLOWED ME to go HOME and conquer my normal and newest tasks once again.



Thank you Columbia-Presbyterian... Dr Naka and his Surgery Team, LVAD Nation, Dr Bijou & Dr Bonoan, Dr Mascitelli and Dr Shulman-Marcus!!!



AND TO THE SCORES OF PHYSICIANS, NURSES, PROFESSIONALS AND PEOPLE THAT PUSHED ME ALONG THE WAY... FORWARD.



Thank You God For I Am Blessed!







If I Was An LVAD-NASCAR Race CAR

If I Was An LVAD-NASCAR Race CAR
I would look like this :-)

FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY LVAD DAILY NEWS AND INFO FEED

10 March 2010

ELEPHANTS TRUNK to TRUNK... another LVAD powered blog i found.

I went for an LVAD check up and met a 60-year-old (give or take) LVAD recip ...nice guy. He told me of his LVAD and the heavy old model batteries he uses. His batteries hold a charge of 4 hours whereas the new model lithium batteries hold a charge 12-14+ hours. A full charge on my Thoratec lithium batteries has lasted 18+ hours.

Anywhich, he continued to tell me that he enjoyed coming back to the hospital because he "comes back home" to other LVAD recipients... like elephants separated at birth and are reunited after a lifetime apart coming from a zoo or a circus, etc. I understood what he meant, there is an automatic "family" closeness, a brotherhood/sisterhood bond that materializes...


For a better understanding visit The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, founded in 1995, is the nation's largest natural habitat refuge developed specifically for endangered African and Asian elephants. It operates on 2,700 acres in Hohenwald, Tennessee — 85 miles southwestof Nashville.

http://www.tappedintoelephants.com/asp/index.php

Now this brings me to Mac & Sue's blog. They seem to be one of only a few blogs devoted to LVAD life and advocacy pioneering cyberspace. Mac has the HeartmateII and, in an effort to make life easier for those with the older batteries and LVAS, Mac DESIGNED and BUILT his own lithium batteries... making them much lighter and or smaller with a longer charge life.

Also on their blog are observations of LVAD life and advice.

Finding their blog, I felt like that elephant, coming home to others :-) that the 60-year-old LVAD recipient was describing to me. Check out Sue & Mac's LVAD accessory inventions... I will let them explain it to you here...



And the good saga continues...

2 comments:

  1. very touching... :) .....like how you equated how you felt finding this blog to the elephants reuniting with family ...makes your point in a beautiful way... the pic of the elephants that accompanies this post is spectacular too!!!

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  2. Good comparison, that's what it feels like when you meet with people in similar situation, I feel that happens in TC also. It is a pleasant sensation of feeling at home :)

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