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

09 March 2010

"Why were you so quiet? It woke me from my sleep!?"

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Perhaps this is a story that words can not do it justice, however i will try because this is Khristine's (from the FAMED "LVAD TEAM" of NYP) favorite story :-)
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It's 3am, my wife sleeps peacefully in bed. It has been months since my surgery; having an LVAD implanted and grafted to my heart. One way or another my wife is always by my side watching my back and watching over our household. Its amazing how she also manages her full-time job in her full schedule. And there she rests, after a full day, she is quietly sleeping.


When we sleep, THORATEC sugggests the LVAD's power source should be plugged into the Power Base Unit (PBU) ...while the PBU is plugged into the wall's electrical outlet. In this mode I can walk up to 20-25 feet with the PBU's power cord before i run out of leash.

Should i need to walk further, I must change my power source over to battery. Now 3:05am wanting to walk further into the livingroom, I need to change the power source and will try not to wake her up.


Now its 3:10am and when switching over to battery, the PBU and the System Controller (that is worn around my waist) will launch high pitched alarms to alert me that there is a brief disconnection and a connection is needed quickly.




However, if you can transfer from PBU to battery in less than 5 seconds, no alarms will sound; all remains quiet.


So in an effort not to disturb my wife's sleep, I slowly remove myself from the bed and exchange power sources in under 5 seconds. No blaring and high pitched alarms. She did not wake up :-)

It wasn't until i was walking outside the bedroom, my wife woke up lunging, startled from the "emptiness" of the bed. She Looked at me and quickly said "Why were you so quiet? It woke me from my sleep!?" And here i was trying to avoid the LOUD alarms not to wake her up but found being quiet... she wakes up too.

My wife, My best Friend, the caregiver always has my back!

and the good saga continues...

7 comments:

  1. You wrote this blog like a childrens book!

    Even a child would enjoy this story! Thinking it was a magically adventure! =]

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt... LOL your my child... did yo enjoy it ;-)

    Iron Man makes it "user friendly" for kids :)and grandkids

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. BTW MATT, it is a "magical adventure"... isnt it?

    This Magical Adventure is powered by the Heartmate ll LVAD :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. The story: Magical—Yes! Brings about a chuckle-Yes! A great sense of sweetness–ABSOLUTELY! I liked how you broke it up with the pics!!! --Perfect!

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  5. Would you be willing to post this account on www.CircuitSurfers.com?

    An amazing story!

    ReplyDelete