From my heart to yours

Hello all, 

My 73 year-old husband Terry recently passed away, of complications related to a rare type of pneumonia. He received his Heartmate 3 VAD on August 5, 2019 and yes, we went through all the highs and some of the lows post implant. I want to tell everyone to embrace each day; we had SO MANY, MANY MORE good days than those times anyone might call a bad day.

His Cardiology team of Doctors at Ascension St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis (86th St. location) was amazing and his VAD coordinator helped us laugh and cheerfully navigate our way through what can be a very complex life post-VAD implant. My advice is to get organized with medicines and routines, keep track of the little things, follow all the recommendations of your medical team and learn and take advantage of all the ways you can help your VAD patient monitor their health, and live each day to the fullest. There is a lot of love to be found in even the ordinary moments.

Was any of this "easy"? Because we were detemined to keep living life, some days yes, some days no. Was it worth it? Absolutely and without a doubt!! I have already determined what will be done with his equipment, so my post is to encourage you if you're struggling and to let you know a VAD patient is special and as their caregiver, so are you. Fight the good fight and peace be with you.