Happy New Year Everyone! I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and is looking forward to the new year. Our Christmas was special again this year. Bill's sister and her husband came up from Florida. This was the first time they had been here and, we found out later, the first Christmas they had spent away from home! We had a wonderful visit with them. All Shirley wanted for Christmas was snow and a fire in the fireplace. The fire was easy to do, and we had fires daily. It also helped that it was really cold! It also snowed Christmas morning! Nothing stayed on the ground, but it was pretty as it was falling. Don wanted a winning lottery ticket so Bill put some scratch-off tickets in everyone's stocking. Don ended up winning $20! Talk about your perfect hosts!

Bill has been pretty tired since they went home last week and he's having a hard time dealing with things going on in the church. We are probably going to leave this church and find another. He's been very upset about it and it's affecting his sleep and his appetite. He's going to council with a respected friend and former pastor for some guidance in this.

No dr. appointments until the middle of February and the extra amiodorone has kept his heart rate around 70. That's a little higher than normal, but not in the danger area at all. He will probably have that amount reduced when we go to Memphis next month. A device check was done either right before or right after Christmas and everything looked fine. It didn't show any rapid heart beats or fluid build-up.

People have asked if he is still on the transplant list. The answer is yes. Even though it seems like he's been on it forever, it's still been under 2 years and the average wait for a heart is 18 months. We are just past 20 months. It's become a way of life, not even thinking about it. We don't sit and wait for the phone to ring, and we're not afraid to leave the house in case we miss the call. We just make sure that 1 of us always has our cell phone.

All for this time. I'll try to do better to keep this thing updated this year. As I said before, this journey has days and weeks and months when nothing happens. And we lead very normal, boring lives!

Blessings to all!

Bill finally heard back from the dr. yesterday and he doesn't have to take the new medication. Of course a 3 month supply arrived in the mail yesterday also! But, it was only $3.00 so we're not out a lot of money.

The new med makes Bill sick after he takes it so he's checking with the dr. today to see if there is something else he can take. He takes this one with food and he is almost immediately sick to his stomach with heartburn and stomach cramps. This lasts about 4 hours and of course then it's time to take the next dose.

Walmart didn't have enough to fill the complete script last week and when we went to get the rest of it, it hadn't come in. Their only solution was to come back today, Monday, and they would re-order it. He should have it from express-scripts by that time, although if he's not going to be able to take it, it's kind of a moot point.

As I said earlier, on this journey nothing happens for a long time. But then, out of the blue...things change in a minute. No, Bill did not receive his new heart, but had a reminder that he is sick. Saturday evening he got dizzy and as soon as he sat down his device fired. It probably didn't help that I was sick (we ended going to er for me, strep). But, Monday morning he sent a reading to Memphis.

Dr. Lan looked at the reading and saw that he had been having several episodes of rapid heart beat but none of them had been fast enough to trigger the device. So, he increased his amiodorone again for awhile and put him on another one that is supposed to help stabilize his heart rate. Since he has started the new med, which he takes at totally different times than his other meds, he goes to sleep for 15-20 minutes almost immediately. He's also taking his blood pressure and checking his heart rate more frequently.

He still doesn't have to go to the dr. before his regular appointment, unless of course there are problems that come up or this new combination of drugs doesn't help.

Again I'm sorry that there haven't been any posts for a while. But, in this journey, just like any other, there are times when nothing is happening.

Bill has his 6 month heart cath in October and everything was fine. He responded well to the increased pulmonary pressure so there is again no reason for a transplant not to happen. Now, if a heart would just become available.

We're free of doctors until February so if there are no posts until then, you will know that everything is going smoothly.

I hope everyone has a safe and thankful Thanksgiving and a blessed Christmas. Every day of life is something we take for granted, but it is something to be truly thankful for every day.

Happy September everyone!

Bill has had an amazing month since the last post. No, he hasn't received a new heart yet but he has been feeling really good and has been more active. This remodel project, which has been so horrible, has been good for him as far as keeping track of expenses and schedules etc.

We also purchased a new vehicle for me, a 2010 Dodge Journey R/T. I absolutely love it and would really like to be driving it...but it's been in the shop already for the 2nd time! Transmission problems are apparently being caused by a bad speed sensor. Hopefully that will fix it and we can go get it!

Friday is a milestone for us...our 20th anniversary! Who would have thought 3 years ago that we would get this far after the last heart attack. I know the doctors are still baffled by his recovery since he wasliterally dead several times with that one.
We just thank God everyday that he's evidently not finished with him yet!

The summer is flying by and we haven't accomplished as much as we thought we would. BUT we also didn't think that a 4 day job for the siding would turn in to a 4 month job! It is finally as finished as Home Depot is going to make it finished.

We have now started on the inside and this contractor is a perfectionist. Instead of just painting the walls, his vision is to remove all the doors and refinish all of the hinges and doorknobs and "take it back to it's original style". WE JUST WANT THE WALLS PAINTED!!! He has taken a week in the hallway and hasn't put any paint on. It's going to break us and we aren't even going to get the floors done I don't think. They may have to wait until next year!

As far as Bill's health goes, transplant was pleased with his checkup. No more appointments until October! We're going to Kansas City in October for the Block Central Division Convention and we may take a couple of short trips in between. We need to go back to Illinois to spend some time with Mom and he's talking about going to the Tennessee River for a few days.

So all is well for now.