Christmas Eve and my 70th Christmas during my lifetime. This could be called the Christmas that only a miracle would allow me to celebrate. There is no question in my mind that God answered the prayers of many family and friends of my wife and I. While prayer is powerful, the Lord is all powerful and He deserves all of the praise. It is simply Gods leading that I am here today to celebrate Christmas. It started on the first day of 2014 with a pulse twice my normal rate. It led me to a doctor that realized I needed to see a heart failure specialist and a recommendation to Doctor Oren in Peoria. Doctor Oren pushed me to decide where to have an evaluation for an LVAD. He even admitted me to St. Francis keeping me there four days while waiting to transfer me to Advocate Christ Hospital. Testing began at Christ the next morning and on the forth day a temporarily heart pump and then the next day an emergency LVAD surgery. Ten weeks of ICU of various levels later I began to realize where I was and finally the doctors began to talk about me living instead instead of the maybe he will make it. I was not aware of the pessimism as they always tried to encourage me, but my wife faced this day in and day out. I have always believed that as the Bible tells us that our days are numbered. So facing the testing and surgeries didnt bother me as I knew in my mind that it was a win-win situation for me personally. I would either wake up from surgery and be better or be escorted by deaths Angel to Heaven. How could I lose! My insurance company was pushing to get me out Christ Hospital and I ended up at RML that was a modified nursing home specializing rehabilitation, well not really that good in our opinion. Two weeks later I was transferred back to Christ with a bleeding issue. At least nine units of blood later I was accepted into the acute rehabilitation center at Christ, it went by the location name Sixth South. I started out not being able to stand on my own needing multiply people to get me out of my wheel chair just to stand. Walking required two people on either side of me helping to move my legs/feet and one person following with the wheel chair. It was an intense schedule with two session of OT and two sessions of PT and Speech. My insurance company once again was pushing to get me transferred to a nursing home, a none acute rehab center. My doctors fought hard to keep me at Christ, but after much arguing I was transferred. At first my choices of places were limited to the Oak Lawn area as they were trained by Christ LVAD coordinators. My last day my LVAD coordinator contacted a friend of hers in Peoria who was qualified to provide LVAD coordination allowing me to go to Riverview which allowed my wife to stay at home and making the trip to visit much less stressful. While my rehabilitation hours were cut in half, the staff was great at Riverview and they pushed me further and five weeks later I chose to go home. While I was wondered if it was premature, the getting home was great and I received in home PT until it was determined that I would be better served to do out patient therapy. My first visit for out patient therapy was with Kristine who served at Christ Hospital nine years ago. She has seen LVAD patients up there and she is good and pushes me, which I need. As a result, I have been able to walk around the house with a cane and even without a cane or walker. It was last week as I was working with Kristine at PT that I got dizzy and she noticed my eyes twitching. She suspected Vertigo and yesterday an evaluation confirmed a treatable Vertigo existed where the crystals in my inner ear floated causing the brain to get confused. God has led me all the way and provided the right treatments at the right time to allow me to be here this Christmas. I just wanted to share with you while I am unworthy, God is faithful and has provided miraculously this year.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 20:53:05 +0000
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