Acts of Kindness

Acts of kindness continue to pour down upon us like a much needed rain storm. A large group of our neighbors and church goers thoroughly spring cleaned our yard, removing all dead leaves, weeds, pruning trees, branches, edging, mowing, straightening our mailbox with new cement, prepping an area for a garden, putting a trampoline together for Eden, planting flowers, and much more.

What can we say? We’re overwhelmed. There are kind people in the world. Amidst all of the sensational headlines of war, death, and destruction, there is goodness. Generally people have good hearts and use them. I also hope for a heart that I will use for good.

I believe there is hope for anyone in great need of help. People won’t take away your grief. They won’t solve all your problems. They won’t abolish your fears. What they can do, if you’ll let them into your lives, is ease your burden.

Neil A. Maxwell wrote, “To withdraw into our private sanctuaries not only deprives others of our love, our talents and our service, but it also deprives us of chances to serve, to love, and to be loved.” He also said, “Of a truth, those who can easily bend their knees in prayer do not feel they are stooping when they bend to help a neighbor in need.”

Most great service and acts of kindness go unknown and un-rewarded except for that inner conscience which gently soothes the soul with comforting words saying inward “job well done!” There have been many of you who've done kind things that we don't know about. Thank you!

We’ve always tried to surround ourselves with goodness in our home and in our friends. And we try to do all within our power to lift others to be worthy of service.

Soon I will have renewed energy to tutor relationships so I might find out what it is I can do to help them, lift their load, ease their pain.

It’s hard for me not to be among people and shake their hands. I miss it. I miss serving and sharing things in common and enjoying conversation.

With a new heart, God knows I will continue to share my love for life, not only through my music, but also through common friendship and private acts of kindness. But, I know it is not up to me. Our lives are not completely under our control. One minute we're here enjoy things and another we're not.

No matter where I am God knows I will always strive to improve things. If I land in hell - I'll gather people one by one and start making a heaven out of the place.

(Picture: TOP - Our City removes compost piles each Spring and Fall. This pile is a result of acts of kindess, BOTTOM - Carl Bloch painting that has hung in our home for many years.)

Getting Out / 100g Protein / P.V.C.

Yesterday at clinic my transplant cardiologist Melanie Everitt said my lab work looked good. I have more color in my face because I am no longer anemic. I am also feeling better than I have been, given our circumstances.

I was able to take my family on a few outings this past week, which we haven’t done in a long time.

Here’s a few pictures:
We visited down-town Salt Lake City and saw some historical sites; i.e. Mormon Tabernacle; we also had some good friends take us to dinner for big juicy protein steaks. I am eating like 100 grams of protein each day.

This is all good news! I need to be strong for the transplant operation. It will help in the recovery.

I am fortunate to have wonderful doctors and nurses. I feel a great connection with each one of them and I trust their judgment.

But, again, every time I go into the children hospital to receive care I see kids in hard circumstances. But, I'm at peace knowing a few of the people who are providing their medical care.

We did learn that my heart is having premature ventricular contraction (PVC), also known as ventricular premature beat (VPB) or extrasystole, is a form of irregular heartbeats in which the ventricle contracts prematurely. This may be perceived as a "skipped beat" or as palpitations. So for the past 24 hours my heart has been monitored to see how often I have them.

Possible triggers of PVC – I commented on each of these.

* Anxiety/Stress (I have some of this)
* Chocolate (I do eat a lot of this)
* Caffeine (Coca-Cola, yes)
* Cocaine or other stimulant (No)
* Calcium/magnesium imbalance (Yes, I have this)
* Dehydration (sometimes)
* Exercise (I don’t do this)
* Hormonal imbalance (Nope)
* Hypercapnia (CO2 poisoning) (I have no idea)
* Hyperstimulation of the Vagus nerve (Not sure)
* Lack of sleep/exhaustion (Yes, this is true)
* Overeating (A little bit)
* Low copper (I don’t eat pennies)
* MSG (I think this is in a bunch of the food I eat)

Moving into the Hospital on Monday? Maybe.

I am moving permanently into the hospital on Monday until doctors can get me a heart and I'm recovered.

WILD!

They'll also up my status putting me at the top of the waiting list.

More coming tomorrow. . .

106 days on the list. 15 weeks. All is Well.

106 days on the list. 15 weeks. Any predictions?

Despite the minor physical anxieties of waiting for a heart, always wearing oxygen, taking a bazillion pills, giving myself shots twice a day, and carrying around a bag of medication going directly into a permanent IV in my right arm, I have the larger anxieties experienced by those who are sick for a long time and happily married. Keep in mind that I am too tired to stay busy so all you have to do all day is think and reflect. Above all, you hope your wife, the love of your life, is happy, fulfilled, and appreciated because of her sacrifice, service, and love.

My dad is a journalist and once interviewed one of my hero's Howard Hunter, a former spiritual leader of the LDS church and community giant. The man was soft spoken and humble despite his enormous list of credentials and accomplishments. In the interview my dad asked about all the years that Pres. Hunter tenderly cared for his sick wife who later died in a rest home. "How where you able to do that all those years?" my dad asked. President Hunter with some emotion and pause in his voice said, "She would of done the same thing for me."

I'm also reminded of another time that I was at Bryner Clinic in Salt Lake to see my family doctor. While waiting I observed a feeble old woman waiting for the pharmacist to complete her prescription. She was with her husband. They were both very old, petite and weak. She sat in a wheel chair and was so tired that her head kept falling backward. And I watched this husband, who stood by her side, hold her head up, even though his hands shook and they had to wait for some time. I think he held her head for 20 minutes.

I also remember while serving a mission for my LDS church I was responsible for several missionaries of which were an old couple serving in a small mining town in California. Like all of our missionaries they were responsible to knock on doors and share a message of love about Jesus Christ. The wife had really bad arthritis and knees. At many times she couldn't use her legs because of the pain. But, she didn't want to give up. Her husband drove them in the car from house to house. He would get out and knock on the door while his wife waited. If people said yes to letting them he'd go to the car, open the door, pick up his wife and carry her into the home so they could do what they loved to do most which was bring hope to people through their message.

These several experiences that I observed are always on my mind. And I hope I get the chance to show the same expression of love and service for my wife who has so kindly sacrificed, served, and loved me through this experience. It is much easier to serve than to be served.

MY BRIEF MEDICAL HISTORY | Potts Shunt, Endocarditis, The Fontan

BRIEF HISTORY

I was born in 1973 with tricuspid atresia and transposition of the greater arteries. I was not getting any oxygen in my blood for the body. I was a blue baby. Within hours of being born my body was rushed to the children’s hospital where Dr. Conrad Jensen (former partner of Russell M. Nelson, M.D.) flew home from a medical conference to perform a Potts shunt when I was 22 hours old. Before going into surgery my parents overhead one of the doctors say, "We're going to lose that kid." The Potts shunt allowed me to enjoy a fun childhood. I played baseball and ran around the neighborhood. But, I would stop to rest. I loved scouts and the outdoors. I was fortunate to get my Eagle before I turned 13.

One week after my eagle award ceremony and in August 1986, before 8th grade began, I developed endocarditis, which doctors could not find for almost a month. I was losing weight and in serious heart failure. After three MRI scans they found the walnut size blister full of staff infection in the section of my heart that Dr. Conrad fixed my heart with the Potts Shunt. (I should include here that the MRI came to Utah 6 months before I got ill. This technology helped save my life). Donald Doty, M.D. opened me up and removed the infection. He performed a new technique, which allowed my life to continue. But, he said within a year I would need a reconstructive heart surgery called the Fontan.

School had begun and I was home-schooled for a month before I could attend. I remember my first day back. Because I still had a poor heart I was pale, blue, and weak. I remembering walking up the stairs to my health class for the first time. I sat in the back. My teacher said, "You ok?" And in front of the class I broke down crying. She took me to the teacher's lounge and gave me some food. She went back up an told the kids about my heart and the word spread through the school. Kids were kind to me. The girls called me "Purple Plum." I didn't mind. And the end of the year the kids elected me student body historian. Summer was coming and that meant the Fontan surgery.

In August of 1987 I went in for the Fontan. It was a difficult procedure. Not only did they have to re-create a right atrium but they had to figure out how to deal with my reversed arteries. It was a difficult surgery. Doctors implanted a pacemaker, which would fail within days, so they moved it to my abdomen because the leads are screwed into the outer walls of the heart muscle since my anatomy won’t allow them to flow in through the arteries. After my recovery I went back to school and life went back to normal. I was no longer "Purple Plum" because there was great coloring in my face and nails. Two months after the surgery I rode my bike from Salt Lake to Draper. It takes 30 minutes to drive there.

Since that time I’ve had 5-6 pacemakers replaced. I came home a month early from serving a 2 year church mission because the battery was very low.

I married my amazing wife who loves the medical field and is a nurse. What a blessing!

Doctors replaced defective leads almost 5 years ago by going into the heart through some ribs below my left breast.

I’ve been in the hospital for endocarditis once more, which I beat after three weeks thanks to great new antibiotics.

I’ve been in for pneumonia and the flu among other minor issues.

But, for the most part I have had an extremely healthy “feel good” type of a life.

Good News!

We got a call this morning from Latoya informing us that I am now listed for a new heart. Man, it is kind of wild. . . sobering. . . and surreal. . .

On Friday I get a pager and if the batteries work they'll contact me at anytime. It might be 2 weeks up to 1 year. The heart needs to come come from at least 50 miles from Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. When they have a potential great match for my body the pager goes off and I head to the hospital with my 72 hour kit (or things I want to have for recovery). I have one hour to get there. In the meantime a thoracic surgeon travels to where the new heart is and carefully removes it from the donor. He or she will have a good idea from there if it will be a perfect match and if so they prep me for surgery. The thoracic surgeon brings the new heart to the hospital where Dr. John Doty will carefully remove my bad heart. Incidentally, he is the son of Donald Doty who did my 2 previous open heart surgeries where I almost died. So, I know I am in good hands. (The father has worked on the engine and can tell his son what is in there.)

This is a very difficult surgery because of my heart's anatomy. And there will be a lot of scar tissue from the surgeries I had early in my life. Finding the good tissue among the bad will be tough. He has to cut in the right places.

We have every confidence in the transplant team and in Dr. John Doty. He is a man of faith and said to me personally, "We will not lose you!"

Please pray for my wife Lynnette and daughter Eden. Pray for Dr. John Doty and his team who will determine the best heart for me. And most of all pray for the family whose sacrifice and tragedy will bless our family. I may never meet them or know of their loss.

What gives me comfort and peace? The love I feel from my wife, family, and friends. Thanks to all of you we literally feel the arms of God around us.

I also find great comfort in my faith. I know that God lives. Jesus is the Christ. He is my friend. Life is part of a three act play. We are now experiencing the challenges of the 2nd act. In time, all of us will begin act three as we wait for the resurrection made possible by Jesus Christ overcoming death himself. All of us receive that gift.

Some of us may need a physical transplant but we must also, all of us, experience a spiritual transplant. I strive for that every day of my life because I know I am far from perfect in kindness and friendship. But, through faith, repentance, and baptism we may begin the process of having spiritual heart transplant made possible by the suffering of our Savior in Gethsemane and on the Cross.

We all have are own challenges. . . I'm content. I could always be living in the country Georgia with Russians dropping bombs on my home or in Dar-fur with all my family and friends brutally murdered by genocide. . . . etc. etc. or even worse I could be considered a friend of Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, or Brittany Spears.