The Journey — Twenty-two years of heart failure, and what followed.
The Follow-Up Gauntlet
On the morning of December 2nd, twenty-three days post-transplant, I needed a ride to The Christ Hospital for my first
Coming Home
And just like that, I was home. Nine days post-transplant. Sixty days in the hospital—first at Mercy West, then via
The Recovery Ward
The move to the step-down unit came on November 14th—five days post-transplant, the A-line out, down to a PICC and
Post Op / ICU
The first few days after a heart transplant are not straightforward. The body is recovering from major trauma while a
November 9th
The nurse came through the door differently. It was 10:15 on Thursday evening, November 7th. The ward had settled into
The Waiting
Tom Petty said it as well as anyone ever has. The waiting really is the hardest part—but not for the
Standing On Your Own…With Assistance
The room at 7am looked the same every day. Lines in, lines out. The Impella running its quiet mechanical rhythm
Out of the Frying Pan
The listing came through on a Friday afternoon. October 11th, 4:02 in the afternoon, Niles in the room. I had
The Bug Zapper
The nightmare woke me at 1:44 in the morning. I felt the kick first—a jolt to my left side, electrical
The Grand Parade
The Impella went in on October 3rd. It is a small device—a catheter-mounted pump, surgically implanted through the chest into
The Last Decline
My wife wanted me to go to the hospital sooner. She always did—that was the standing dynamic between us on
Twenty-Two Years….
The appointment was routine. That was the part I kept coming back to afterward—how completely routine it was supposed to
I Chose Life Three Times
Death came to my room more than once. The first time, I was at home, alone in the dark. I
Life After Transplant — The ongoing reality of living with someone else's heart.
The Year of Living Carefully
This is the companion piece to “Living With Immunosuppression: What the Science Actually Says,” which covers the clinical and biological
Health & Management — The medications, the labs, the day-to-day mechanics.
Glucose Management After Transplant
Nearly every heart transplant recipient encounters insulin management in the immediate post-transplant period. The only question is whether you come
All About Prednisone
Most people have taken prednisone at some point. A five-day dose pack for a bad allergic reaction. A short course
All About Tacrolimus
A note before we begin: The goal of this piece is to make you a better-informed participant in your own
What We Take and Why: Supporting Cast
The immunosuppression regimen gets most of the attention. It should—it is the most closely managed, the most consequential, and the
What We Take and Why: Immunosuppression
The transplanted heart is living tissue carrying someone else’s genetic signature. The immune system was built to recognize anything carrying
The Magnesium Problem
Almost every transplant group has the same recurring post, usually around 2 a.m.: Why am I always low on magnesium,
What to Avoid and Why
There is a reasonable assumption that most people carry into a transplant: that things taken for years without incident are
Buying Time: The Impella
On the morning of October 3rd, 2024, I sent a text to my buddy Eric. I told him things had
Living with Immunosuppression: What the Science Actually Says
This is the companion piece to “The Year of Living Carefully” which covers what it actually felt like to live
The Long Game: Treatment, Management, and What Comes Next
Part Two of Two This is Part Two of a two-part series on Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy (CAV). Part One—“The Diagnosis
The Diagnosis Nobody Prepares You For
Part One of Two This is Part One of a two-part series on Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy. Part Two — “The
The Things You need
Nobody hands you a shopping list at discharge. They hand you prescriptions, a follow-up schedule, and a set of dietary
The Blood is the Life
At some point during my pre-transplant hospitalization, someone counted. Fifty vials of blood, give or take, drawn over the course
The Fine Print
The discharge packet covers the medications, the follow-up schedule, the dietary restrictions, the warning signs to watch for. It does
Reflections — What survival actually looks like from the inside.
