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thanks james and gus

On Tuesday this past week I was at work doing my usual stuff and one of the front desk ladies told me that there was a man on the phone wanting to speak to me about a procedure that I had that I posted on my blog. At first I didn't want to speak to this guy and secondly, how in the crap did he know that I worked where I worked. I decided to put my thoughts aside and take the call and see what procedure it was that he wanted to know more about. The gentleman's name was James and he wanted to know about "Gus" my LVAD. I asked him if he had watched my video about Gus on YouTube. He said, "I have twice." He explained to me about his heart condition and how it is affecting his life. I explained to him that I knew exactly how he felt. He told me about how hard it is for him to take out the trash and other simple things that he struggles getting done due to his heart condition. I explained to James that the LVAD is amazing, but yes, it has its downs too. I told him that his endurance level will begin to increase and the simple things won't feel so exhausting. That he could go for a hike, go fishing and take out the trash all in one day eventually. I also explain that I didn't want to wear the battery pack and that I felt like everyone was staring at me. I didn't want to have to be plugged into the wall at night time, change the drive line site or carry around Gus Gus just in case Gus died on me. With all those sacrifices began to feel better and stronger. We chatted for a good 20 minutes. After hanging up with James I told myself, "Wow, that was crazy."

The main reason why I started my blog was because as I was going through what James is going through there was nothing out there for me to search to help with my fears and worries. As 4 years have past since beginning my blog, I didn't really think about that reasoning as much.  For those out there in James or myself's situations its okay to have worries about what the next step is but I hope you have the courage like James to find someone to talk to about it. I would encourage anyone with a situation and don't know what to do to ask questions, speak about your worries and fears, ask more questions and ask your doctor/therapist/friend/neighbor if they know anyone that has been through what you are about to make a decision on. No question is a dumb question. My gratitude to James reaching out has reminded me of why I started blogging. Thanks James it was great talking to you.

Go check out my video on YouTube. It is called My LVAD "Gus".

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