Well…nothing quite THIS funny but still we had quite the laughs. Let me share. A little long but some good stuff

Getting a transplant of any variety is quite the production. As mentioned previously, criteria one is to have lungs that are failing fast and maybe be within a year of shutdown and be in pretty good health otherwise. I was there and now was time to find out if I would be able to get on “The List”.

Three days of testing including a talk with a shrink, financial person, dietician and other physical tests. It all started with a PET scan. Positron Emission Topography. For those who never had to deal, it starts with radioactive sugar injected into blood. Wait a while and then scan. Looking to see if the sugar is concentrated in any one area more than others. Cancer likes sugar. If sugar is located in high concentration anywhere then cancer is likely. Doctors are looking to see if you “light up” on the computer screen. If the radioactive sugar glows THIS was the instant deal breaker. Got cancer. No transplant for you. Once you pass that there is plethora, cornucopia, crap ton of tests to get after. It ends with a heart catheter to make sure that thing is up to the task.

Someone forgot to ask the cardio department if anyone would be there the last week of 2021. Turns out they were short on staff so I had to come back the first week of Jan 2022. When I came back I had to take a covid test. Sure enough, I had it. How did I get it after spending a year and a half in middle school halls surrounded by germ factories? Well, I was in the hospital for three days. Now the catheter is put off for a couple weeks and I had to deal with covid.

Heart catheter and MRI on heart just to make sure are completed and on February 1, 2022 I am placed on the transplant list at TGH. NOW there is a not so subtle change in you. Now you could be called at anytime to come on down and get some lungs. Excitement and euphoria should fill you everyday but something weird happened on the way to getting lungs–they actually called.

In that second that you see the caller ID as Tampa General everything changes. All the plans to continue getting ready for the transplant are done. Whatever isn’t done isn’t getting done today. Passwords for accounts, bill paying, email and anything else had better had been laid out. What did I forget? What do I need to do? Where are my pants? Pants!? I’m going gym shorts and t-shirt. Crocs. May as well go commando too as I’ll be putting on that fancy dress/gown once I get there. Driver license and insurance card. Call came at 4 a.m. and asked if I could be there by 8 a.m. Uh, ya! Try to get things going. No food for you are going to have surgery today. Little water. No coffee. Called brothers and my three children. At 8 a.m. I am registered and on my way to a room. Wow this is fast. In fact it has been all of 24 days since I was placed on the list. February 25.

Fast forward 12 hours. Still in my room. Been poked and prodded and waiting. Wife and daughter with me all day. No worries. Ready to go. Square with everyone I can think of including God. Square with God for a long time. Challenges like cancer in 2015 and now lungs of 2022 just reinforce your faith or prove you lacking. If I go into major surgery and don’t make it out I won’t even know. I plan on being in glory but those left behind have the burden of the loss. I was ready.

8:30 p.m. Go time. Wheeled down to the O.R. and that talk with the anesthesiologist. There’s your special talk. That speech will scare you. Sign here as you might die, have a stroke, have a stroke then die. When they finished there was a nurse who would be with me in the OR. She leaned over and asked me if I was praying man. I told her yes. She and a colleague covered me and proceeded to pray a prayer that was amazing. It was also long. I mean a solid 3-5 minutes. When they finished I felt like game time was here! I actually let out a pretty loud LET’S GO! Away I went into the room.

Once there it was operation as usual. People scurrying around getting final prep for a long night. Doctor asked not to start anesthesia until he could inspect the lungs as they just got there. I could see the doctor through a glass wall looking at the lungs. Doctor came in with his phone in hand and heading my way. He was showing me the lungs. His conversation started by showing me a picture of the lungs and saying well I’d have to cut this off here and maybe cut this off there. You see these lungs are diseased. They could work for a short time like 6 months but then there would be trouble. What would be going through your mind laying on that table? I’ll tell you my thoughts. Those are not going into me. (Christy saw the pictures after me and said it looked like burnt pizza with black bubbles and all) I listened and wondered if he was waiting for an ok or not. I then asked if he knew Dr. Patel. (Patel is the leader of the lung transplant team and the guy who I had that great conversation on my introduction to the transplant team). The surgeon said yes. He is my partner. So I asked what would Patel say about these lungs? Told me he showed them to Patel and he said he wouldn’t have accepted them. I simply said why are we having this conversation then. Get me out of here.

Stopped for a McDouble on the way home. I was hungry. I was tired. No lungs for you.