I'm going to try and revive this blog after several months of no activity.
As some of you already know, I have a very serious, potentially fatal heart disease. In October I entered St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta for testing. My condition was so poor that I was told I needed to do something quickly. My best option was the insertion of a device known as an lvad (left ventricular assist device) which would assist my failing heart in pumping blood and hopefully extend and enhance the quality of my life. Breathing, I have discovered, is one of life's most underrated pleasures.
Hopefully I will be put-on the list for a heart transplant in the next few months. I may get a heart quickly and do well; I may never get one.
After getting the LVAD installed, a grueling procedure and one that usually takes about five weeks to recover from, it was obvious that I was not getting better adequately. I had a serious problem with a weakened right lung and resulting fluid build up. So, I had a second surgery (also done by the gifted Dr. Jeff Miller) and that added another month to my stay in the hospital.
St. Joseph's treated me like a king and I dearly love the people who cared for me. I owe them my life.
Still, the desire to come home was insatiable until that beautiful, cold drizzly Friday afternoon when my brother-in-law Kip Allen (another hero of mine) brought me back to Dalton.
I am recovering slowly at home now. I am limited in what I can do, mostly by my lack of stamina and strength. The LVAD is powered by large, heavy batteries which I have to be plugged into constantly, unless I am plugged into the wall like a refrigerator.
I weigh about 182 pounds, the lightest I have been since my junior year of high school. I have no muscle mass and tire easily.
But I am getting better and am battling back. My morale rises and falls daily, butI remain determined to get better.
That's one reason I want to get back to blogging.
I also want to get back to work as soon as possible at The Summerville News and as a freelancer.
I need the money and I need the normalcy.
Anyhow, I am pushing on every day and hope to be back in flu swing before too long.
That's it for now; I hope you'll tune back into this blog regularly. I am going to try to write more for it and increase the articles links of local interest, as well as link to the stuff that interests me (sports, politics, movies.)
I hope to talk to you or exchange emails soon.
Espy