This is incredibly cool! Thoratec Corporation, which makes the Heartmate II device that I currently have implanted announced that they have now hit the 10,000 milestone of lives forever changed through the implantation of these devices. Many of my online fellow LVAD-ers are featured in this video (Shout out to @LVADone & @VEGASLVAD !!). It is definitely [...]
Archive for the ‘LVAD tips & resources’ Category
10,000 Heartmate II LVADS Have Now Been Implanted
Posted: April 20, 2012 in Daily Life, Health, Heart, LVAD tips & resources, My New NormalTags: #LVAD, @MrChristopherL, cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, heart, heart health, heart pump, lvad community, Thoratec Corporation, University of Minnesota
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OY! What a Pain in my Foot!
Posted: February 21, 2012 in Daily Life, Health, Heart, LVAD tips & resources, My New NormalTags: #LVAD, @MrChristopherL, avoiding purine rich foods, cardiomyopathy, cochisine, congestive heart failure, diet, diuretics, foot pain, gout, gout and diuretics, gout treatments, heart, heart health, heart transplant, joint pain, nutrition, purine rich foods, purines, sudden onset gout
Gout is one of the oldest diseases in the medical literature; it has been around since the first recorded case in the time of the ancient Greeks. I always thought that it was one of those “old people” diseases often depicted in comedic sketches or on Saturday Night Live. I clearly didn’t know that [...]
Join Us on Twitter for LVAD Tweetchat
Posted: January 30, 2012 in Health, Heart, LVAD tips & resourcesTags: #LVAD, @LVADone, @MrChristopherL, cardiomyopathy, caregivers, congestive heart failure, Facebook, heart, heart failure, heart health, heart pump, heart transplant, ICD, LVAD caregivers, lvad community, LVAD Friends, LVAD information, LVAD Nation, LVAD resources, LVAD tips, LVAD Tweetchat, LVAD Warriors, MYLVAD.com, organ donation, Pinterest, Thoratec Corporation, transplant, Tweetchat, Twitter, Twitter.com
For the LVAD (Left Ventricle Assist Device) community, so many of us are spread all over, and in some areas there are only one or two people living with a LVAD, that unless we connect online, we are very isolated on information, support, and a simple community of people who are going through similar life [...]
The LVAD Leash – Life at the end of a 30 foot cord
Posted: January 11, 2012 in Daily Life, Heart, LVAD tips & resources, My New NormalTags: #LVAD, cardiomyopathy, heart health, heart pump, heart transplant, lvad leash, LVAD power cord
Part of my new normal of being powered by electricity involves battery packs during the day to be portable, but each night, I eventually switch over to wall power which involves a 30 foot cord. This cord allows me some freedom at night (about 30 feet of it). The wall unit is in our bedroom, [...]
I don’t always have the answer, nor do I need to.
Posted: January 10, 2012 in Daily Life, Health, Heart, LVAD tips & resourcesTags: #LVAD, @MrChristopherL, cardiomyopathy, Facebook, heart, heart health, heart pump, heart transplant, Linkedin, lvad community, support groups, Twitter, University of Minnesota, YouTube
If you know me personally, you know how hard that declaration is for me. I almost always have the answer (or at least I claim to). Ever since the first grade I was quick to raise my hand and deliver an answer, even if it was the wrong one. I would get all red in [...]
How do you Explain your LVAD to Younger Children?
Posted: January 6, 2012 in Daily Life, Heart, LVAD tips & resources, Multiple Children, Supergirl, TwinsTags: #LVAD, Build-a-Bear Workshop, cardiomyopathy, Dad, heart, heart health, heart pump, heart transplant, Heartly the LVAD Bear, helping daddy, LVAD Teddy Bear, raising multiples, raising twins, Supergirl, teaching younger children, Thoratec Corporation, undefined, Wonder Twins, Wonder Woman
Back in September of 2011 when I first found out that I was going to need a LVAD implanted to keep my heart going until a donor heart was found, my wife and I barely understood what exactly this device would entail, much less how we were going to explain it to our children (9-year-old [...]
LVAD Tips & Resources – Holster Shirts
Posted: January 6, 2012 in Daily Life, LVAD tips & resourcesTags: #LVAD, Bosco LVAD vests, cardiomyopathy, Dick Cheney, fishing vests, heart, heart pump, Heartmate Go Gear, holster shirts, photography vests, shooting vests, tactical shirts
One of the first questions/challenges facing LVAD implant recipients, is how to comfortably carry around the battery packs and controller unit during the day, to allow as much mobility as possible. I have been told of several solutions, from Photographer/Hunter/Fishing vests with more than enough pockets to store all of the equipment and wallets, [...]
