will we ever have a normal life?

[misdee]

i cant imagine what the future holds for me and my family. i can imagine life without harefield anymore. will we always be reliant on the transplant team? today peter had his last test to go back onto the transplant list, i am hoping it will come ok, and he cango back on the list, and then we start the waiting again, waiting for some other poor soul to die so we can have some sort of normality in our lives. waiting, all we do is wait. will it ever end, will it ever be normal? i cant get my head around it. what if it all falls apart when peter finally leaves hospital, has our relationship changed from husband and wife to carer and patient, will we ever regain a normal relationship? will my kids live in fear of daddy going back to hospital. its just all too much.

Oh Misdee - I really feel for you. You have to be strong for everyone.

My only advice is that my uncle had a heart transplant in 1989. He has since had a kidney transplant and a hernia op. He is on meds obviously. But he seems to live a fairly normal life.

And - more to the point - he has 4 grandchildren born in the last 8 years.

I have my fingers crossed for all of you. It is a hard road. But you will get there.

Misdee, thinking of you.

he made it through LVAD against the odds, the team didnt think he'd survive, can his body really take any more? my mind is full of what ifs and maybes.

budababe, its great hearing of success sotries, but our lives wont ever be normal. outr medicine cabinets will always be full, peter has his own one for his meds, and somehow ithink it will always be his own.

Misdee just seen this.I think the LVAD is a bit like dialysis it is a stepping stone to normality and for us at least a bit of a limbo land.You will always need the transplant team but it is amazing how quickly you move up the ranks of 'well' patients and all the nurses etc have much less direct involvement in your lives I would say that within 3-4 months of the transplant life is fairly normal again and you quickly forget how bad it really was as you are so busy making up for lost time.My son was forever making trips to the hospital with me and also quickly got used to me not going so much.Children are amazingly resilient!As for your relationship the stronger he gets the more you will go back to normal and all the old urges do come back fairly fast.It is a hard time for you but you will get through it and when you are all together on a lovely holiday somewhere it will have been worth it.

Thinking of you too, misdee.
xx

huGS, Misdee. I can't tell you that it will "all be normal again". But it will be different, eventually. Things change.