Latasha’s fourth and hopefully last surgery in this journey was successful, leaving her with no more internal bleeding, and her lung is now fully functional. She was left with a few more battle scars but a small price to pay for being able to breathe and live another day. Tasha had a long night full…

Over the last few weeks of this Heart Lung Transplant journey, 26 days to be exact, I have had the honor of seeing human beings at their finest. I have had time to think, reflect, and analyze many things. But the past 48 hours have left me thinking hard about the humanity, morality, and compassion…

Well, my friends, it has been a very long day of talking with doctor after doctor and waiting. They just took Tasha back for her fourth surgery. Tasha had a very long and rough night and day; her vitals were out of balance, so they put in a chest tube, and she lost almost two…

It has been one helluva day, one I would honestly like to redo, but unfortunately, that’s not how life works. So here is the short of the long. Latasha suffered a pretty significant internal bleed that wreaked all sorts of havoc and ended up with a 30% blood volume loss, which then shocked her system…

Overnight, Latasha was not much better and developed a lot of pain and labored breathing. She is now going to have a fourth surgical procedure for internal bleeding. The doctors confirmed through X-rays and CT scans that she developed a bad internal bleed on her right lung or in the chest cavity. The positive is…

As things always seem to go on this journey, Latasha hasn’t had a good day today. She’s been tired and has had very bad nausea since last night. Tasha hasn’t been able to ingest much food or liquids, and her creatinine levels are high, which means her kidneys are a bit out of whack. Additionally,…

Today was a busy day for Latasha and me. We met with many disciplines to discuss discharge and life after transplant, precisely postoperative success. Through 30 years of successfully managing major transplants, we have gained a lot of great information. We have some lifestyle adjustments to accommodate medications and prevention, but that’s a small price…

One of the most illuminating aspects of the Heart Lung Transplant journey has been all of the medications—a literal buffet of different medications to stop this, block this, enhance that, suppress this, and so on and so on. I lost count somewhere around 20 different medications in pill, liquid, and shot forms. We learned today…

Today marks the three-week point in this transplant story. It marks a transitional moment where the medical conversations have shifted toward postoperative care and discharge. It’s a lot to take in. Just 21 days ago, I was having a minor panic attack, and Latasha and I were driving to Cleveland Clinic, asking ourselves if this…

As Latasha recovers from her Heart and Lung Transplant (HLT), she is gaining her strength back and getting more mobile, and as the doctors take out bandages and tubes, it reveals the scars of the HLT journey. The funny thing about scars is that they leave a reminder of an event and the emotions that…