And the results are in>>>Drum Roll Please!

My 6 month check up was non eventful!

White Count is back to normal.....++++++med levels are normal...++++ and rejection level is still at ZERO>NADA>NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM DANCING IN THE STREETS!!!

Parking is free on Sundays!!

Went to the Y this morning ..since parking is free did not rush anything. I had a wonderful workout and still find it amazing that I'm enjoying going.

15 cents short equals a ticket!!

I went to the YMCA today and did my usual hour work out. I had a blast was just cooling down and wiping off the last machine I was on and got my bag and left...It was 12:12pm....I had put 50 Cents in the parking meter for an hour of time but I got a ticket you see I forgot to add the time I would need to change clothes when I got there and my cool down time. The ticket was 3 bucks...now I guess I will have to put in 65 cents so I have the extra time I need.

The good news is I did do my work out...bad new is it cost money...I don't mind the pain..but I hate the paying!!

Have a great day!!

Out of the Burgh before all the crazy people arrive!

The appointment went well. Got to hospital at 7 and was out by 9:30 there was very little traffic going in and none leaving. Pressures look excellent. I am now on 2 month schedule till we reach the one year mark..2nd year they will be every 3 months and the 3rd year every four months after that no need for them.. I was also given the OK to start lifting weights to bulild up upper body strength.

So let us just say I am doing the Happy Dance!!!

It is time for the 6 month tune up.

Tomorrow I will get up at 5:45 AM and leave the house by 6:30 AM for an appointment that does not start till 8:AM. I will probably get there early but with the whole G-20 thing going on here in the Pittsburgh area and the protesters who are protesting whatever the hell has them pissed off have already arrived I just want to get in to town and get the hell out of there as fast as I can....Do you blame me???

Well actually tomorrow will end the monthly trips in to the Burgh for Heart Catheterizations and Biopsies...This does not mean I am good to go yet, but I am getting closer. If all goes well tomorrow then I will have a biopsy and catheterization in late November....if that goes well then one late January early February and then the next one will be in March marking the 1 year point.

I don't think there will be any problems tomorrow. I have been feeling great and trying to get my exercise in although tonight I counted housework as my exercise. (cut me some slack the bedroom is up a flight of steps and the washer and dryer are down a flight of steps) I did have some water retention late last week but with 1 little 40mg Lasix tablet that has resolved it self and I am back down to the mid-180's. I am off all non-heart related medications and the ones that I do take I will take for the rest of my life.

I bowl once a week in a league and once a week with Evan. That will change next week when we begin a parent/child league on Sunday nights....then my regular league on Wednesday . I have not gone back to the YMCA yet but that will happen on Thursday right after school. My work schedule so far is great I see students on Tuesday and Friday...These are also days that I don't do the car pool thing so I can hit the Y right after my last class.. and with the weather and leaves changing who knows maybe a hike in the mountains maybe a prescription I may have to force myself to take.

The funny thing is I feel like this whole transplant thing happened a long time ago...but it has only been 6 months. Can't wait to see what the next 30-40 years has planned.

Perhaps they were right...

When we first started this whole Transplant process the folks that we met with thought I had a great attitude about the whole situation...their concern was how would adjust to life after the transplant. WTF....why would I have a hard time adjusting....I would be healthy for the first time in my life..this was the dream and hopes that I had been waiting for my whole life. It turns out that perhaps they were right...you see I can do more now... I have energy now and sometimes I have to much...

When I was sick we were always on the go. We would go for walks and go bowling and run Evan here and there...Now we don't do to much of anything..I find it very hard...I go for walks...I do the WII and I do move but I kinda get tired of doing things by myself. I found our old GEO tracking device a couple of weeks ago in storage and got excited...I used to hate doing it when I was sick but I did it anyway. Why I guess it was even if I do a little I would give myself some energy when I really had none. Now I got all the energy you could ask for and we have not gone Geo tracking once.

I hate sitting still I want to be moving...I don't know where this comes from..is it real...sometimes I think the last 6 months have been a dream and if I stop moving I will wake and be back to that sickly person....

I thought that by now we would do so much more...hiking...bowling...golfing.....walking...geo tracking....

When I say lets go for a walk even the dogs look at me like.."WTF is wrong with the fat man all he wants to do is move and move."

So if I get angry now it is because I wish we were doing more active things together...this is what I was told by everyone when I need to keep my spirits up before the transplant and during recovery....and I sort of was looking forward to it.

I fell off the wagon....

I fell off the healthy eating wagon on Labor Day... I started out doing well and had played WII bowling and tennis for 1 hour so I had my workout for the day!! We went shopping at Burlington and then went to the mall....I got a chicken (teriyaki) salad for lunch and a bottle of water. As we are walking around I feel my sugar going south like an Ice Cube in Hell!!!Dashed off to the Dollar store and bought a candy bar...I figured that would get me a quick fix....It did and more!! It opened a whole can of eating every Carb within reach of my hands...ok I also got up to get some but I needed it!!!

So how do you think I felt this morning????? Like 100% certified SHIT!!!! Yep I felt like shit...tired and not wanting to get up.

I have returned to the wagon....next time sugar falls will eat a candy bar or do what I need to do to get it to a safe level...but I will not binge like I did yeasterday!!

Hell to the NO!! I will go for a walk..... eat my almonds.... listen to music....pray....and sit on my hands...but I will not Ever do that again!!!

Just for the record...I have also been with out any type of soda or caffine for the last 3 weeks...I did not fall off that wagon!!

I am nothing special!

I must admit that I was a bit stunned last night at temple...no it was not the service, it is what happened after the service.

Sharon and Ev wanted to go get Ice Cream, but we decided to stop into the social hall just to say a quick hello to everyone and then dash off.

As, we were talking the mother of a young man who will have his Bar Mitzvah came up and told us that I was her son's Bar Mitzvah project. You see as a young person prepares for his/her Bar/Bat Mitzvah they take on a project that allows them to do some form of Zedeka(giving of gifts, time or money) this young man has been making jar cookie dough..you know the kind that you get all the dry ingrediants that you need to make said cookie...he has been doing it since April around the time of Passover...he has a name for it but I can't remember that at this time but I do know the word heart is in there. His mother wanted us to know because he is donating all the money he raised to the National Transplant Fund...This is the Fund that holds all of the money people have donated to me to help set off the cost of meds and travel and whatever other exspenses I occur because of the transplant.

Ok I got teary eyed and told the mother thanks for telling me because I would have been floored to hear this at his Bar Mitzvah.

It is an honor to be this young man's project!!

HI Ho...back to the YMCA we go!!

In June of 1998 Sharon got us a family membership..September of that year I went on Disability...we used the Y for swimming and youth sports for Ev. We would also go and use cardio equipment...but the further my health went down hill we used it mostly for Ev....So know last December that I would have the Transplant Eval and all things were pointing to the transplant we canceled the Y membership.....Today I went to register us and the lady behind the desk was you all were members for a long time and then you quit in December..I relayed the story and she said since it was less then a year she was going to charge registration fee for a Second year membership which end up saving us close to 60.00 dollars in registration and first month fees.

So now it is back to the Y to switch up my cardio and begin weight training!!!

For fun and exercise today I took Ev bowling...we had not bowled since his 14th birthday..he and I hopefully will be in a family league on Sundays and I am in a league on Wed. Nights...so we brushed the dust off the bowling balls..Ev averaged 70 for the three game...I averaged 108 thank goodness I had 140 the second game or it would have been bad!!!!