Good news!

Hi everyone,


Well, it is not official yet, and won’t be until the end of the week or later. But, John retook the pulmonary stress test this morning and did better than he did in November. In past years, 2007 and back, 160 watts was about what the test showed. In November, John was only able to do 110 watts, and the UW cardiologist told us in February that 110 was borderline for being put onto the transplant list, and that if there was improvement, that she wouldn’t even present him to the approval panel. She will need to review the test results, but based on what she said in February, we don’t expect to be listed anytime soon.

We know how quickly heart function can deteriorate, and so know that this reprieve may not last for long. But, we’ve known since 1994 that a transplant was in the future, so maybe we’ll keep on borrowing time.


It’s good news that the ‘native organ’ will last longer, but each shift in the landscape brings it’s own set of emotions and traumas. We were so prepared for being listed, we knew we would have to stay with three hours of the hospital, that there could be no alcohol, not even the daily beer, and it is not going to happen now. We are now back in the position of waiting, knowing that this will recur, that we’ll need to go through the testing again and gear up for a transplant again.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, thoughts and wishes. We really appreciate them.

We’ll post again if there are any other changes. Otherwise expect the next post to be about fishing this summer or cruising in the fall – maybe to the Caribbean.


Colleen and John