It's T-Shirt Time!

Come one, come all to the 2011 Central NJ Heart Walk! It’s hard to believe that October 1 is just ONE week away! It’s definitely time to order the latest limited edition t-shirts!

I am honored to be this year’s survivor ambassador – what an improvement from last year, when I wasn’t sure I could even complete the 5k walk! Experiencing the energy at last year’s walk and having many friends (and my mom) walk with me was really special, and I hope to contribute to that kind of energy again this year. My goal is to give hope to at least one person early in his or her heart disease battle the way people did for me last year.

If you can join the fun but haven’t signed up yet, click here. The more the merrier! Our team name is We Got The Beat.

The We Got The Beat design team has created a versatile selection of shirts for your wearing pleasure – for men, women, toddlers and even pregnant ladies! Go to this link [fast!] to order yours: http://www.cafepress.com/heartwalk2011.

If you can’t attend but want to contribute to this great cause, please click here to make a donation. The American Heart Association works tirelessly to fund important research initiatives and to educate people about the risks and symptoms of heart disease.

Two of my very good friends already participated in the San Francisco Heart Walk – thanks so much to Rachael and Ioana! You guys are the best!

Fire Alarm Lullaby

When you think about an industrial fire alarm going off, it may make you wince. Thoughts of that shrill sound and flashing strobe light don’t evoke positive feelings in most. But among the varied and unpredictable noises in the hospital, the fire alarm recently served as a lullaby for this girl.

Let me start from the beginning. Good news: I have now been sick twice since my transplant, and I have survived. One of my biggest fears last July was getting sick, since commonplace illnesses can be far more debilitating for those with suppressed immune systems. That, combined with the risk of rejection masquerading as a cold or the flu, really caused me to worry about getting sick post-transplant. I had a cold a few months ago that did stick with me longer than it probably would have affected someone with a fully functional immune system, but it was overall uneventful.

More recently I caught something more than a cold. I spent a full day in bed with a horrible headache, followed by vomiting six or seven times through the night until I finally called the heart transplant service in the morning. My nurse advised me to head straight to the emergency room to get checked out. The first priority was determining if I had an infection, which would have been dangerous for me. Fortunately, we determined it was just a virus. The second concern was eliminating the nausea in order to allow me to take my important medications, so I stuck around overnight to be sure I could keep food down.

Well, my visit happened to coincide with Hurricane Irene’s visit, and the hospital lost power late that night. I had been awake after yet another date with the toilet and was trying to get to sleep in spite of the erratic beeps and voices and other sounds that are omnipresent on the heart floors and probably throughout the hospital. Fortunately, the power loss (which was quickly remedied with generators) triggered the fire alarm. This was just the consistent white noise I needed. It lulled me right to sleep, I had the best sleep I’ve ever had in the hospital and I awoke ready to try some breakfast. Breakfast and then lunch stayed with me, and the challenge promptly became finding a route home from New Brunswick in Irene’s aftermath (which was obviously nothing compared to the damage a lot of folks faced).

I’ll consider pulling the alarm during any future visits when a lullaby is needed…but I hope they don’t have a prankster-prevention apparatus like the one featured in the ad below!

What happens to the people that legitimately pull the alarm...you know, when there's a FIRE?

Seven Months Ago Today...

Seven months ago today was National Wear Red Day for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement. In keeping with my recent timeliness, I want to FINALLY share some awesome pictures from that day! In my defense, my good friend (to remain nameless…) took the great office pictures on February 4 and promptly suffered HTWTCA (How-To-Work-The-Camera-Amnesia), so I only received them a few weeks ago when her fabulous husband took matters into his own hands!

I was traveling by air on the big day back in February, which provided a captive audience for my awareness efforts. I had the lady in the window seat pinned in for a good two hours. I didn’t lay my whole story on her, but I did take the opportunity to [briefly] tell her about Go Red for Women and why it’s important to me.

My Go Red Outfit

Meanwhile, back at the office… I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. I think it's clear that these are some good friends!! (More pictures in photo album page.)

My good buddy Sean ended up staying home sick from work that day. However, thanks to his dedicated friendship (and probably the larger factor – his crazy competitive nature), he rocked his red outfit for the camera before conking out for the day.

Rico went Red remotely too! (Can't get the photo to work...)

And my wonderful cousin Emily dressed her precious little girls up in red for the occasion. Aren’t they sweet?!!

Thanks to all!

Also, mark your calendars: The American Heart Association Central NJ Heart Walk is on October 1. Click here to sign up to walk with our team (WE GOT THE BEAT) or click here to make a donation to this important cause. All support is appreciated!!

Professionalism and Drugs

I learned last week that it’s difficult to simultaneously be professional and take a bunch of drugs. Perhaps that’s been common knowledge for decades when it comes to illegal drugs, but I’m talking about the plethora of prescription meds I take every day.

When I’m physically at my workplace, it’s easier for me to maintain my regimen. Almost all of my coworkers know my story and expect to see me popping pills at any given time. Many even know to stay away from my cubicle when my back is directly to its opening, since that usually means I’m injecting insulin into my exposed gut. This makes it pretty easy to conduct my business throughout a day of conducting business.

However, travel and off-site meetings are a bit of a different story. I went down to my business school alma mater – wahoowah! – last week. It was a great trip and I was able to visit with some old (in more ways than one!) professors and interact with the students. The best part of the trip by far was meeting a very senior executive at my company (“Elizabeth”) and seeing her speak to the students. After the speech, a few colleagues and I were invited to lunch with Elizabeth and a handful of Darden professors and senior staff, including the Dean. It was a pretty impressive group in a pretty fancy private room during a pretty formal meeting – as in, one did not get up and go to the bathroom in the middle.

This could present a problem for a few different types of people. Those with incontinence (or bladder weakness, as I recently learned it’s called) might have trouble in this situation. People with Crohn’s Disease could find themselves in some deep…well, you know. And it's a challenging situation for an insulin-dependent diabetic that also takes oral medications SIX (yep, it has gone up) times a day.

Going into the lunch, I knew the plan was to discuss topics one and two, then eat, then discuss topic three. If the plan had been to eat first, I could have injected beforehand, but I didn’t want to risk dropping on the floor during the first two discussions (though that would have been one way to ensure that Elizabeth remembered me!). So in I went for the pasta salad and other glucose-elevators typically found in these catered situations and willed my pancreas to step up to the plate just this once. When it came time to take my next set of pills, I quietly reached into my bag, pulled out my pouch and was just emptying that timeslot’s meds into my hand (fortunately, it’s more socially acceptable to use Purell in public) when the conversation moved to the Dean, who was seated right next to me at the head of the table. So there I was, with a handful of pills in one hand, my pill organizer in the other and my pouch of goodies spilling into my lap, when the whole table of highly credentialed people turned to face the Dean – and me.

I’m sure no one noticed the pharmacy in my lap; that’s not the point. The point is that it’s difficult to do what I need to do sometimes. I guess it really boils down to something I never fully appreciated until recently: it’s hard to be different. And it’s a pain in the butt to take a handful of pills at six regularly scheduled times, to inject myself with each meal and to prick my finger four times a day.

But, as I frequently remind myself, it’s not as big of a pain as the alternative. So I’ll take it. And one day when I’m not the most junior person in every meeting, maybe I’ll get more comfortable in my drug-dependent body.

Veni, Vidi, Vici...Almost

I will hereby admit my delinquency in this public forum: I have not thanked the majority of the people that contributed to the Share NJ 5k that took place in June. I’m officially now two months late (my mama taught me better!!). Despite what my tardiness may imply, I am incredibly grateful to all of you who contributed to this great cause! In total, our team raised a whopping $2,550 and the event – in its inaugural year – raised over $450,000!

In alphabetical order: THANK YOU.

Rob Anderson, Karin Bergqvist, Barbara Brewer, Ioana Brooks, Ivy Brown, Sally Bublinec, Jan Carlin, Scott Creighton, Anca Deliu, Debbie DeStasio, Lawanna Dimmerling, Kacey Dreby, Jennifer Ferrazza, Ann and Tom Fuller, Scott Fuller, Ross Fuller, Sal Giovine, Amanda and Wes Givens, Marion Guill, Ramona and Alvan Hampton, Rita Harris, Julia Healy, Fred Koberna, Marguerite and Chris Longo, Dawn Miles, Jana Morelli, Christine Musso, Tim O’Toole, Carla O’Brien, Tara Pullen, Amy Scalia, Jen Shrear, Kirsten Smith, Brieana Tascione, Fred Tewell, Johnelle Whipple, Jennifer Zangara

Those in blue made it to the race in person too! THANK YOU!

(If I missed anyone, I’m terribly sorry – the web site that captured this data was little tricky.)

After you all helped blow my fundraising goal out of the water, I was excited for the physical challenge. Apparently, the challenge of running a mile eleven months post-transplant was not enough for this girl, so I went and became very anemic to up the ante. In all seriousness, the anemia made exercising much more difficult and has caused me to essentially halt all exercise since the 5k in June. But I was determined to give it my best shot anyway, and thanks to all of the support – especially from those who were able to join me for the run – I very nearly accomplished my goal of running that final mile. Marguerite (bless her heart) claims I did run the whole thing, but she’s being generous as usual.

As with most of my recovery since July of 2010, it wasn’t pretty but it was progress. And I fully intend to run at least two miles at this same event next year.



The finish line!

Visit PHOTO ALBUM on the left for more photos of the big day.



Home, Sweet...Hilton Head

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina has long held a special place in my heart. My family started vacationing there in the early nineties, and since 1996 my friends and I have created innumerable memories of our own. I’ve spent a lot of time in Hilton Head, from quick visits to one entire summer during college, and I have a veritable almanac of fond memories from those times spent with friends and family.

But Hilton Head has further entrenched itself in my heart and mind after my most recent visit last week – and for three separate reasons that I’ll share in chronological order. The first treat of the week was getting to spend time with my parents, two of my three brothers, my sister-in-law, and best of all (no offense to the rest of you) my perfect little nephew. This was my second time seeing Baby Michael, and it’s just amazing to see him grow (mostly in width!) and develop. He is starting to grin and respond and even spent some fun time in the pool, which I’m convinced he thought was a giant bathtub. I’m trying to decide if I can justify another trip down south to see him before Thanksgiving…we’ll see. This aunt is smitten.


Look closely, he's rocking his organ donation onesie!

The second thing that happened in Hilton Head was about as special as it gets. I celebrated a full year with my new heart on July 21, and my parents and I met several of my donor’s family members that very day. [In the strangest of coincidences, T’neil’s family and I had planned to be in Hilton Head at the same time.] It’s impossible to articulate how much it meant to me to be able to meet and see and hug my donor’s mother, Denisha. I can’t say enough wonderful things about her warm and loving spirit, and it was a delight to meet her husband, aunt and uncle as well. We all chatted for quite a while, and they each used a stethoscope to hear T’neil’s strong heart beating in my chest. I think that meant the most to them, and I’m so glad I was able to give them a way to truly feel T’neil’s presence again.

Denisha made the call to donate T’neil’s organs last year, since they hadn’t previously discussed the topic. It takes a remarkable person to think of anonymous others when experiencing the anguish of a child’s sudden illness and death. Most of us can’t even imagine; I know I can’t. Denisha is that remarkable person. Her kindness during that impossible time saved many lives, including my own, and improved the lives of countless others. Even through a year of grief and pain, I can tell that she continues to be so proud of all of her children and their accomplishments. She feels T’neil’s presence when candles are lit and when butterflies are seen nearby, and she seems able to maintain focus and joy for her surviving children – especially one that is expecting a baby girl in the fall and another that hopes to go to college on a basketball scholarship. Oh, and she’s pretty focused on her own big birthday coming up in a few weeks, too! Denisha has a truly contagious aura of positivity and warmth around her, and I hope we will be a part of each other’s lives forever. Eventually, I would love to meet T’neil’s many siblings – I’ll be here whenever they are ready.


Isn't Denisha pretty?! I promise she's older than I am...

To round out the week of excitement, nine of my best friends came down to Hilton Head to celebrate my one year anniversary and recent thirtieth birthday. My parents graciously loaned us their house for the week and we happily accepted! People traveled from North Carolina, Boston, Pennsylvania and even Utah for the celebration, and we had a great time. I strayed wildly from my diet for several days, but I figured I could splurge a bit for the occasion.


Most of us!

Now I’m back in New Jersey, preparing for the return to real life tomorrow. After nearly two weeks of vacation, my alarm clock is going to be quite a shock in the morning. But whenever I get tired or frustrated or down, I know I can close my eyes and peruse my internal database of unforgettable memories from Hilton Head Island, both old and new.

T Minus One Week!



Front

I am getting really excited about the big race on June 12! After much deliberation, we have finalized the official See Andrea Run team t-shirts! I’ve purchased shirts for everyone who signed up to join our 5k team but want to make them available to anyone else interested in joining us from afar. The link below will take you to zazzle.com where you can purchase these limited edition gems :)

http://www.zazzle.com/see_andrea_run_tshirt-235257985241462342

Additionally, I want to extend a HUGE thank you to all of those who have donated to this important cause. Thanks to you, we have raised $1,850 so far! I’m so touched by all of the support and feel great about us being able to make such a sizable impact!

If you still want to contribute and/or sign up to join us on June 12, there’s still time! Just click HERE for the team page. You can sign up until the day of the race and donations are accepted until June 17.


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