Oscar the cat has been linked to 25 deaths in the nursing home he lives at. Aparently he is a loner but sometimes he will visit a resident and many times the resident has passed away shortly thereafter!

This cat predicts when a person is near death. It's both creepy and comforting at the same time. If I was ready to die though, I'd totally welcome cats to come visit me, it's probably very comforting.

Kitty hospice, definately an idea whose time has come!

Leave it to the media to make Oscar look evil though, I bet he just wants the people to feel relaxed.

Also, the obligatory LOLcat of Oscar....

--Chris Falco

I decided to take some time before writing the reports for the second half of my lung transplant screening tests. This allowed me to recover and digest everything and would hopefully be able to write more clearly.

Day 3:

This was the biggest test so far, the heart catherization. A thin tube is placed into a vein in your leg near your groin, and it is fished up towards your heart. When it gets there a bunch of data can be collected. For my case it can be a regular vein, for some people they have to check the artery which is a more invasive procedure.

I was not allowed to eat or drink after midnight the night before. I arrived at 8:30am and checked in with the receptionist. Shortly after I was brought back and given a locker to store my belongings and given a pair of hospital approved extra large socks and a hospital gown.

There is nothing quite as fun as wearing a hospital gown. I don't know if its the fact that it's one size fits all, or that it's near impossible to tie the straps yourself, or the fact that your backside is left hangin out, but combined with the extremely cold room temperatures at hospitals, there is really nothing enjoyable about wearing one.

I was then placed in the pre-procedure area in the cardiac center. I was given an IV and my blood sugar level was taken. Sensors were placed on my chest and my hips, a finger monitor was placed to watch my pulse and oxygen levels. I was then set to wait about an hour. I signed release forms for the procedure. Nerve damage is like 1 in 10,000, if there's a problem they want to be able to give you blood, which has a rick of infection of about 1 in 50,000. Now I don't know where those numbers came from they seemed high to me. With all the precautions taken these days with blood drives and whatnot, I would have thought there would be a lot less than 1 in 50,000. Anyways, I signed the papers and was set to go. They shaved a small area of my legs (inner thigh). They did both legs becuase it's up to the doctor doing the procedure to decide which leg has a better vein to access.

My parents came in and we watched Super Password and The Price is Right on tv, (Game Show Network rules), finally it was my turn. I got wheeled in and was moved onto the table. They rolled my on to it, as they didn't want me to move myself because that would cause a spike in my oxygen levels. They wanted a reading while I was at rest. After I was all set they added a small amount of drug to my IV to relax me.

I was awake the entire time, and after about 5 minutes I got the "drunk" feeling. It's hard to explain if you've never had it but, the best I can describe is when you're drunk and you are lucid but you are at the point where you try to focus at an object and it feels like your eyes are rolling in little circles. It's a little bit drunker than being buzzed, and a little less then not having control of yourself.

I was then given several injections of a local anesthestic in my right leg. This felt like a mild bee sting, it only stung for a second then I couldn't feel anything. For the next 10-20 minutes the team of 3, (1 doctor and 2 assistants) manuevered the line into position then took a reading of the pressures in my heart. Now, I never felt the needle or that part, but I did feel the pressure they put on my leg to get to the vein. It mostly felt like I had a bruise on my leg they they were pushing on. It wasn't so much pain as it was mild discomfort. It was only about 10-20 minutes for the entire procedure once they numbed up my leg. When they finished I was taped up, rolled back to the bed with wheels and rolled back to the recovery room.

At this point I was laying completely flat and was told to not sit up until they said I could. They had an assistant come in and remove the tube from my leg. He then applied pressure to my leg for a good 10 or 15 minutes to make sure I would not bleed. At this point my leg was much more sore as the local anesthestic had worn off. I had started to get a little bit of swelling at this point as well.

Finally, about a half hour later I was told I could sit up. I was given a deli sandwich some chips and apple juice. I was pretty sleepy at this point so I napped on and off the next hour or two. A nurse came and had me walk around the cardiac ward to make sure my leg was fine. The took out the IV and I got dressed and was out of there by about 1:30 (I think, I don't remember the actual time)

I walked with a small limp that day, not because I had to, but because walking that way was more comfortable. We found Ted Drewes's frozen custard and I had a huge chocolate malt which was very tasty. Ted Drewes is big in St Louis and they had a line of about 20-30 people when we arrived, very impressive! After a trip to the drug store and driving around for fun and seeing St Louis, I had become quite hungry (I'm not a fan of deli sandwiches like the hospital gave me) so I used the $159 Nav-cam GPS I got from woot.com and hacked to use TomTom 6 software to search out food. I found an Olive Garden that was close and we went and had lunch. We got back to the hotel around 5:30 or so. I was quite tired and took a nice long nap. I was advised to take ibprofin every 6 hours, and I did. I slept quite well, and got a great night of sleep that night as well.

Day 4 didn't start until 10am for me and there would be no tests, just meetings with finance and social workers. We had breakfast at the same cafe we did on Monday. It was once again quite tasty. (I'm a sucker for pancakes)


At 10am we met with a socal worker in the lung transplant center. First she met with just me, then later she brought in my parents. This was a psychological evaluatation more than anything. She didn't have anything new that I hadn't read on my own already. This is a good thing as I hate last minute surprises. We discussed how post transplant life included many precautions, such as avoiding people that are sick, taking immunosupressant medication every 12 hours for the rest of your life, and various things. The meeting went very well.


At 11am we met with Cena the financial consultant. She had a report from our insurance and it was her job to make sure all the paperwork was correct and that my doctors at home had make the corrent referals to this hospital, and that my insurance considered this hospital "in network". Everything seemed to be in order and Cena was extremely knowledgeable about medical billing and insurance and whatnot. I got the feeling that she understands both the patient and the hospitals side of the situation and she deals with the insurance companies all day long. I feel like if I had an issue, she would be able to get ahold of the right people to get answers and correct information.

At noon, I met my "mentor" Scott. Scott had Cystic Fibrosis as I do, he had a lung transplant 3 and 1/2 years ago and is doing great. Scott and my CF stories seems to mirror almost exactly, we both had very mild simptoms as kids, and it wasn't until late high school and college did the effects of the Cystic Fibrosis start to cause serious problems to our everyday life. We talked about being on the waiting list, the surgery, living after the transplant and lots of things. He showed pictures of his surgery which were very cool. His mentor told him to bring a disposable camera when he got "the call" that a match was found and he was getting new lungs. He did and a nurse took pictures of the old lungs, and the new lungs and various times in the procedure. While quite graphic, it was very cool and fascinating! I made a mental note to have a cameras waiting for when I get my transplant.

While I was meeting with Scott, my doctors and everyone else I had met with during the week had a meeting to determine my overall evaluatation.

When they finished they came and got me, I said goodbye to Scott and thanked him for his tips and sharing his experiece with me. Scott mentors twice a month on a volunteer basis, and it really is wonderful to talk to someone who has literally been in your shoes.

I met with Stacie from the transplant center and Dr Hachem who I met with earlier in the week. After all the tests were completed, they decided that the next step for my treatment would be to begin a pulmonary rehibilitation program while I waited to for lungs to be available for a transplant.

I would be listed as soon as I secured local housing and moved to the St Louis area. And attended a 2 day meeting with the surgical staff and the social workers with my "caregiver" who would be my parents. Dr Hachem wanted to get me in St Louis and listed for a transplant "sooner rather than later" which means around a month or so.

He ordered another series of blood tests as I left the hospital, mostly to have another set of data to confirm the previous results. My veins were stubborn and I had to get stuck 3 times to provide enough blood for the 9 tubes they required.


After I finished with the blood work, we called some places looking for housing. We found a place called Almost Home, that is run by a lady who rents fully furnished duplexes to people waiting for transplants. We called her and she was able to meet with us at 4pm that day. We meet her at her house which is on the same block as many of her rental units. They are in the neighborhood known as "The Hill" which is known for it's excellent italian food. The woman is wonderful, she doesn't require leases, is willing to bill to the exact day, she'll provide refunds if you go home early, if you get a call at 3am that they have lungs for you, she'll drive you to the hospital, she's completely awesome. She has been doing this for 8 years after her husband had a surgery and she realised there was a need for temporary housing. I think she has 8-10 units and they are always full. It's people like this that gives me faith in humans.

A unit should be available in mid August. We paid a deposit and secured the apartment. That's when I'll be headed down to wait for new lungs. There's no telling how long I'll wait, but after the surgery I have to say in St Louis for 3 months. I'm hoping the whole thing can be done in less than 6 months. We'll see. Talk about a total life shift. I really like St. Louis, it's a very nice city, I think I'll quite enjoy it, (not enough to abandon the cubs for the cardinals, but I'll try to catch a ballgame or two.

As a bonus there's a Sonic like 4 blocks from my apartment. We stopped to get there before driving back 5 hours to Illinois. It was first time at a Sonic and I found it quite good :)

I'm really excited to begin the whole process, and I'm thrilled at the idea of having new lungs and being able to do everything I used to love again.

So this story is to be continued, but the next chapter has good things ahead, and I'll be blogging it the whole way.

Thanks to everyone that emailed me after my last posts, I'm doing awesome and I know that reading other peoples' transplant experiences were helpful for me, and so I'm happy to write mine so that it might help someone else.

Boy was my kitty happy to see me when I got home!

--Chris Falco

I had to skip breakfast at the beginning of day 2, as I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything 4 hours before my CT scan.



First up was an EKG. I was given an injection containing a small amount of tin. After waiting 15 minutes I was given a second injection of a tracking agent. I was connected to several heart monitors and layed flat on my back as they took 3 videos of my heart doing its thing. Each video was recorded for 7-10 minutes, one looking straight down, one from the side, and one looking at my side with my arm over my head. After the injections this was extremely easy, as I just had to lie still (I'm a professional nap-taker).



Next was a CT scan. I layed on a bed and was told to hold my breath as I was robotically slid into a circular chamber. 10 seconds later a voice from a speaker inside the chamber told me to exhale. They did this twice and I was literally done it under 5 minutes.



Next I met the pulmonologist who explained that it does look to him that I'm at the point where, in his opinion, it'd be better to do a transplant sooner rather than later. He noticed my blood gas test showed high numbers. The lungs also filter carbon dioxide out of your blood, and because my lungs have been conpromised, they are not able to do this as well as they should. This results in extra tiredness and headaches after waking up. When sleeping, the lungs slip into amore relaxed mode, and the carbon dioxide builds up in the blood even more, and when you wake up you usually notice this due to a headache. I have been getting them recently, but they typically go away within 2-3 minutes of waking up. I assumed it was from sleeping with my air conditioning up high or sleeping with my neck turned weird, but it's nice to know there is a reason it has been happening more recently.

Basically I'm not showing anything different then what they would expect from someone with CF with my level of lung damage. I was prescribed to begin a pulmonary rehabilitation program asap. This would consist of weight bearing excercise (mostly tredmills) to help get my heart and organs ready for the increased activity post transplant. They want everything as strong as possible going into the transplant.



Next I met with a transplant social worker. First alone, then with my parents. She was basically outlining what needs to be done before I am placed on the list, and what kind of requirements I will have pre and post transplant. Where I can get funding if I need it. How my insurance changes and whatnot. A big concern for most is the $1000 / month drugs needed after the transplant to avoid rejection. Many insurance companies only cover the first year. It's nice to know these things ahead of time and being able to have a plan in place now will make things much smoother in the future.

Once everything is planned and a go, it looks like when on the transplant list I'll be living in St Louis. This could be for 2 days.....2 weeks....or 2 months, it depends on the length of the list for people my height and blood type. Once a match is found, I have 2 and a half hours to get to the hospital. Surgery lasts 6-10 hours on average. On average 1-2 days in the ICU followed by 10-14 days in the hospital. After leaving the hospital, I have to have someone with my 24 hours a day for the next 12 weeks (3 months). I begin daily pulmonary sessions and daily clinic appointments. I can begin to start driving after 6 weeks, and after 12 weeks I can pack up and go back home.

(and play with my kitty, who will have probably been wonder where the heck I've been!) After that I go back for a recheck in 6 months, then once a year after that.



I met with a dietician next and again got a pep talk about trying to gain as much weight as possible to help my body handle the transplant the best it can. I'll probably gain weight after the transplant, but not everyone does.



Tommorow is the most invasive procedure so far: a heart catherization. I can't eat or drink anything after midnight and have to be there at 8:30 sharp. Luckily that's the only thing scheduled tommorow and I should have a nice report when it's done

Day 2 stats:
2 injections
3 bottles of vitamin water
2 times lost in building
3 times the GPS told us to take roads that no longer exist



--Chris Falco

My hotel room has a 2 line phone next to the toilet. It also has a hold button. Lol.

There is a yellow cab that is painted orange. At the store there was the Firewall dvd with the same picture of Harrison Ford used on every movie poster since patriot games. And at the checkout corner "rap snacks" wtf?



--Chris Falco

This is going to be a long week.

I have traveled to St Louis with my parents. The plans for this trip were put into motion back in April. I had gotten sick, and ended up in the hospital for a few days. I have Cystic Fibrosis, my doctors discovered I had it when I was 6 months old, and was failing to gain weight. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is caused by damaged DNA, it's genetic and it effects the lungs, along with other organs. I've had it my whole life and as I got older it slowly has taken various tolls on my body. Only since college has it really started to drastically effect my life. I've always been tall and skinny. No matter what I eat I don't seem to put any weight on. I always have a cough which leads people to believe I'm a 4 pack a day smoker. I had to give up soccer, and hockey, this past year even riding my bicycle has become difficult.

This April was the 6th time I got sick to the point where I ended up in the hospital for treatment. I see my doctors every 3 months and take various drugs to help my lungs fight off infection. Even with all the drugs and treatment, my lung function still declines and in April, a test revealed my lungs are working at around 20% what is normal for someone my weight and height. I spent 5 days in the hospital, and did another 16 days of IV treatments from hone.

When I went home from the hospital I was given a machine to have oxygen in my home, and portible tanks to take with me if I venture outside.

I went back to my doctor at the end of April, I felt better but my lung function test numbers were about the same, meaning the drugs are not as effective as they were in the past.

During my follow up visit my doctor then asked if I was interested in learning and potentially being placed on the list for a lung transplant.

I learned about the process and how it mostly goes, and I decided to blog the process along the way so that in the future, if someone else if going through the process they can have a first hand account of what happens.

To be placed on a transplant list, you must first want to have a transplant, and go through a transplant evaluation. My doctor recommended Barnes Jewish Hospital in St Louis, and my insurance covers it so after doing research, I decided to go there. My doctor refered me and sent my medical history to their transplant team.

After a month I got a call asking to setup an evaluation, we locked in the week of July 16.

The evaluation at Barnes Jewish is 4 days long. You arrive at 7:30 am Monday morning and you get a schedule of tests for the week. You do 4 days of pretty much every test you can think of to evaluate if the doctors and surgeons feel you can tolerate a transplant and that they believe you can have a successful outcome.

I drove in with my parents Sunday afternoon. From my house west of Chicago it was about a 5 hour drive. The home care place arranged for me to have portible oxygen tanks to take with me. We also arranged for a oxygen machine be delivered to my hotel for the week while I was there.

We are staying at a hotel in Union Station which is very cool. Aparently the Union (Train) Station was built in the 1890's and in late 1900's was converted to a shopping center/hotel/entertainment complex.

We had arranged for my oxygen to delivered on Saturday, so it would be waiting for me when I got there. However, there was a mixup and it didn't arrive till late Sunday night, but I did get it finally.

We ate breakfast at a cafe at the station and drove to the Lung Transplant office at the Hospital.

I got my schedule from Lori in the lung transplant office and went off for my first tests. ------------- First up: to get a blood draw and urine sample taken. Fairly painless. The lab tech took 8-9 vials of blood which seemed like a lot but probably wasn't with all the testing they will be doing. She also wrapped up my arm after taking all that blood, making me look like I had been shot in the arm, not just stuck with a measly needle. -------------------------- Next, I had a bone scan. Another simple test, you lay on a table and a machine scans your bones, it took about 5 minutes total and required me laying on a table and staying still for 45 seconds. ------------------------- After that I had a VQ scan. This was interesting and I had never heard of it before. I was given an airtight oxygen mask and then sat in front of an xray machine. I was asked to breathe normally and the tech injected some gas into the tube I was breathing from, this gas is picked up by the xray equipment and is recorded as it gets picked up and moves through the lungs and heart. This test lasted around 8 minutes. The first three were the hardest. The lab tech warned me that it would feel quite stuffy and that after the first couple minutes oxygen would start pumping into the tube much quicker. It was indeed hot and stuffy, much like breathing into a paper bag. It was a little difficult but nothing too bad. I could see how someone could begin to panic and have a reaction but the lab tech let me know what to expect and everything went smooth.

For the second test the test material was injected in my arm and again I spent 8 minutes being xrayed in various positions. The lab tech did have a problem finding a vein in my left arm, so she had to stick me twice :/ however, it really wasn't a big deal.

---------------------

Next up was Pulmonary Rehabilitation. They put a finger clip on my finger which is a small light that can read how much oxygen is in your blood by shining light on it. I then went on a walk with the pulmonary therapist, he would adjust my oxygen tank to see how my oxygen saturation changed. We walked for a little over 6 minutes. I took a survey about how out of breath I feel when I walk or do various activities. He refilled my oxygen tank and I was done.

--------------------------

Last up was pulmonary function tests. First I sat with my oxygen on and they took an satuaration level, then again after a few minutes after being without oxygen. She took a blood sample from a vein on my inner wrist for a blood gas test.

Then I did several breathing tests. First did a short spirometry. I breathe in long and deep then blow out as fast and long as I can. I had to repeat this 3 times. But I was allowed to rest and recover between them. I then took 3 puffs of an inhaler (a bronchodilator) then did 3 more of the same test. I then did one where I did a quick panting, then a deep breath in and out. And after several of those I was done for the first day!

I left the hospital around 1:30ish and went to get some lunch and relax back at the hotel.

Not a bad first day. Tomorrow I don't have a test until 8:30 so I get to sleep in a little, but I'm not allowed to eat breakfast so that kinda sucks.

Tommorow I'll be having a RVG scan, a chest CT scan and then meet with a Pulmonologist, social worker, and dietician.

I will update tommorow when I do these tests.

Day 1 statistics:

5 miles between hotel and hospital 4 needle sticks 3 bottles of vitamin water drank 2 cable tv movies watched (Vegas Vacation, a Few Good Men) 1 times getting lost in the hospital

--Chris Falco

SERIOUSLY, THIS IS SO AWESOME. I'm buying whatever they're selling.

Tiny kittn nedz big char!

--Chris Falco

I am now the proud owner of a new woot.com shirt. It's been 2+ years from the last time I got woot tshirts. There was a mixup and I ended up with like 9 shirts and 9 hats, so I gave most of them away.

Anyways the new woot shirts arrived. And in true woot fashion, they totally rock ass. The attention to detail is awesome, each shirt came wrapped in its own bag, with an awesome drawing on it. There is a comic included with instructions on how to turn the shirt into a cape, so all you wooters can dress up as the woot screaming monkey this halloween when you steal little kids' candy.

Here's some pics, and a couple of screaming woot monkeys.



--Chris Falco

Got a postcard in the mail from Allegiant Air.

$198 for round trip and 3 nights downtown @ the 4 queens....hmmmm sounds sweet!

Reading the fine print that's to/from Fresno....saturday-wednesday....$5.00 booking fee and $5.00 per checked bag......$7.50 9/11 security fee and taxes not included....

Damn. :(

P.s. What kind of airline charges extra for booking online and via phone (booking is person is free, wtf?). And charges you for each bag you check (including the first 2) $5 each.....per segment.

I dunno, they're still cheaper than southwest here and they have better package deals, I just dislike being nickel and dimed an extra $50 a ticket.


--Chris Falco