Well, i haven't posted since 6/19/11 because our lives have been on a horrendous roller coaster ride. My brother passed away on July 20, 2011. He fought a good fight at Tufts. In a nutshell, shortly after arriving at Tufts he was put on the Tandem Heart pump for two days to give his heart at rest. On July 22, surgery was performed and the aortic valve was replaced by a cow valve and the L-VAD was attached. His heart was working perfectly. After a week, Nick was sitting up and having conversations and feeling "terrific", (his statement)..On July 3 he suffered a major bleed in his stomach from a huge ulcer (due to large doses of blood thinners). He was given 10 units of blood. He fought off sepsis and kidney and liver malfunctions. He was making small progresses but his kidneys were not coming back so they put him on continuous dialysis for about 2 weeks. Still he continued to make baby steps towards recovery, that is up until July 19 when sepsis and acidosis both set in. A meeting with doctors on July 20 only gave Nick a less that 1% chance of survival and if he did he would not have any kind of quality of life that he enjoyed prior to being sick. We then decided to stop all medical procedures immediately. We saw him, loved him, and told him that it was alright if he wanted the suffering to end, that the rest would be his decision and we would understand. The nurses only removed the dialysis and some of the IV's, the cardiologist had not yet come down to turn off the L-VAD. He made his transition very peacefully, almost as if he was waiting for our OK to go. We buried him this morning. And I am feeling like I have been inside a tornado, being tossed about, tired but unable to sleep with the thoughts of him running through my head. I want to thank you all for what you do for so many. Oh, how I wish this was a success story..Please keep on keeping on. With my utmost thanks, Kathy
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