Dennis Musser

Hello Everyone! I sit and write this today as we wait on Dad to get settled into his hospital room. As many of you already maybe aware(but will elaborate more for those who are not) we are checking into to St Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis today to prep for heart surgery on Friday. Yes this is a few days earlier than was originally planned but surgeon's schedule was changed slightly. For the past several years dad has battled heart failure/weakened heart muscle. After his heart surgery in February of 2015 he did have an improvement in his heart function though over the last year to year and half we have seen that decline to around 10-15%. With this decline his functional capacity has also begin to decline. Following a baseball trip with Kyle and Nate in August it became clear that just walking  a short distance (less than a block) was a struggle for him. He also continued to getter weaker and had decreased energy levels. This is what started our journey down here. Being eager to get back some of his quality of life we started seeing the heart failure and transplant doctors in Indy for work-up and to look at his options. Based on his current status we have opted to have a LVAD (left ventricular assist device) placed. This is a pump that attaches to his heart internally and then is ran by batteries and a generator that he would carry around with him. Providing his heart with this assistance will allow his organs better blood flow therefore improving how he feels on a daily basis. Though we are all very excited for this improvement and to getting him back to doing the things he enjoys he has a very long road ahead of him to adjust to this new lifestyle. We have set up this site to help keep everyone update during the process as well as a way to send him encourage words, thoughts, and prayers. As for now he will be spending the next couple nights in the ICU with a balloon pump to help rest his heart. Surgery is scheduled for 815 am on Friday. Kyle and I will do our best to update the site for those curious on how things are going, though don't be alarmed if long periods of no updates because they are anticipating around 6-8 hour surgery time. We appreciate all support and prayers we have been receiving.