Mike was discharged this evening!

He was at the Cleveland Clinic for exactly 8 weeks! Five weeks in the ICU before transplant, one week in the post surgery ICU, and two weeks in the step down unit. There were so many ups and downs during his time there.  At times he felt a lot of pain, sadness, desperation, tiredness, anger, frustration...but there were also good days full of energy, happiness, peace, and especially hope :) 

We both, especially him, learned to live and deal with one day at a time, to have no expectation for what the next day would bring, and to accept that it was possible that the outcome may not be what we wanted it to be...this was very hard to do, but it brought peace for us.

We also learned that we mostly had no control over anything other than our attitude about the situation. So Mike kept working hard, smiling, doing his part, giving every day 110%. He ate and did his PT, not because he felt hungry or had the urge to build muscle, but because it was what he needed to do to get better. He kept getting poked for blood multiple times a day, some days every two hours. He had several painful procedures done sometimes a few days in a row. He was very swollen..he built up about 30lbs of fluids after the transplant. He was also nauseous for several days due to the anti-rejection meds. He hardly complained through it all, he just did what he had to in order to be able to see Vincenzo and Valentina grow up. That was his drive.💕

Fast-forward to this week...very busy, great week. He lost about 15-20lbs of fluid just this week, his rejection grade went down to a mild level, he biked over 30 miles during rehab this week alone, they removed his drains and pacer wires, he went through several education sessions to learn about his new life and responsibilities as a transplant patient...and finally today, he was discharged! Couldn't be happier and more shocked for the changes I'm already seeing to his quality of life. He still has a long road ahead for recovery, but today he is just happy to be back home to see his kids and be able to sleep at home after getting woken up multiple times every night for the last 8 weeks. Vincenzo and Valentina are extremely happy to have their dad back home. Our family feels complete again ❤️

This evening, once we got home after discharge, I started looking at the pictures I took during the last 8 weeks. I wanted to share some of those with you here as I feel like you rode this rollercoaster right beside us and helped to carry us through it one way or another.

This will be my last update through CaringBridge, but I'd like to THANK YOU again for thinking of us for the last several weeks, for all your prayers, messages and calls. We are very fortunate to have such great family and friends🥰