Dear Family and Friends - 

This week was my six week "anniversary" of my surgery. I was also released to start driving (I may or may not have started driving a few days early 😉). Most importantly, I am feeling much, much better. So much so, that I am now walking 4 to 5 miles each day.

While I still have healing to do, and several open medical items (I'll wear the heart monitor for another week; I am scheduled for an echo next week to allow my cardiologist to structurally view my heart working with the new valve; I will take blood thinner and pacing medicine for the AFib through July; and I must observe weight restrictions for lifting, pulling, etc. for another 6 weeks) - Julie and I thought this would be a good time to provide one last update before we close this Caring Bridge account. Even more importantly, it provides us with one more opportunity to give all of you one more heart felt (from my better than ever heart, no less) THANK YOU.

I cannot begin to express how appreciative we are of all the prayers, thoughts, encouragement, well wishes and acts of kindness - from all of you. It gave me strength and comfort, when I needed it most. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

If you will indulge me one more introspective thought, this journey has been a tremendous lesson to me that God has a perfect plan for my life. It is not the first time I have learned this lesson, but it's certainly the most recent and perhaps the most dramatic.

Again, I've known since I was 19 that I would need this surgery at "some time." I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that back in late March and early April - when I was suffering from near constant chest pain and shortness of breath, and the timing of my surgery was in doubt and being postponed - I asked God "why NOW, why during a pandemic?" In hindsight, I can see the perfectness of His plan and His timing, in the form of many blessings. I'll give just three quick examples out of the many.

After I learned I needed open heart surgery, several people that had gone through open heart surgery either as a patient or the spouse of a patient, warned me that it would be very difficult for Julie and the boys to see me immediately after the surgery so broken and battered and with so many tubes and machines connected to me. While it was "weird" for Julie to drop me off at the curb the morning of my surgery and not see her again until she picked me up at the curb when I was discharged - it was a blessing she and the boys did not have to go through that. Similarly, due to it being a specialty heart hospital, in mid-April it was operating at far below capacity. I was my surgeon's (and his team's) only surgery of the day. Post op, when I thanked the nurses and other staff for every point of care, they often said they were happy to help because they were bored and/or just happy to be working. In other words, I got great, focused attention and care. While I'm sure I would have received great care in "normal" times - I clearly received more focused and attentive care than I would have received during "normal" times. Finally, my biggest concern once I learned I needed the surgery was that I would be home bound for 6 weeks post surgery. While it seems funny to even type those words - at the time I would have been an outlier and I was concerned about managing my practice remotely for such a long time. Obviously, during these "uncertain pandemic times" . . . I have blended in just like all of you and the rest of the world that has been sheltering in place. Clearly, in hindsight, I can see that God had a perfect plan for me. Before I was born, He knew when, where and by whom my surgery would be performed. He literally used a world renowned surgeon, which gave me incredible comfort. And, while a pandemic seems like a crazy time for major surgery - it was the perfect time, for me.

In closing, thank you all one more time. I am sooooo grateful to have all of you in my life. I could not have gotten through this journey without you! I look forward to seeing all of you, once we get through this time. 

Tom