Take a deep breath and.........chapter 11

We had a huge celebration for my 15th birthday, we had A huge family party and then I got to pick 5 friends to go to Disneyland with me. It was spectacular. Grams went on alot of the rides with me and she smiled like I hadn't seen in months! Lee and Troy went too, but they mostly stayed with all of our stuff, which I found odd because they use to be all about the rides but I figured they were just getting tired.

In mid February we found out that Troy was being treated for a heart problem, Lee told us it was no big deal, he would just need to take a pill to regulate it. On March 1st 1997 Troy had a heart attack.
Again we were all in the waiting room of the hospital waiting to hear news, the Dr came in and said that Troy's heart was inlarged, he had something called congestive heart failure.  Basically Troy's heart wasn't working properly causing a lack of oxygen to the organs and tissue in his body, the amount of blood the heart was pumping was not enough to circulate the the incoming blood returning to the heart from the body and lungs, causing fluid to build up which could (and did in Troy's case) lead to the lungs filling with fluid causing shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, weakness and swelling. The pills just wouldn't be enough and Troy would require surgery. 

Before the date was set his case had to go before the hospital bored of doctors to see if he was a candidate for this specific surgery called the The Batista procedure, which at this time was still experimental,  but it was his only chance. The Batista procedure was the  reversal of the effects of remodeling in cases of end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy. The bored reviewed Troy's case and it was determined that he WAS a candidate. The whole family was relieved.

Dr. Randas Batista the doctor who invented the procedure in 1994 was there to overlook the surgery but couldn't do the actual operation as he was only licensed to practice medicine in his home country of Brazil. The surgery date was set for March 15th 1997.

Troy went through the surgery with out a single glitch! It was amazing,  the surgeon and Dr. Batista were absolutely thrilled, as were we. March 20th Troy came home from the hospital and we all exhaled with relief.

6 am on March 23rd 911 was called, Troy was non responsive when Lee tried to wake him for his medication. Troy had developed a grade A staph infection. He was admitted into the hospital and was put in a clean room, we all had to scrub up, put on gowns, masks, gloves and booties before we were able to enter. Grams, Lee and I were at the hospital night and day,  we showered there, ate there and slept there.  We had amazing neighbors who would bring us a weeks worth of clothes at a time so we didn't have to leave. Troy went through two more surgeries, a sternum removal and a
Tracheostomy trying to get the infection to subside,  all in conjunction with a number of antibiotics.....nothing was working. 

 

Troy begged Grams, I and Lee to go home and get some sleep, We could see it was upsetting him so we agreed reluctantly. 

The next morning Lee got the call, Troy had passed away.....seven months TO THE DAY of losing pop on April 12th 1997. 

Lee and grams were beside themselves,  I knew what I had to do, I had to be strong for them, I had to keep everything going. Here I was 15 years old talking with doctors and taking notes, sometimes even recording the conversations because I really had no idea what they were talking about. I would go to the library and do my best to research things so I could explain to grams and Lee what had happened. 

I was the one making the funeral arrangements,  grams and Lee were there but they weren't there if you know what I mean, I had to tell Lee four times to sign the papers confirming the arrangements because she just simply didn't hear me

The day of the funeral I had to help Lee and grams into the church one at a time, grams fell in my arms as we got closer to the casket where are seats were. I sat in between them holding each one up at one point or another.  

Grams and Lee both took to there beds, for weeks. One day they both pulled themselves up and decided to keep going. I was relieved for more reasons than one. I was taking care of both homes, cooking cleaning and paying bills that had been sitting since Troy has gone into the hospital,  going to school and trying desperately to catch up, but mostly because I was scared for the both of them, I couldn't bare the thought of them giving up, losing another person I loved with all my heart just wasn't something I was prepared to survive. 

Little did I know then but something else life changing was about to happen to me.

NOTE:studies at the Cleveland Clinic concluded that the Batista procedure was associated with a high early and late failure rate. At 3 years only 26 percent were event-free and survival rate was only 60 percent. Most hospitals in the US have abandoned this operation.