The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
82: How Community Makes a Difference with Frank and Christy Appello, Part 2.
What happens when life takes an unexpected turn and your world is suddenly filled with uncertainty? In Part 2 or this 2 episode interview, Frank and Christy Appello open up about Frank's life-altering heart attack and journey of recovery. Together, Frank and Christy reflect on how love for and from their community has been both a source of strength and a testament to the power of belonging. They discuss the profound connections forged through simple yet powerful gestures, illustrating how community and faith can uplift and sustain us through life's toughest trials. Listen in for a moving narrative of how collective compassion can make all the difference.
Miss part 1? Check back to episode 81 for the first part of Frank and Christy's story!
NOTES & RESOURCES:
- Contact Frank at frank@meethope.org
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.live! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope.
Speaker 2:Hey guys, our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope. Hey guys, welcome back to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Andrew Barber. I'm the Worship Arts Director here at Hope. I've got Frank and Christy Apello with me today. We were here last week talking about your incredible experience of recovering from a heart attack and we just wanted to pick off right where we left off. So let's go, let's do it. So my question and this might be a harder one to answer what do you think your life as it relates to the way you see the world and other people look like pre and post heart attack?
Speaker 3:I don't think that necessarily changes other than how it's affected me for sure how community has embraced us. But community is whatever their circumstance. It doesn't have to be like this serious issue. It could just be like a minor bump in the road and your community could just be like a minor bump in the road and your community no matter if it's hope or somewhere else is just so, so important. We were not made to do life alone.
Speaker 3:Amen brother, there is no reason why you have to sit by yourself and be worried when you can reach out and ask for help, and I know you know a lot of us are taught that's a sign of weakness. The reality of that is it's a sign of strength. If you know you need help and you reach out, that's your first step. You know whether it's your church or your work, or a family member or a friend or a simple Lord. Help me, please. You know what it is that I need. That's a step, and then to not be afraid to continue to pursue that.
Speaker 3:Amen you know, not be afraid that whatever it is in my life is too scary or too sinful or too. Whatever it is. You know God loves you, no matter what, and you could be a thousand steps from him and it's always one step back. Yeah, you know, that was my whole feeling in the hospital and again, I'm sorry, christy, I was in a win-win situation. If I die my faith in Jesus, lets me live with him, and if I live it, lets him live with me through the Holy Spirit and through that faith, and there's nothing God can't do, I mean.
Speaker 2:I'm sitting here in front of you.
Speaker 3:So that's a testament to that. So I guess we'll pick up. Day five I'm awake, I'm in the hospital. Day five I'm awake, I'm in the hospital. I spend all the way from November 8th I guess, until the day before Thanksgiving at Our Lady of Lourdes, and everyone there was absolutely amazing, and no matter who it was, but especially the nurses and this is a shout-out to every nurse on the whole planet you are the most amazing people ever. Um, they, they did everything. Things that I will not mention on this podcast, but that they did for me, that were like you're doing it for some random dude, all these things that need to be done, and they're just, they were amazing. But again, the day before Thanksgiving, they're like hey look, we can't really do any more for you.
Speaker 4:But at this point you've had the first impella and you had a second impella that was a stronger, more hardy impella that could stay in longer implanted. So you've had both of those.
Speaker 3:In this time you're at lords I didn't remember that it was the second one, but thank you for helping. Um, I have to go back and read some of those posts on facebook. Uh, so now I have this second impella which they're trying to wean me off. My heart is not really recovering like they think it should. So it's the left side of my heart. The stent was placed in the LAD, the left anterior descending, it's like the largest aortic vessel or something to that effect, and when you have a blood clot there or a blockage, it's typically known as the widow maker. Sorry, hon, yeah, and we can see why. So anyway, now my left side of my heart is really only pumping at about 15%. It should be pumping at 50% to 45% somewhere in there, and there are technical terms that I won't go into. So they're like look, I think maybe we need to transfer you to Penn, because if we take this impella out and your heart doesn't recover like we think it might, but probably won't, we have nothing we could do for you. We don't really have a transplant team here at Lourdes. We definitely don't have an LVAD team, which I'll explain in a minute. So they're like we're going to see if you could go to Penn. That's early in the morning on that day. They come in, maybe a little bit before lunch, maybe around 1130, and like, okay, you're going to Penn, all right, when Today Wait, what, what do you mean? Today it's like the day before Thanksgiving, are we? No, no, get your stuff, you'll be gone by, like three transports coming. Okay, so then that's, we gathered our stuff and we went to Penn and we sat there for a couple of days. They eventually take the impella out and now my heart is trying to work on its own. They're giving me medications to help the pump of my heart which aren't working. There were two medications that they were giving me. You can't go home with both of them to help your heart pump. So now we need to look at other options to help your heart pump. So now we need to look at other options. My other options were then either heart transplant or left ventricular assist device, which is affectionately known in our house as the LVAD. So that was our decision.
Speaker 3:About 20 years ago I had had a little over 20 years ago I had had a Hodgkin's lymphoma, which meant that I had a chemotherapy for six months and about 30 days of radiation, which is known as mantle field radiation. So it's from like my chin to maybe the middle, almost the middle of my chest. So that could have caused scar tissue middle, almost the middle of my chest, so that could have caused scar tissue. Surgery for transplant is a much more difficult and longer surgery. They didn't know if there was going to be scar tissue, so they said LVAD or transplant. But we don't do transplant at Penn because you had the radiation, there could be scar tissue. I'm like well, why don't you do it here? And this helped me decide very easily. They're like well, we had 15, maybe 12 to 15 people who died on the table because of the scar tissue. I'm like all right, lvad it is for me. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:So LVAD, it is a pump that is connected at the base of my heart and connected to that pump is a tube that connects somewhere towards the top of the aorta and it creates a continuous flow of blood. To run that pump. There is what's known as the driveline, that comes out to the right of my belly button and that goes into a controller, and that controller is connected to two pretty large batteries that I wear all the time, except for when I go to sleep. Then I literally plug into a wall unit, which is kind of fun. So I plug myself in at night to charge like my phone. So with that, some fun facts about the LVAD. I no longer have a pulse that you can feel like in my wrist or like in my I guess in my neck, underneath my chin. So that's always fun. So I'm like the living dead almost, but you can detect it with a Doppler.
Speaker 3:So that's how we take my blood pressure. I don't have a normal blood pressure. I don't have a top number and a bottom number. I have something that's called the MAP, which is basically an average they told us about of the blood pressure. So we have to use a manual cuff, not an automatic cuff. Christy kind of pumps it up. I use the Doppler to hear the sound of the LVAD moving and then she pumps it up on my arm. It stops the sound of it and then releases the air in the cuff, so that this way we can get a number. My number should be between 70 and 90, that's. Those are all good spots. Above 90 isn't bad, but it shouldn't be there consistently. And again, below 70 isn't necessarily bad, it just shouldn't be there consistently so I know that is a lot of information that you had to digest in a really short amount of time.
Speaker 2:Were there people that were kind of there, kind of giving you context, like friends, family members that have experience in that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, definitely. Chris Black, who's a nurse, came in, helped us out, really explained it. The nurses and the doctors there, of course, explained everything as well, and we actually needed to be trained on what to do with the LVAD before we were allowed to leave the hospital.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we had to complete training. And then there's still a process Everything he does, he can't be submerged in water. And then there's still a process Everything he does, he can't be submerged in water. So showering is different than it used to be, where all of his batteries have to go into a waterproof bag and then every time he showers he needs a very sterile dressing change done on his stomach where that driveline comes out. So we had to be trained, I had to be trained in how to do all that. So it's been a lot of medical things that we never knew, we would need to know, but they now they've become just kind of everyday life for us and it's not, you know, it seemed overwhelming at first but it's definitely not.
Speaker 2:And it it's such an amazing that you're here, I mean you're not in the hospital anymore, you're home.
Speaker 3:Right, I am, I'm home. I came home. Uh, it's the best Christmas present I ever had, cause I certainly didn't in the hospital for Christmas, but I had my LVAD surgery on December 12th and they told me at least 21 days before you'll be home. And about a week later they're like hey, you're going home on Friday. And I'm like what do you mean? I'm going home on Friday? Yeah, you're good. Like I it was crazy, I had like five chest tubes and like we're going to pull those out today, like right now. Yeah, no problem, I'll get the nurse. Nurse didn't come by so the surgeon would come see me often. These aren't out yet she went all right, I'll take care of it. Now, her and she just read the nurse from the hallway and we're like come on, okay, all right, those look good, this looks good, that looks good. Yeah, you go home Friday. Okay, are you sure You'll me if, like, everything's not good, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But you're good, You're going home Friday. So it was Friday, December 22nd, Um, and it was great. Uh, I, because I had open heart surgery, because they have to, you know, cut open your chest. I couldn't sit in the front seat because of the airbags and that was like for three. It was supposed to be for three months, so supposed to go home in 21 days. I'm home in a week and a half.
Speaker 3:Now I'm home and I'm probably getting more activity than sitting in the hospital, because everything in the hospital is like you had to call somebody to move. Now I was feeling better, so like I could have done it myself, but then if I fell or pulled something or whatever, they were like no, you have to call a nurse. So at least at home there was all. There had to be someone around 24 hour care. And that was another thing people like volunteered for Never thought I'd be saying like my friends volunteered to come babysit me, but like sometimes somebody couldn't be home. Christy either had to come to work, or the girls had to go to school, or Charlotte had to go to work. So people would, we would call friends and be like you know, is it possible for you to come and sit with Frank for like two hours. Um, because they tell you so many things can go wrong. They don't necessarily do go wrong, but then if I'm home alone and something goes wrong and I can't respond to it myself now, I need another person in the house.
Speaker 4:So and I think too with the LVAD. The other thing that you did not mention is that when they did go in to put it in, you had no scar tissue. So usually the LVAD is considered one of two kinds of therapies. It's either a bridge to a heart transplant or a destination therapy. So we've always considered a destination. That's what you're going to have, but it was great to know that it could. If he ever needed a hard transplant, it is still an option.
Speaker 3:And that, no, scar tissue was absolutely Unheard of. I, I think another there's God's grace, like there should have been scar tissue and all the prayers and all the love and, yeah, all the power of God. Right, right there. I was like, wait, you're kidding, right, she goes no. Right, right there. I was like wait, you're kidding, right, she goes. No, the surgeon was great, probably the best surgeon I've ever known and I've known a couple, but just like she was amazing. No, no scar tissue at all, none at all. Nope, it was yeah.
Speaker 4:I would also mention, too, that you are still in heart failure and you'll always be in heart failure. The device is doing the work for your heart, but even though the right side works great, the left side doesn't work anymore. And one thing that people don't know about your day-to-day life is that the pump stays at a certain level, so when we go up the stairs our hearts can do the work of. Now. We've climbed up the stairs, but Frank's pump doesn't adjust for that. So there's those times when he's doing things like that that he can get tired because his pump will always stay at the same level and it is set at a great level for him right now, and they periodically will go in and see if they need to adjust that. But the level it's at is the level it's at, no matter what kind of exertion he's doing.
Speaker 2:As we wrap up today. So you both are just this beautiful example of how to lean and accept the love of others and in your community. What is a piece of advice, a word of advice that you could give to someone who maybe struggles with that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, Like I said before, there's more than meals, there's more than money. You can help with just your thoughts and your prayers. If you're not sure if you should do something for somebody, just do it, because I was so grateful for things that were done for me that you know, I tried to be like no, no, no, and I was so grateful deep down. Every little thing made such a difference to our family and we're so appreciative of it. And find a community. Frank's found an LVAD community online on Facebook that he follows, so it's great, when he has questions that he doesn't know the answer to, to see that other people are going through those same things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's the little things. You may not think it means anything. Whatever it is, those little things mean so much, and you'll never know the impact of that small action, but the person that you've acted on behalf of will think the world of it and know they are loved. So that's that's my advice Don't, if you need help, ask for it. Yeah, just.
Speaker 2:I remember early on, christy, you've kind of struggling, almost feeling guilty, and can you talk about like how did you get past that?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I really did Like I was like, why are all these people doing this for us? There's so many, you know, other people who need things, people who don't even know us, and I felt guilty about that. But in the moment I knew too that it was helping those people, because those people wanted to do something for him and they didn't know what to do. And now I've seen that turn around, because I know that before I'd hear of somebody sick, somebody's this, and I'd be like, oh, I don't know what to do, I kind of won't do anything. And I know I've taken a much more active role now because I've realized how much it really does mean. And you know, I know that people wanted to do it and I just had to let them do what they wanted to do. Um, because it helps them and like, just like it's helped me now.
Speaker 2:You guys are both such a beautiful example of how you really your whole life is investing in community and you guys are not just super tapped in at Hope. There are so many other places that you're tapped into that and I see that you are no different than any other place, that you are just constantly the people that show up for people and I just yeah, that's amazing, you guys are awesome.
Speaker 3:And I know the word thank you is not enough, but it's really all I have. You know this has been Hope, has been an amazing place to come and worship and to be part of and to be able to serve and then eventually be able to be part of the staff here. And I always thought as I was before I became staff. I always thought like man, I would really like to work there and Christy and I would talk about that often. And then all of a sudden it was like oh, now I work here.
Speaker 3:Oh, this is great. But the people here, no matter when, if it's their first time showing up or they've been here over 30 years, they are still the same as us. They're doing all the same things. The same as us. They're doing all the same things. So this is just a snapshot of the reflection of what hope is like to the people here at hope, but the community at large and that you know. Seeing others behave that way is inspiring to me and it just makes me want to be that way even more.
Speaker 2:And I mean, if you, listening, want to get more involved, check out our website, meethopeorg, or specifically go to the meethopeorg slash today, which is our today page, where there's ways to get involved in small groups, other ministries. We really do believe that we are a church of small groups, not a small group church. So we also really believe that it is so important to get involved outside of just Sunday morning, not to make it benefit the church's lives, but so that it can enrich your life. So, yeah, just check us out. If you want to get in touch with Frank at frank at meethopeorg or Christy at christy at meethopeorg, they would love to connect with you and get you pointed in the right direction. So thank you guys for listening and tune in next time for the Meet Hope podcast.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.