From Dave Johnson: First off, as beloved Discworld character Granny Weatherwax often says, "I Ainntn't Dead Yet" (Terry Pratchett, of course).

Secondly, how'd we end up here so suddenly? That's a question we've been been unpacking with the Stanford Docs. Unfortunately/Very fortunately, they got to the bottom of a lurking problem that was going to eventually rear its small but deadly little head. I knew it and so did my docs, but no one could suss out where the nasty little bugger was hiding until the ablation and then, boom!, there it was, all up in our business.

Thirdly, as usual, we landed at the right place and time with the right docs.

Fourthly, the same thing happened this time. As as a bonus, I bounced to the tip top of list. Something we never experienced during our 4 year wait last time.

So I'm getting the chest cracked open again soon, maybe within weeks. Another surgery. More anti-bodies. More risk. Dun-dun-duuuuuun...

Like I told the family, if the doc's answer had been no, I'd have been fine. I had a gang that ran through the woods of Jacksonville Arkansas and splashed our feet in our creek, of Little Rock Air Force Base. I've stood before the works of the masters, Boticelli and Leonardo, eaten the best food in the world, run around the hills of Friuli without a care in the world. I've ridden back and forth across the greatest idea anyone's ever had. Once to the deserts of CA, then back to AR where I decided to spend my life with the person who ended up saving mine 8...10x over by my count? (She's, kinda cute, too). We ended up with two kids I'm amazed by every day. That's a whole nother video.

Near the beginning of worst part of all this, they stood on the beaches of the East coast and looked o the Atlantic Ocean. I had no idea if I'd see them grow up.

I've been a hellfire preacher, a decent teacher, a really bad pastor, a public speaker, and songwriter. I'm just a drummer, really...I've played for 10 people and 10,000 people. I got to work on a world acclaimed game tribute that connected me to ttlg and all the Taffers, friends for life. I wrote 2 books I wanted to and an autobiography I had to. I had a couple or 5 albums in me too. I spent time in Israel and Palestine. Two successful podcasts, and working on an RPG that I hope changes the world. I saw that great idea going a different route when we became RV people and went from PA to sunny CA, where my grown kiddos stood on the sands of the Pacific. Turns out, I got to see them become adults.

Point is, I've done way more than I ever thought I would. I'm good. I'm happy. I'm at peace. This is a good way for the story to end.

But this is what I told my sis Leslie on the phone the other day. If they walk in and say we're going to list you for transplant, you're going to see an entirely different side of Dave. I will be like "when are we goin? if you want to go now we can go now. Amputation? Bring it, bring the saw here now! No anesthesia? Fine. Hoo ah!

Now let's be realistic. This will be the third time my chest has been cracked open. It's going to be a tough recovery. I may have to learn to walk again. There's going to be a lot of rehab now.

Yes. But as I've already said, they could do this thing then throw me in a ditch. I'm going to claw my way out of that ravine and get better and survive.

And guess what? I'M GETTING THAT NEW HEART TOMORROW. We got an offer from a donor family nearby. It's a young heart, healthy, no-risk, tested for the things that slipped by the extensive testing done on this one. As a bonus, there's a chance I won't even need a kidney. But if I do, I'm going to get through that too. My family has done the impossible and that makes us mighty. We're not all that big of a deal, but people seem to think so, looking at the GFM page and FB comments. We're just doing us, which really doesn't take that much effort at all. Just do what you can for people when you can, accept help when you need it, thank them, and listen to a LOT of Kings X.

I'm going to go humbly accept the gift that's been offered to me in a few hours, and will be back making people angry on social media in a few weeks. Love you all, please take care of one another. Like John said, "All You Need is Love da da da da da."