Transplant Facts

The longest a person has survived after heart transplant as of 2002 is 24 years

Heart transplant survival rates are now 84.8% at one year, 77.1% at 3 years, and roughly 50% at 10 years after transplant surgery

The number of people 65 or older who receive heart transplants is increasing faster than any other age group. From 1996 to 1999, heart transplants in the 65-plus age bracket rose 28%

Acute heart rejection is more likely to happen when the heart donor was female regardless of recipient sex

Signs of beginning artery blockages are seen in almost half of patients after one year, using sensitive tests like multi-vessel IVUS imaging

Heart failure is the leading cause of death in most of the developed world. About 730,000 Americans die each year from it

In 1998, only 2,345 heart transplants were done in the USA

As of December, 1999, there were 4,135 people on the national waiting list for heart transplant, almost double the number who actually had a transplant the year before

Average waiting time to transplant is more than 7 months. In some parts of the country, as many as 40% of patients die while waiting

A busy transplant clinic receives over 2,500 lab results each day. About 400 of these results will be outside the normal range. The coordinator in a short period of time must review all these results and decide which ones need immediate attention

Failure to take post-transplant meds properly is the third leading cause of transplant failure!

Pharmaceutical companies tell many of their employees to bring back samples of dirt from any foreign places they visit on vacations. That's because cyclosporine and some other very valuable drugs come from fungus found in dirt from different parts of the world

As of January, 2000, there were 141 heart transplant programs operating in the USA

A donor family's financial responsibility ends when the person is declared dead. After that, the hospital does not bill the family for any charges. The Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) is billed for those charges

CAD is the leading cause of death for heart transplant recipients who have survived at least one year after surgery







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Journal

Friday September 8th TWO PHONE CALLS

December 14, 2005- it’s odd to remember that day because everything was in such a blur. That morning was honestly the scariest moment of my life. Dad had gotten up for work that morning around four and gone out to shovel the apron of the driveway because the snow trucks had pushed all the snow into it. I remember the phone ringing and then someone running down the steps at great speed. I was half asleep and thought that it was someone calling to tell my mother that she had a snow day (she is a teacher). Then I heard someone running back up the stairs and the next thing I know my light was on and my mum was screaming to call 911 because dad was having a heart attack. He had used his cell phone to call the house and tell my mother what was happening. I just sat there staring at her because I didn’t fully comprehend what she was saying. I’ve never been so scared in my life as when I came down and saw him laying on the couch trembling. It’s hard to see someone that you love who is normally so strong and powerful reduced to something scared and in pain. When they took him to the hospital my brother and I had to stay home because there wasn’t enough room in the ambulance. We just sat there waiting for someone to call and let us know what was going on. Before she left mum said that it might just be reflux, but when she finally called three hours later she said that the doctor wanted us all to come see our dad because he probably wasn’t going to make it. I lost it then, that really hit me hard because then I knew what was happening was real.

December 20, 2005- the doctors told us that dad was VERY healthy aside from his heart. They also told us that the reflux problems that he’d been having over the last few years were actually mini heart attacks and had he gone to the doctors for his so called *reflux* that they could have detected his heart problems before hand. (At this time we didn’t yet know he needed a transplant but the transplant could have been avoided and the problem could have been fixed with a bi pass.)

December 22, 2005- this was the second most terrible experience of my life. Dad had been transferred to The Cleveland Clinic a few days before and had begun to stabilize. At this point the doctors were giving us good reports and we were still planning on just a triple bi-pass. After a week of being at the hospital full time, my mum had finally sent me home for a few days. It was snowing like mad and my grandparents were getting ready to watch a movie with me. The phone rang and it was mum. She was hysterical and she told me dad had taken a turn for the worst and was going in for emergency surgery. My grandmother told me that I wasn’t allowed to go down to the hospital because of the snowstorm and I threw a hysterical fit. I was so afraid that he was going to die and I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye. I frantically called every adult that I knew and asked them to take me down to the clinic and they all said it was too dangerous. Finally, I called Mrs. Collins and she so bravely agreed to take me down.
It took nearly two hours to get there in the heavy snow and we witnessed two cars spin out and do 360s. When we got to the waiting room mum told us that the surgery was going to take from 6 to 8 hours and that no news from the doctors was good news, so when after only 4 hours the doctor came in and asked us to come into the other room we about lost it. I’ll never forget how he looked into our eyes and said, “The surgery was a success. They are getting him situated and you can see him in an hour.” We just started laughing and crying so hard. When we asked what they had done to him the doctor explained that they had put an LVAD in his heart, which would basiclly, pump his blood for him. We asked if this was permanent and the doctor said “No.” We were relieved and went back to hugging each other until he finished…”It will come out after the transplant.” We were like, what??? Transplant? Huh?

Decmeber 25, 2005- Dad went on the list for a new heart! The best Christmas present ever!

Feb 2, 2005- Dad was becoming an old pro with the LVAD he had been up walking around the corridors (he was doing real good until he realized that he had forgot to close the back of his gown) for a few weeks now and the doctors said that he could go home until the new heart came. We were both thrilled and scared at the same time. For any of you who have ever had someone come out of the hospital during a long-term illness you know what I’m talking about. Having him home was terrifying for all of us. He had so many meds to take and they were all at different times and we were so scared that we would forget one or take it at the wrong time.
It was like walking on pins and needles. We also had to watch that the machine was working right and that his levels were stable. And on top of all of this we had to make sure that he was eating right and wasn’t getting sick. Boy, I guess this was pay back for all of the times he had to take care of me when I was a baby!

February 9, 2005- 1:43 a.m. the phone rings. I wasn’t fully with it and was wondering, “Who’s calling at this time of night?” Then suddenly it hit me… HEART! I ran downstairs and almost crashed into my mother who was all smiles and yelling. “THEY’VE GOT A HEART, THEY’VE GOT A HEART!!” That morning dad received the gift of life all over again!

So what have I learned from all of this…?

1) Never shovel snow off your driveway yourself!
-Being out in the cold air makes the blood vessels in your lungs and heart constrict. This makes it hard for you to get oxygen and hard for the blood carrying the oxygen to get through to the rest of your body.
-The weight of the snow on the shovel is very heavy and it causes even more strain on your heart.
-Almost 65 percent of people who have had heart attacks have them while shoveling snow!! So don’t try and prove your manliness or save money by shoveling your own driveway! Trust me hospital bills are a lot more expensive than snowplow bills!

2) I don’t care who you are or what your occupation is, if you having a pain somewhere GO GET IT LOOKED AT!
- If my dad hadn’t thought that he knew everything because he was a pharmacist then he could have taken care of his problem with a bi pass surgery!
- Even if you’re a doctor you don’t know everything! You could overlook something and it could cost you your life! Sometimes the flu isn’t just the flu!
3) Buy a cell phone and keep it on you at ALL times!
- Yes, I know this one is a little random… but the fact is that my dad’s cell phone saved his life! If he didn’t have one than he wouldn’t have been able to call my mother and tell her that he was having chest pains. We wouldn’t have found him for another 2 hours.

4) Before walking around the hallways in a hospital always make sure your gown is closed in the back!
- Seriously, this will help save you from a lot of humiliation.
- It will also help save the people behind you from a full moon.
5) If something ever happens to you or your family be sure to start a Caring Bridge page.
- Caring Bridge was one of the best things that happened to our family during dad’s illness. Being able to keep in touch with people daily and view their words of encouragement really helped to pull us through.
- Also, you can read and learn about other people with the same problems and they can pull you through even the roughest times. Even people with different problems can help. Trust me you will benefit.

This may sound a little crazy to a lot of you, but in a sense having gone through all this has helped our family a lot. We needed to make some big changes and this really gave us the push we need to do it. Because of my dad we are now all eating right and exercising regularly. We also go for regular check ups at the doctors. I know that a lot of people don’t think it’s important to have a family doctor but it is. (Read number 2 for full details)

Anyways… back to the update.

Things are going so well now that its almost as if it never happened. Sometimes I forget it ever did. Dad is doing so great that it’s hard to believe that the doctors said he probably wouldn’t make it. His color is back and he is finally starting to gain some weight. He goes every other week for biopsies and med checks. Right now he is still in rejection but he’s at 1A, which is the lowest you can be without being out of rejection. He gets pretty cranky sometimes but we’re just happy to have him with us.
Last week we went to the monthly Heart Recipient Meeting and Dinner. April was Organ Donor Awareness month and so people who have had other types of transplants were there as well. Each organ recipient got up and told their story and it was just amazing. There were people as old as 87 to kids as young as 2. We all had a really good time and a great dinner.


While I’m here I would like to thank all of the people that took part in helping us over the last couple of months. I have no way of showing you just how much you have helped us, but I hope you all know that we are grateful. Thank you so much. I hope that none of you will ever have to go through something like this but if you do, please know that I will be here for you.
Thanks again,
Brittany

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