Greg Edwards

When I was hospitalized in March of 2016 the flash edema caused heart failure. This type of heart failure is a condition where the left side of the heart can't pump blood back out to the body fast enough. The right side works normally and ends up pushing more blood into the heart than the left side can push out. The result is that it gets pushed into the lungs and I have a pulmonary edema. There isn't anything they can do to fix heart failure so they try to manage it with medication.

At the end of June I was back in the hospital again for the 6th time since May of last year and the 4th time since March of this year. In April I had an AICD (Automated Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator) implanted. At the end of June they changed my medication to a continuous IV from a pump that I carry around in a backpack. While I was in the hospital at the end of June my cardiologist consulted with a heart failure specialist and they agreed that my condition had declined to the point that we needed to consider a heart transplant.

I was evaluated by the heart transplant team at Baylor University Medical Center Dallas. On July 10th the transplant committee met and approved me for a transplant. On September 1st I was placed on the heart transplant list. So, I'm waiting for a call and I need to be ready to get to the hospital within 3 hours for the transplant. There isn't any way to predict when a match will be available for me. It could be as quick as a few days, as long as a year, or even longer. The average wait time at the hospital is 2 months but their standard estimate is 6-12 months for my weight, height and blood type.