Patty -- choices and decisions

Hi everyone:

It's late on Wednesday night, so I apologize if I'm not so coherent in shaping my thoughts and words. Patty was patient through a variety of tests today, including an echocardiogram, abdominal ultrasound and even a dental exam (more on this later.) The heart failure specialists reviewed all of her files, and helped us arrive at some tentative decisions. Strangely, the solution we most feared is now seeming the most attractive, and it is a choice that Patty is happy with.

Dr. Fedson feels that Patty's heart is not sufficiently viable to make the Dor procedure a good choice. As she explained, a normal heart looks somewhat like a football, and Patty's heart looks more like a soccer ball, which makes it difficult to determine where to reconstruct the heart. In fact, the Dor procedure is usually only considered for those who are not eligible for consideration for a heart transplant (e.g., the elderly). Because of this, Patty is now going through the tests to confirm that she is a strong candidate for heart transplant. These include a wide range of examinations that will confirm that all of her other functions are normal, because she has to be mostly healthy to qualify (hence, the dental exam.)

We learned a few pleasantly surprising things today. First, we were shocked to learn that the current wait for a donor heart at this hospital is averaging 4-6 weeks (yes, that's weeks, not months.) Patty may wait a little longer because her blood type is less common. Second, provided her heart clearly tolerates the body's natural tendency to reject "foreign" bodies, she should be able to work again (albeit in some adjusted capacity). Finally, we also learned that given her young age, she could be a candidate in the future should she need a second transplant.

Patty is relaxing tonight, and will undergo yet another angiogram in the morning to confirm that the pressures in her heart are normal enough to allow her to go home on the IV medication while waiting for a donor heart. If all goes well, we expect that Patty will remain in the hospital until Friday or Saturday, and should then be released with some home health care support for intravenous injections she will need on a more or less consistent basis. And then the waiting begins...

Good night all...I will try to provide more info tomorrow.

Brian

P.S. At one point today, Patty had so many visitors that the nursing staff chastised us for abusing our visitation privileges...c'est la vie. Patty has enjoyed the company.