March Mischief

The month of March had a couple of accomplishments completed.  I am no longer in need of oxygen for rest or activity as of the 2^nd week in March!  I also completed my Thank You letter to my donor family and will be bringing it to my coordinator on April 3^rd for my 8 month appointment.

Another piece of news is that we are currently residing in an apartment in El Dorado Hills.  Long story, but suffice it to say it is the best situation for my health right now.  Plus, I’m getting my exercise as we live in an upstairs unit, and there is a tennis court.  The kids and I purchased our own racquets and a sleeve of tennis balls for our Physical Education.  We don’t actually play tennis, but it’s great fun and cardio workout to hit the balls and try to return them to our partners.

On March 23, the four of us traveled to Stanford, but this time not for any medical tests.  We drove the roughly 300 miles round trip to attend the Stanford Heart Transplant Reunion that’s been held annually since 1989.  (For the record-I never have attended one at Stanford until this year).  It was very encouraging seeing so many heart recipients, several 15+ years since transplant. 

There were a few medical speakers, followed by dinner, and then a recipient and caregiver gave speeches as well.  My transplant cardiologist, Sharon Hunt, spoke on the history of heart transplantation. 

Some of you might be aware that the first heart transplant took place in South Africa in 1967 and was performed by Christian Bernard.  That patient survived for 18 days post transplant.  This next piece was new to me in the context that I didn’t’ realize how close in time these two events occurred.  The following month, January 6, 1968, the second heart transplant worldwide and the first in the United States was performed by Norman Shumway at Stanford.  That patient survived 15 days. But these cases sparked many other hospitals to embark on this same endeavor with their heart failure patients.   In the early years of transplantation, it was the medications lowering the immune system that created issues with longevity in patients.  And after a few year of abysmal results, Dr. Hunt explained there was an unofficial moratorium on performing heart transplants, yet Stanford continued, experimenting and trying new meds etc. to prolong longevity in their patients. 

Dr. Hunt was one of 4 cardiology fellows in 1976 that Dr. Shumway recruited to oversee the after-care of his heart transplant patients. At this reunion, I learned there have been 8 people in the world who have received the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Three of those people were from Stanford: Dr. Norman Shumway-the surgeon, Dr. Margaret Billingham-a pathologist who designed the current grading level for the biopsies performed to detect rejection, and the third person at Stanford is Dr. Sharon Hunt.  She is the pioneer of the management of the after-care of heart transplant patients among many other accolades.

Sitting there at this event reaffirmed why God led me down this long and arduous path to Stanford.  Even when early on in my adventure I was digging in my hills for my local hospital, His plan was to bring me back to not only where it all began for me with my first heart transplant, but to where it really all began.  Even Christian Bernard gleaned his education of heart transplantation from Dr. Shumway and his colleagues.

While at this event I saw a couple ladies who were on heart #2, one receiving her first transplant 1 year after my first as a young woman, and she received # 2 in 2015.  She’s now a “young grandmother”.  I also was able to briefly speak with a young lady who received her heart transplant when she was 2 and is now 32 years post transplant.  Her heart is doing well, but she needed a kidney transplant a few years ago due to the meds.  I had read her story in a news article that my aunt had sent me a couple of years ago.  This young lady was featured for celebrating 30 years with her transplanted heart.

The photo below includes myself, sandwiched between Helen Luikart, the Heart Transplant Research Nurse Coordinator, who was one of my transplant coordinators after my first transplant.  The other lady is Dr. Sharon Hunt.  Other than my biography of her in this post, you may recognize her name from previous posts where I've stated that she was my advocate to be considered for a second heart transplant.  It's because of her determination and persuasiveness that I was put on the waiting list last July.  I also see her often at clinic.

Helen Luikart, myself, Dr. Sharon Hunt

Our family at the 28th annual Stanford Heart Transplant Reunion

And this picture is the crafts the kids created at the craft table they had set up for kids.  Both Leah and Nolan spent the majority of time there, where I soon learned from the adult coordinator (who's fiance received a transplant in 2015), that Leah was the hit of the table with all the kids wanting her to teach them how to draw!  According to Leah, "Everyone got tired of the crafts, and I just started drawing a horse then soon everyone wanted to draw."  And Nolan was making friends too, as you can see in the photo below!

Below you will find photos of a cardboard cutout named "Madison" by my family, and was a source of great amusement for my family during my surgery/recovery.  She's been missing since my transplant, but appeared a few weeks ago in various places in the hospital.  We saw her outside of admissions after the reunion and felt I needed my picture with her too. (On the backside of the cutout there are numerous signatures of people and entire families who have "kidnapped" her-with the first being on August 20, 2016.)  

My family's antics while I was in ICU

"Madison" has been found so I could get my picture with her

We plan on attending next years reunion which will be held on January 6, 2018.  Stanford is combining the reunion with the 50 year celebration of heart transplants at Stanford.  That should be a fantastic celebration!

We are gearing up for the kids “spring break” from co-op and will going on an exciting vacation to locations of the US where we’ve not ventured before.  That blog won’t be available until mid-April with hopefully really awesome pictures 😊.

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