Category Archives: Transplant

Finally, a great day – Zayne is still there and doing her thing. She put up such a fuss last night that the respiratory specialist decided to take out her breathing tube. The first word that she mouthed was “food”. I saw the very first smile on her face when I told her she had her heart transplant.

I finally got to hear her voice in the morning (her vocal chords are still recovering). She wanted water and wanted it badly, but the nurse said “no” because she hadn’t been cleared by speech. After more badgering, Zayne was presented with ice cubes to replace her request for water. After a while, some of the cubes melted and Zayne got the cup to her mouth (she is very weak and shaky) and drank the water. I just watched, and the nurse was pretty upset because she wasn’t supposed to have water.

Zayne is cleared for soft food, but pain is keeping her from eating much. She got out of bed to stand on a scale – it took 3 people but who’s counting. After getting back in bed, Zayne slept for hours.

Tomorrow promises to be tougher. Not only will she get out of bed, but will have to walk to a chair and sit in it.

Hopefully. she will continue to make progress every day. The heart still needs some improvements, but I was concentrating on all of today’s accomplishments.

The neuropsych nerds came to visit, but Zayne fully checked out. She may have an MRI at some point, but only if she can lay still without needing sedatives (says me).

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Today was a good day – Zayne went into her 3rd open heart surgery in 3 days.

• The ECMO cannulas were removed from her heart,
• Pulmonary artery did not need to be repaired
• Chest has been closed

The transplant surgeon built the operating hat and gown for a stuffy (she had time while waiting for the OR to get setup prior to transplant). There are even a couple of tasteful blood spots (not seen in image).

Zayne is heavily sedated from today’s surgery. There won’t be any pictures of her until she is fully awake. Today, the docs started to raise her body temperature. Since she is no longer on ECMO where her oxygenated blood was cooled before going back to her body, her body temperature should go back to normal.

What is next? Her heart and body have had a big shock due to transplant and the hemorrhage. The resulting surgery and ECMO cannula placement has added additional trauma. As her body heals, the new heart will begin to become stronger. We’ll need to see if the new heart will support her when she wakes up. Right now it is working fine with the help of medications. While I was writing this, she moved her head and opened her eyes. I tried to comfort her, but don’t think she understands. I asked if she could see me, and she nodded “no”.

It may take a while for the new heart to properly pace itself. Right now a pacemaker is setting the pace. Zayne is still intubated and will probably stay on the vent for a few days. We go day-by-day and celebrate each milestone.

***** Breathing Tube is OUT *****
taken out at 1am on May Day

It seems like it has been weeks since the transplant, but it was only yesterday. Sunday, April 28th 2024 was a really big day. The surgery started on Saturday, April 29, but most of the surgery took place on Sunday. In addition to having a transplant, there was a setback in the afternoon that involved blood loss and being placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) which is type of heart-lung bypass machine. ECMO does the work of the heart and lungs so the organs can rest. The machine takes blood from the heart, oxygenates, and then places back in the aorta.

It seems that after one day, Zayne’s new heart can push enough blood on its own, so she is scheduled for an OR appt at 7:30 am (in hospital speak, this probably means 9:30 am). After ECMO the vent should be gone within 2 or 3 days.

There isn’t much change to Zayne and if she was awake, she would tell me that I’m not allowed to post any more pictures of her. Instead, here is a picture of my private ER nurse – my sister Stacy, who is an instrumental part of this journey.

We (me and my sister Stacy) were able to come into Zayne’s cardiac ICU room. There were still a team of people working on her. The new heart still needs to recover from surgery and adapt to its new home. Zayne’s vascular system needs to recover from surgery and adjust to the new heart.

Zayne is still being sedated, is on a ventilator, is being given blood and lots of other medications. I count 10 pumps, but Stacy tells me not to count them. 

There are 3 drainage tubes and a pacemaker. She has two dedicated nurses that have not stopped working on her since we showed up an hour ago. Other specialists and docs come into the room. 

This will be a long road to recovery.

Latest OR text:  Zayne is safely in ICU! Everything went wonderfully. Thank you for letting us take care of her!

It has been a long night. Here is the latest text:

Okay! We were able to close up her incision. We are still working on that now. Everything has gone great. I expect we will be in ICU in about an hour! I will update again and let you know!

OR Text Message: Okay, cardiology is happy with function. Right now, we’re at the calming down ooziness stage. This could take a little bit of time. I will update again in about an hour to let you know where we are!

Text from OR:  The heart is in and now beating as her own! Next step is consulting cardiology and take a look and make sure everything is functioning as it should. After that, we will try to calm down any ooziness and then try to close her incision.

New heart is being placed in Zayne’s chest.

New heat is in the OR

This means the doc will remove her heart.