Search Results for: blog my moms journey to a heart transplant part 1

Four Months without a Heart

A fourteen year old South Carolina girl survived for more than one hundred days without a heart in her chest. Since July 2008, D’Zhana Simmons had two heart transplants — and survived with artificial heart pumps instead of a heart between the two surgeries. That’s a total of one hundred and eighteen days without an actual heart in her chest. When the Simmons family found out that D’Zhana had an enlarged heart that was too weak to pump blood properly, they traveled to Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami for a transplant. The heart she received in July 2008 didn’t work … Continue reading →

Are iPods Bad For Pacemakers?

Who knew a tiny piece of technology could cause so much trouble? A new study presented to a group of heart specialists claims those popular Apple iPods can cause implanted pacemakers to malfunction. If that news doesn’t make your heart skip a beat consider the fact that the report was done by a high school student. Seventeen-year-old Jay Thaker is making headlines around the world with his medical research study that shows the trendy music devices negatively affect a pacemaker’s performance. “We held it (by the heart), tuned it on and off a couple of times with four different iPods,” … Continue reading →

Mom’s Heart Transplant Journey: The Wait Begins

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Mom’s journey to her heart transplant continued. The cardiologists determined that she would need a new a heart, but that it would not be an immediate thing to happen. Basically, she endured a “hurry up and wait” period for some time until she was determined eligible to be placed on the transplant list. Mom went through routine testing before she was placed on the transplant list. These tests consisted of echocardiograms, pulmonary pressure tests that measure the pressures in her heart, blood tests and a test called a BPH test, which if it went higher from test to test, then … Continue reading →

Mom’s Journey to a Heart Transplant: Part Four

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If you have been reading my previous blogs about my mom’s journey to her heart transplant, you would know that I left off with some impending news from her, news that wasn’t so good. Mom went along fine with her heart condition and her new pacemaker and defibrillator. She was really very healthy for a number of years following that. It was only when she started getting very winded and out of breath when walking up the stairs or from room-to-room that she knew something wasn’t quite right. It was shortly before her routine Mayo Clinic visit that she broke … Continue reading →

My Mom’s Heart Transplant Journey: Part Two

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Mom’s heart transplant journey left off with her being told of the news that she needed open-heart surgery. I was in fifth grade, I guess that would make me around ten years old. My mom was 34. Not only was she 34, she was also the mom to two children: myself, and my older brother, who was 12 at the time. Faced with having major surgery at such a young age, and faced with the real possibility that something awful could happen, she prepared my brother and I as much as possible. I do remember asking her, “Mommy, could you … Continue reading →