| Author |
Message |
jaxx
Member
Username: Jaxx0562
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2009
| | Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 06:52 am: | 
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HI there my name is James and i am 26 years old and i have undergone a heart transplant at papworth hospital in Cambridgeshire, I am another one of there success stories, i suppose i should tell you my story.
I was a healthy man and was doing all the things a man of my age do, working enjoying spending time with good friends, basicly enjoying my life until i was stuck down with what i thought was heartburn so i took gaviscon to try and help the pain but it was persistent so i then called the 999 and they sent out a ambulance for me, so the paramedics took a e.c.g reading of my heart and said that it was nothing to worry about just take pain killers and try and relax, so i took there advice and tried to get some sleep, so when i woke up in the morning i wen't to work as normal and made an appointment to see the doctors that afternoon when i finished work, so i went along to my doctors and he then advised me to go to the hospital and just get a chest x-ray, i done that and then that is when the most terrifying journey of my life began.
I was admitted to the Southampton cardiac ward where i had my x-ray and they then said about a day later that my heart was very dilated and i had a condition called cardiomyopaphy, shortly after that i was then told my best chance of getting better was to have a transplant, as you can imagine i was very shocked to hear such a thing at my age " well any age it would be a shock i should imagine" then after about a week of being in hospital i was sent to have an angiogram to see what my arterys where like but to be honest i cant remember much about that, i was then given some drugs for my heart to try and keep it stable but again this is mostly a blur to me anyway after about a month i was then told that the drugs were helping and i might be able to go home but this was not to be the case because on new years day i had a cardiac arrest and died for 7 minuets but after about an hour of working on me i was in a stable but critical position and my relatives were told i had about 15% of making it though the night and then the second night it went up to about 25% chance of survival but thankfully after about 4 days inder sudation i was woken up and told i had been to sleep for 4 days again this is all of a little bit of a blur to me, so i was then transferred up to papworth hospital and was in i.c.u for a while before being fitted with a vad also known as a "ventricular assist device" to keep my heart stable until i was able to have a transplant.
I was in papworth in total for about 7 months and was let home for about 1 week and a few days but then had to come back into hospital because i had an infection in body that was affecting the way the pump was working, then the nurse's and doctors helped to get my infection under control anoth to be put on the transplant list as an emergency case because the pump was only doing so much and they then thought the infection was in the pump, so after waiting about 6 days i think it was on the emergency transplant list i was woken one night by the transplant co-ordinater saying then they had a heart for me, as you can probably imagine it was quite a shock to finally be given that second chance in life.
so later that morning about i think 7 am or there abouts i was taken down to theatre to have my transplant, but this did not turn out as hoped because for an unknown reason the doner heart did not start once it was connected, so i was then taken out of theater and put back into i.c.u on a life support machine for what i'm told was less than 24 hours and then just in the nick of time a new doner heart was found that happened to match me, so i was taken again back down to the theatre and operated on again but this time thankfully the heart worked first time and i've had no problems ever since.
I would just like to say a massive thanks to all the teams of docters and nurses and all the surgical teams at papworth and everyone else who was involved in the whole process from me being admmited to papworth and southampton genarel hospital. "THANKYOU VERY MUCH FOR SAVING MY LIFE" |
Hostess Rise'
Forum Leader
Username: Risa
Post Number: 10719
Registered: 05-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 08:55 am: |
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Hello Jaxx
Welcome to our Transplant Family. What an incredible story you have to share.
This is the part of your story that sounds like is made for TV.
"so later that morning about i think 7 am or there abouts i was taken down to theatre to have my transplant, but this did not turn out as hoped because for an unknown reason the doner heart did not start once it was connected, so i was then taken out of theater and put back into i.c.u on a life support machine for what i'm told was less than 24 hours and then just in the nick of time a new doner heart was found that happened to match me, so i was taken again back down to the theatre and operated on again but this time thankfully the heart worked first time and i've had no problems ever since. "
Incredible! You are one blessed Man. It must be harder for a healthy person to suddenly become ill and have to go through all that you have as opposed to someone who was ill all their life.
Please visit and interact with our members.
Thank you for joining us!
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