On October 28, about mid-morning, Jim received “The Call” that will forever change his life. After 101 days as a heart transplant candidate, Jim received his perfectly matched heart.
The call came while Jim was admitted at Saint Luke’s Heart Institute CICU due to a decreasingly functional heart and edema. The call alerted Jim to the fact that they had a probable heart, which was estimated to be a viable within the next 12 hours. While this created a long expectant day, it allowed ample time for multiple family members to travel to KC in support of this momentous occasion. To close family members, the situation was described as “surreal,” however the reality was that on this life-changing day, in his usual way, Jim provided humor and comic relief for all of us and the medical staff.
As more information became available, the cardiac transplant team followed their highly successful protocol, beginning surgical prep around 8:30pm, with surgery expected somewhere between 11pm to 1am.
At 11:25pm, Jim was taken to surgery with a highly orchestrated sequence of events of high standards. The donor heart was approved by a Saint Luke’s team surgeon at the harvest site, then the organ was transported to Saint Luke’s, Jim’s chest readied for the new organ, and then actual placement of the new heart (yes, this is greatly simplified).
We were notified as each step was successfully achieved, with the actual transplant occurring about 1:30 am, October 29. With the excitement of each successful step, our thoughts and gratitude were with the donor family who made the heartfelt choice to share their loved ones heart and other organs with many recipients, giving the opportunity to save many lives. What a dichotomy of pure joy and loss. Our family will be forever grateful for this gift.
By 3:00am, surgery was complete and the surgeon came to speak with us shortly after. Dr. Borkon, an incredibly heartfelt man, greeted us with a huge smile, as well as gratitude for our large group being there, and his appreciation for the opportunity to provide the heart and surgery for Jim. The greetings were mutual. He quickly told us of the transplant success and Jim had done amazingly well, in addition to the perfectly fitting and functioning heart had begun beating on its own when the blood supply was returned to it. We were told by Jim’s nurse that his surgery was the quickest she had witnessed. In just over 3.25 hours, this miraculous surgery was complete.
Our somewhat disheveled-looking waiting room group was ecstatic. In addition to the news of the great success, this over-nighter will be remembered with a great smile. The interesting “harmonies” of sounds of the night will be long cherished memory.
At 4:30am, the family made its way back to CVICU to see Jim for the first time after surgery. He looked amazingly well through the glass doors and windows as we huddled around listening to the nurse provide us with details of his care. To support Jim’s recovery and immune system, family wasn’t allowed to be by his side until after he was off the ventilator.
By 6am, they had removed Jim from the ventilator, as he progressed with his recovery in his typical “over-achiever style” about 8 hours ahead of schedule. Within 12 hours of surgery, Jim was up sitting in a chair, still progressing well. While the surgery was an amazing sprint, Jim’s complete healing will be a marathon. With wife Donna and 3 kids by his side, as well as additional close family members and loving friends, he will be well supported on this journey. The family is very grateful and appreciative of our community of support and prayers. Thank you!
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