Just a follow up to my last post about congenital heart disease… While searching through for images that portray congenital heart defects, I can across a few websites. I have to admit, after 2 minutes I was in tears. Not just boo hoo tears, but full out sobbing. Why was the only word that passed through my mind.
I know the why and how at the genetic level, but it just isn’t fair for the children, parents or families and friends that are affected by congenital heart disease. I also know that we have come along way with research, procedures and …read more

This is a little venting on my part today. Call it my therapy for the week. Do you want to know what bothers cardiac nurses more than anything? Patients that come in with heart attacks, chest pain, in cardiac arrest, or CHF and their toxicology screen is a big fat positive! Uh huh. And you know, it is always a mix and match of illegal drugs. It’s never just one. No, they have to mix cocaine with pot with heroin.
Now these are the same patients that can’t understand why they had a heart …read more

Protected by its own nutrients and blood supply, a beating heart supported by an investigational organ preservation device was successfully transplanted into a 47-year-old man with congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension on Sunday, April 8.
Very cool stuff! This pioneering surgery took place at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine using a heart that was maintained in a beating state on the investigational Organ Care System (OCS) for two hours and 45 minutes.
The recipient was discharged from the hospital on April 30th in good shape. The OCS keeps organs in their physiological, beating state during transportation to …read more

An engineer in California got the gift he was waiting for. Mike Iwuchukwu was placed on the heart transplant list 5 years ago. He had a condition called noncompaction syndrome, where the heart appears almost sponge like.
This past Monday, officials at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California announced that Mr. Iwuchukwu received his second chance on life. He received his heart in March, but the transplanted organ had been down this road before. You see, this particular heart had already been donated to someone who died of non cardiac complications.
There have been previous cases of patients receiving …read more

Life has forever been changed for 5 year old Joseph Greenwood. He was a happy, healthy young boy until March, when he unexpectantly collapsed.
After CPR by his father, being taken via 911 to the closest hospital and then airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, life saving decisions had to be made.
Doctors determined his heart had failed and diagnosed the problem as dilated cardiomyopathy. They suspected a virus that Joseph contracted a year ago had caused his immune system to attack and destroy his heart muscle. Gradually, his heart grew bigger and weaker until it finally …read more