New Heart

Monday, May 3rd at 1:00 AM we received a call that a heart had become available for Richard. He had been sick for the last few days and feeling weak. He looked at me and said I'm not ready for a heart, hoping that he would be much stronger before the operation. On the other hand we were so shocked and excited to have been called after being on the transplant list for less than two weeks! Nothing short of a Miracle and an answer to many prayers!



Thanks to Tom driving us, we arrived at the hospital around 2:30 AM and started the process to verify that Rich was ready for this heart. After many hours of waiting we were told that he would go into surgery at 1:00 PM and later this got pushed out to 3 PM.



Many of you have been asking how Richard got the heart, since he was still listed as a 1B. This meant that all of the 1As did not have a good match to this heart that became available. So they moved to the 1B list and Richard was a good match. They look for many things: blood type, size of the heart, tissue matching.....



We where told more than once that it is possible to get here, get prepared, go into surgery and then the doctor find something he doesn't like and send you home without the heart and go back on the list. This happens very seldom, but you have to keep this in mind just in case... So with many hours to wait and lots to think about Richard made the nurses & doctors laugh (we wouldn't expect anything less!), found peace with the operation and the outcome, got to sleep a few minutes in between all that was going on during the preparation. When he left he was very positive and at peace.

Will update you as soon as we hear he is out...



ok.. visiting and sending him stuff... here is a brief outline of their rules:

* No flowers, unless they are fake

* Balloons and cards are fine

* Send cards to Allegheny General Hospital

320 East North Ave

Pittsburgh, PA 15212



They will be strict on visiting hours while he is in the SICU( Surgical Intensive Care Unit), which are:

10AM-10:30AM

2:00PM-2:30PM

8:00PM-8:30PM

2 immediate family members per visit