CHENEY heart transplant

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 3:05am

Yeah, there's a million bad jokes in this story....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120325/us-cheney-heart-surgery/

[sabrelady]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 12:19pm

Wonder who they kidnapped to make shure he was top of the list?

Too harsh? OK Wonder how much he payed to be top of the list?

Wonder if the doner was actually DEAD!

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 1:37pm

well, I wasn't going to be the first one. thanks, sabrelady lol! Yeah, what 71 yr. old tops the list in less than 2 yrs? Answer: Nobody - except.....

[mominator]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 1:39pm

Nobody- except very rich people!

[sabrelady]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 2:54pm

Very rich + very politically connected = Top o the Heap In just about every arena.


Wonder how they will "spin" this?
20 some yrs ago a very prominent Conservative party member rec'd a transplant @ 66 ( the cut off then was in the 50's) and they explanation was:
"the heart had a "bruise" and would otherwise not have been suitable for another recepient".
Much bitter and cynical laughter on the part of myself and the docs i talked about it to.

[mominator]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 3:41pm

Same here saberlady! I have 2 very close friends who are MDs and they were outraged by this (One of them being more conservative than Cheney himself!)

[Kad]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 5:10pm

Has he announced when if he will be carving the roast beast at the annual Whoville Christmas feast?

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 3/25/12 at 7:32pm

Oh Kad, I was just about to go there. That whole family is so ice cold and emotionless I wouldn't doubt any of their hearts are three sizes too small.

[never_has_been]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 1:38am

There are few things that seem slightly askew to me about this. Yes, he is a bit old. Some hospitals/vascular surgeon groups/transplant teams do enforce age restrictions others just use basic guidelines. In the hospital where I previously worked, 65 was generally the cut off to be considered for heart transplants. The article states that he had a VAD placed back in 2010. I did a quick search and found that it was a Heartmate II model. This is a fairly new device, a huge change from the previous Heartmate model. The console is about the size of an old school 80's VHS player and the portable battery pack is about the size of calzone (sorry, I'm hungry and really couldn't think of a better comparison). The driveline site is also the smallest of the devices (it is only a fraction of the size of a Thortec or Abiomed). This devise is by far the easiest to maneuver with. From my uninformed stand point on his case, it would seem that a more appropriate option for him would be to use the device as a means of end-destination-therapy as opposed to bridge-to transplant therapy. Organ procurement organizations have pretty clear cut, and very fair guidelines which are greatly based on location and status (1A,1B, 2, and 7). The transplant team (the people who actually list the patient) does have some play room, and means to do a little manipulation with what status the patient is listed as. Let's say that Cheney is functioning just fine at home with the device (status 1B) but it getting inpatient waiting for a heart. His transplant team could admit him to the hospital without a validating change in status with the intention of bumping him up to a status 1A. Sometimes patients (without devices) are doing okay at home but slowly getting sicker, but not so much to really need a device or supportive IV drips, they will be admitted to the hospital and started on two IV drips at rates that are less than a normal therapeutic rate with the sole purpose of making them higher on the transplant list. It isn't exactly ethical but it happens.

[romantico]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:18am

My question is, what is his quality of life? I mean,not to sound cold but at his age and what he has been through and all. The body can only take so much. Does he have another 10-15 years in him or did this just buy him another couple months? It would be a shame if he got a matter of weeks,months at most out of this where as someone who has been on the list longer and is younger could have had a great many years left to them had Cheney not been bumped to the top of the list.

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 2:46am

Wwow, that's the most medically intellectual post I've EVER read on BWW!

[D2]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 7:52am

Don't you mean "implant?"

[WOSQ]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 10:00am

Who paid for this transplant? Does he have private insurance or is his insurance a perk from his government years? Or a combination of both? Medicare, that the GOP is trying to abandon?

Do tell.

The questions beg.

[never_has_been]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:09am

That would be difficult to guestimate. Most transplants do last 10-15 years, but as you mentioned, at 71 how many years would the rest of his body have left? Given that he has greater access to care than most people he is less likely to have complications go unnoticed. A person’s body can reject a transplanted organ at any time, though it is most likely to happen early on. Chances are he will have private nurses in his home at least for the first few months to monitor him for signs of rejection after discharge. Naturally, this is not affordable for most individuals so that alone puts him at a higher likelihood for a successful post-transplant period. He’ll be expected to wear an isolation mask in public and avoid crowds. Anti-rejection meds are insanely expensive (this shouldn’t be an issue for someone like him). He’ll likely require high doses of steroids which will cause a significant change in his appearance over time. You’ll see weight gain, hair loss, bulky gums, etc. The combination of these two types of meds will suppress the body’s natural autoimmune response to attack the organ causing rejection. On the other hand it will at the same time they also greatly impede their ability to fight infection and illness and will mask some of the signs. I’ve seen patients who were expected to do very well do poorly and vice versa.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:18am

It somewhat recalls the controversy after Mickey Mantle's liver transplant. How long did he live after that? Like two months?

[WOSQ]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 11:37am

Mantle had liver cancer. After his transplant with his immune systen suppressed, he was open to other cancer cells that were free-floating in his body to attack the liver again which is what happened.

The accepted rumor is that Mantle's liver was 'bought'.

[winston89]

Posted: 3/26/12 at 8:07pm

But, wouldn't one have to have a heart first before they can replace it?