Monday, July 25, 2005

"Have a heart..."


Started my rounds at 715am today. Got a call from one of the cardiac surgeons to see a patient of theirs.
Gentleman in his 50's with dilated cardiomyopathy, no history of diabetes, status-post heart transplant last week, now on massive doses of steroids and having post-op hyperglycemia. Looked at the name, and thought it seemed familiar. So I dug around a bit deeper.
I'll be damned!
Mr. X was one of the 3 stooges (or the 3 wise men, depending on which nurse you talk to) I was looking after last December. Of the 3 of them, he was the last to get his new heart! Was thrilled to see him again, and he thought I looked familiar too. Glad he lived long enough to receive his gift of life from some anonymous saint.
Did get me thinking too; a gastroenterologist here was killed in a car crash while driving to a rural hospital to see patients. On the same day. And he was 42, left behind a wife and 2 kids. Tragic, really. One life ends, another 'begins' (again). Is it possible that's who he got his heart from? Who knows?
The evening was pretty interesting too. Bad storm in the midwest, with a tornado warning at 5pm. I heard over the radio a twister actually touched down some miles away (small one, no one was hurt).