Wellness

[sarpy]

Does anyone on here have an info about someone getting an LVAD?

[hckynut]

On 8/23/2014 sarpy said:

Does anyone on here have an info about someone getting an LVAD?

I think your best option is to talk with your Cardiologist about this. Many Cardiologist are also surgeons that can put these devices in place. Some call in a surgeon to do the procedure along with the Cardiologist.

[gardenman]

From what I understand an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) is used to help keep someone with a failing heart alive until a suitable transplant organ can be found. Some live with them for months or even years.

[151949]

If you need an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) the doctor will tell you all that you need to know about it.I'm sure you would certainly have to go to a class either before or in the hospital. D*ck Cheney had one of these for a long time til his transplant.

[inGeorgia]

sarpy, not sure what kind of information you are looking for? Are you looking for general information as a recipient of a LVAD, caregiver, family member of a LVAD recipient? Usually people receive an LVAD as a bridge to transplant and others as destination therapy. There is a good Facebook group called LVAD Recipients.

[sarpy]

My girlfriend had an LVAD put in in May. She just started her 5th month in the hospital and is weaker now than when she went in. She has been bedridden all this time. She can't stand up, she has had blood infection, pneumonia, a bedsore clear to the tail bone, she can't eat, has been fed by tube this whole time, has a trach in, has lost 40 lbs. She will never be able to live thru a heart transplant. I just was wondering if any of you have ever been thru this with someone.

[gardenman]

She's had a tough road that's for sure, but people have survived worse. The LVAD should be providing enough assistance to her heart to keep it functioning pretty well. The sepsis (blood infection,) pneumonia, and bedsores seriously impeded her recovery, but assuming heart failure was her biggest issue and barring other organ failure, once those infection issues have cleared she should start to improve and regain strength. Depression is likely a major issue for her now. When you're on a health roller coaster and it seems to be going downhill all the time, it's nearly impossible not to be depressed, but as things start to improve she's likely to bounce back. Depending on her age and condition when this all started, there's nothing that rules out a recovery. It won't be easy, but people have survived worse. If she's in her twenties to fifties she's likely to recover. The odds get worse as you get older, but you can never count people out.

[hopeQ1]

I believe it best if questions of a serious nature like this should not be answered by people on these forums. Even if you have any information about things, you are not the proper medical source for such and telling your "stories" about people you know such as the two posts above mine are just conducive to causing alarm in the people who may undergo these things they inquire about. I also believe it's not a good idea to ask questions here for the same reason, but go to the correct medical source.

What possible good can come out of telling about the sad nature of another person's experience?

There should be a Community Standard rule that any and all medical advice is not allowed on these forums.

[sarpy]

I was just asking, so we can probably accept what is coming. She just turned 67.

[nytengale1]

VADs are placed by cardiothoracic surgeons who work in conjunction with the patient's cardiologist. They can be used as a bridge to transplant (until a heart becomes available) or as destination therapy (until the end of life).

It's a huge surgery and it sounds like your friend has had a lot of complications. Often times, people will be able to recover, but honestly, it's a c r a p shoot. What are her doctors telling her and her family?