Key points from today’s guests:
Archie Moore, underwent heart transplant
- A former nurse at The University of Kansas Health System for 28 years, someone gave Archie the gift of life on Christmas Eve 2022.
- After being on a transplant list for three months, she got the call that her new heart was ready and her care team needed her in surgery as soon as possible.
- Looking back, she says the signs of a heart problem had been there for a few years.
- Her heart was functioning so poorly that the echocardiogram showed a pumping ability of 10-15 when a normal squeeze is about 55-60.
- The gift of a donor heart on Christmas Eve was a blessing for Archie and her family, including her 13 grandchildren.
- She encourages others to listen to your body and don't be in denial like she was.
Dr. Matt Danter, surgical director of cardiac transplant and mechanical circulatory support, The University of Kansas Health System
- The best part about it all was how the team came together to get Archie her new heart on Christmas Eve.
- It's an advanced heart failure where there's a number of objective tests and functional tests and basically history of significant symptoms that all point to failure. Then, based on how sick you are, there's a number of intervening therapies that we can utilize to try to get people to different therapies or get people as much time as we can to allow for the transplant to occur.
- Typically, you need to be at the end of the lifecycle of your own heart and we have several options once we get there. Transplant is sort of the gold standard and the definitive therapy.
- I think it's great to see a family be able to get together again. That's why we do all this. It's really nice to see when people are doing great and thriving.
Jan Caldwell, RN, nurse practitioner, advanced heart failure team, The University of Kansas Health System
- Jan played a key role in Archie's treatment recovery and emotional support, which is critical to patient care.
- I always try to emphasize to them that their health is my priority. And I want them to feel like they can trust me and just try to be open communication.
- I try make sure I'm speaking to their level so that they understand what's going on. That's really important. I think patients are scared when they're going through this so just to make sure that they really understand what's happening around them. I think that makes them feel a little more calm with everything.
- I think it's really important that patients recognize how sick they might be. Sometimes they tend to ignore symptoms and put off coming to the doctor.
