Pittsburgh Day 7

We had to be at the hospital at 0745 this morning. Her first test was an ECHO at 0800. During the ECHO Melissa had a student watching, his name was Sil, he had a heart/liver transplant 2 years and 5 months ago. He had a lot of encouraging words and told her what to expect. He told her that this week would be very stressful and when she was done to spend some time thinking about everything before making a decision. I think that she felt comfort from him. At 0915 Tracie Sabatine the Heart Transplant Coordinator took us to meet Dr. Tueteberg, Cardiologist. (man, was he cute). I stand corrected on Melissa's weight this week, on Monday she weighed 104. After everything that happened this week and all of the Zaroxolyn they gave her she is down to 93 lbs. That is a lot of water weight. Her little tummy and legs were really big yesterday, today she looks like a supermodel. This cardiologist told us more of the same, he talked about high risk because she has had 4 open hearts in the past and scar tissue, he also added that they may even push her back a year or two or even three depending on how the tests come out. He said they only pick people that are good candidates. I asked him about the emotional side of things and he said to expect a rollar-coaster. (that is an understatement)....He also added, "this will never be low risk, even in the best situation." He told her that neither organ is sick enough alone for a transplant, but together they may be. (Melissa's main problem is the Protein Losing Enteropathy, she loses protein into her digestive tract, and this is getting worse and can cause heart failure, that is why her weight changes so much. She goes into the hospital about once per month to have the fluid drained off of her tummy). When she is full of fluid like that, she gets short of breath and extreme fatigue. They don't want her to get too sick either, it is all about timing and balance." We asked the question, "how long can she go like she is, without the transplant?" We already knew the answer, they don't have a crystal ball. Melissa is so high risk that they are not sure that the risks outweigh the benefits. We will hold our breath until they get back to us with answers.

Melissa was then taken to do an exercise stress test, she walked for a mile and a half. Whoo Hooo!! You Go Mel!! The girl told her she was amazing. She has no idea.............Amazing doesn't touch her.

Then we went to lunch, (how rude). Melissa could not eat because she was having a right heart cath in one hour. For all of you non medical people, that is a catheter that they put in your neck vein and run it down to check the pressures in your heart chambers. This is a real simple procedure that takes only about 15 mins. (On a normal person).......After about 1 1/2 hours, I started to panic....I walked back to ask the nurses if she was okay and they called back and advised me that they were having trouble with her anatomy, they tried and tried to get past the right atrium but could not. They wanted to use dye to be able to visualize, (HELL NO!!) they knew that they could not use it. I told them that we brought a CD with a pulmonary angiogram on it and they could look at it. Well, we had given it to the Cardiac Surgeon and they could not find it until Melissa had had enough. They did not sedate her before hand because "it only takes a few little minutes." Nothing seemed to go easy for her this week and she is extremely worn out and discouraged. We are all very tearful.

We went back to Alexanders for dinner because we knew that the food was good, and we had taken enough chances this week. Thank you Ken (Melissa's dad) for dinner.

We are leaving tomorrow, can't say we are sad about that. Pittsburgh people have been so incredibly gracious, but we want to go home.

Melissa, Judy, Tammi and I are so thankful for all of the support in words and prayers. Please don't stop them. Visit Melissa's caringbridge site to keep up and to leave her words of encouragement.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/melissarowland