Thumbs up on each biopsy!

Photo: Me and Eden dressed for Halloween, Granny was in paying for Gas. Can Cats drive?

After a fun Halloween weekend, Monday morning I had my fifth biopsy since receiving my heart transplant 56 days ago. So far all of my lab results have been wonderful. There are hardly any signs of rejection, if any. In other words, the heart I received is a perfect match, extremely strong, and my body is receiving the organ very well. I am fortunate, blessed, and grateful to God.

What is a Biopsy?

My myocardial biopsies are performed in an operating room known as the cath lab by a cardiologist. In this test a small amount of tissue is removed from the internal lining from the heart for testing. It is used to help detect rejection of the new heart after a heart transplant. A long, flexible tube, called a catheter, is inserted into a vein and threaded into the heart's right artrium through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. The doctor can guide the catheter by watching its movement on a monitor showing an X-ray image of the area. The tip of the catheter is fitted with tiny jaws that the doctor can open and close. Once the catheter is in place, the doctor will take several tiny snips of muscle for microscopic examination.

What does it feel like?

Most adults and some teenagers choose to be awake for the procedure since most sit still and can endure the tugging.

Because I am doing this in a children's hospital I still have the luxury of requesting anesthesia. My first biopsy was very painful because of some nerve pain so we decided to use anesthesia the next time. Unfortunately, I have some reaction to my anesthesia which seems at times more challenging than the transplant did. For several minutes afterward I feel like I’m in deep water trying to reach an unattainable surface. However, this passes. And I remind myself no matter how hard it is in that moment of despair all things pass. Eventually, it’s over and I feel renewed and happy to be alive. I don’t like talking about the hard moments because I’m an optimist and try to see things from a long-term perspective.

My team and cardiologist have been extremely professional and kind in helping to ease the pain.

As time goes by and there is no sign of rejection my weekly biopsies turn into bi-monthly, monthly, every three months, six months, to every year. At this point, if all goes well I won’t need another one until after Thanksgiving.

I often think of the words of Joseph B. Wirthlin who put suffering in perspective:

“Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come!”