Today Michael's heart transplant journey is one year young! Michael was taken to the operating room just after midnight in the early hours of October 27th, 2010. The donor heart arrived around 1 a.m. with the surgery wrapping up around 6:15 a.m. It's been a year of ups and a year of downs, full of learning, reflecting, loving, and resilience... and also an additional year of Michael continuing to be a father, son, husband, uncle and friend.
This is also a time to reflect on the difficult time the donor family must be having as surely this anniversary does not bring the same joyful feelings. Our entire family is grateful for the priceless [and best] gift given by the donor family. Thank you.
A long-term study unveiled Monday at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress in Vancouver found that heart-transplant survival rates were 86 per cent after one year.
The study, which looked at results since 1984 at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and covered the follow-up on 461 patients, also found that the younger the patient at the time of the transplant, the more successful the outcome.
“Despite being a very involved and complicated program, heart transplant is a very successful form of treatment,” said Dr. Marc Ruel, surgical director of the heart transplant program at the institute.
Without a transplant, he said patients would not have lived one more year. With a transplant, the study revealed the survival rate was 75 per cent at five years, 62 per cent at 10 years, and 36 per cent at 20 years.
“We had a patient who was still followed at 25 years and four months, so that’s the longest survival we’ve had, but many patients are still alive well beyond 20 years, and hopefully we’ll have solutions to keep them alive for a long time,” Dr. Ruel said.
The oldest person receiving a heart transplant in the study period was 74, and the youngest was 18.
Transplants can be done after the age of 65 with good results, but doctors have to carefully make their selections in order to avoid patients with other significant illnesses that would compromise lifespan or quality of life, he said.
Last year, there were 167 heart transplants in Canada, performed in five provinces. At the end of last year, 135 Canadians were on the waiting list for a heart transplant.
Modern heart transplantation became available in 1980, and the study found that survival rates have improved by more than 20 per cent in the years since.
“Eight-year survival since the 2000s is close to 90 per cent – 89.3 per cent to be exact. So this really sets a very high standard for other series to be compared upon,” Dr. Ruel said.
An international registry of heart transplants finds that survival is expected to be about 67 per cent at seven years, so the results in Ottawa compare favourably.
The first human heart transplant was done by Christiaan Barnard in South Africa in December, 1967. The patient lived for 18 days, and died of pneumonia.
The techniques of heart transplantation haven’t changed much since the pioneering days, Dr. Ruel said, but before-and-after care is much improved.
In particular, postoperative care involves immune suppression, prevention of infections and following patients carefully with biopsies, he said.
“I think having a heart transplant program in the hospital is one of the most complicated things that a hospital can get into. Despite this the results are excellent, and it almost looks as if it is routine. Well, in fact, it is very, very far from routine because of the dozens of levels of involvement that are required for successful transplantation.”
He credits donor hospitals, donor procurement and allocation agencies, recipient hospitals, teams of nurses, physiotherapists and transplant cardiologists who keep patients alive by preventing rejection and infection for many years.
The actual surgery normally takes between four and eight hours, Dr. Ruel noted. A donor heart remains viable for only four to six hours, so Ottawa transplant surgeons could probably use a heart retrieved from as far away as about Edmonton, “but certainly Vancouver would be stretching it because of the flight time and the need for sometimes refuelling, and the time to implant the heart, which takes between 70 and 90 minutes on average.”
Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Dr. Beth Abramson said heart transplantation is an excellent treatment for the select few who need it – those with severe, end-stage heart failure.
She urged Canadians to sign their organ donor cards.
Here's an update as we approach the one year anniversary of Michael's heart transplant: Michael continues to battle CMV. He is at home on oral medication to fight the virus. He continues to go to Toronto General Hospital to inhale a medication that attempts to prevent pneumonia. This week, he also had a biopsy which came back showing zero rejection. This is incredible considering the low, low doses of anti-rejection drugs he's been on [my dad complains that he takes more meds than my brother!].
Michael modelling the pique line that was used to treat the CMV & caused the staph infection.
The other patients [my parents] are recovering from their car accident in August. As it turns out, my Mom has a fractured foot, fractured sternum, fractured back and several fractured ribs. That explains the constant pain she's been in!
Mom at the hospital visiting Michael days before fracturing this, that & everything else!
I must apologize for being a bit of blogger slacker....
Marc Quinet and Suzanne Camu would like a moment of your time. Their son, Thomas Quinet, 14, is on life support at the Hospital for Sick Children. The Ottawa teenager, who has been in Toronto for 14 months awaiting a second double-lung transplant, was put in an induced coma on Aug. 7 and hooked to a novalung, a ventilator to assist his breathing.
He is now on a North American-wide list for organs. He has scant weeks to live without a transplant.
Our family needs your help. Our only child, Thomas-Paul Quinet (14 years old), has a critical need for new lungs. We have been waiting for almost 14 months for suitable organs to become available. A few days ago, Thomas needed a breathing tube to continue living. He is in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. The doctors who are treating him have told us that, while every person is different, Thomas has a very limited amount of time to live in his current condition.
We are painfully aware of the chronic shortage of organs and tissue. There are many reasons why. One of them is the relatively small number of people who have expressed and registered their desire to donate their organs and tissue before they pass away. Children and adults of virtually any age can be potential donors. Some organs (partial and complete) can be donated while you are still living, including lungs.
Would you consider finding out how you can register your wishes to be a donor in your province or state? Just recently we found out, due to medical advances, that Thomas can now receive a gift of lungs (and life!) from across North America!
Could we ask you to do one more thing? Please speak to one other person about what you’ve just read and then ask if they would do the same. We realize there are so many great causes in our society today. Could you make our cause yours for the next few weeks?
With sincere and heartfelt thanks,
Suzanne Camu and Marc Quinet on behalf of Thomas-Paul Quinet
Patient One
Michael has turned a corner and is beginning to recover from his deadly staph infection. Last Wednesday/Thursday were difficult days as Michael was very, seriously ill. He is still in the hospital. His CMV levels have come down, hence he's going to receive his CMV meds via oral form vs. IV. However, he still needs four more weeks of IV treatment for the staph infection.
Patient #1 improving
Patient Two & Three
On Monday afternoon, my parents were involved in a serious car accident while en route to hospital to visit my brother. They were traveling on the Gardiner Expressway when they were hit on the drivers side by another vehicle which caused them to spin and hit the guard rail. The other driver was charged with careless driving. They were taken by ambulance to the hospital where they were x-rayed and my dad assessed by the transplant team. They are bruised and extremely sore [chest & back - from the seat belt & being tossed about - are among some of the aches and pains being experienced]. Getting up & down and mobility are quite difficult for them at this time. However, given the nature of the accident & state of their car, they are LUCKY to be alive.
Patient 2 & 3 being discharged from the hospital
The drivers side of the vehicle after the crash...
Michael was admitted to Toronto General Hospital for the second time this summer on Wednesday evening. He had was fevered, vomiting & lethargic. He really appeared to be in a bad way. Thursday morning, his temperature had come down from 39/40 to 37.7. However, he was still extremely lethargic. Dr. McCready [an infectious disease doctor from Toronto General Hospital] came to the 10th floor to try to determine the cause of the infection. The lab confirmed her suspicion that he had a staph infection. We all have staph & strep bacteria on our skin. More than likely, the staph bacteria entered his blood via the pique line in his arm that was meant to administer the CMV antibiotics [CMV was the reason for his previous hospital visit a few weeks back].
Michael's cocktail of antibiotics & saline
He is receiving Vancomycin to treat the infection along with two other antibiotics to continue to treat the CMV [one of which is Ciprofloxacin]. He had a chest xray and echo, both of which showed no damage to his heart. Hopefully, with the Vancomycin he'll bounce back & will be feeling more like himself in the next few days.
Numbers....actually Michael's blood pressure is probably higher than mine!
Michael with his daughter, Maddy [photo courtesy of his wife]
Michael & his family were set to go on summer holiday [the holiday they canceled last summer due to his congestive heart failure], when TGH [Toronto General Hospital] called to say he needed to be admitted. Apparently, Michael's routine blood work came back with dangerous levels of CMV which is a virus that affected 20-60% of transplant patients. In fact, our dad had it post-transplant as well. However, he was treated via IV at home. Michael will be in hospital for a week while being treated intravenously.
