TheBanyanTree: God still delivers miracles - Another new heart

[Jim Miller]

While I fully expected to continue these updates every few days, I was
naïve. I had no concept of the time required to balance medications,
test my new heart for rejection, be certain that my overall health is
not adversely affected and begin physical rehab. Every week has been
full. Some days are filled from morning to evening. The schedule will
abate somewhat over the next month, but still remain busy. My next
update will fill you in on the painful and exciting details. But this
update is about Jeremy’s miracle.

If you have viewed my photos, you have probably seen Jeremy’s picture
under “Transplant Patients”. Jeremy is 28 years old with a congenital
heart problem. In his short life, he has been through many excruciating
surgeries. Jeremy was admitted to the hospital about a month before me.
He has looked on as 4 new hearts were successfully transplanted. A few
weeks ago, he was nearly rolled into the OR for his turn, when the heart
was declined because it was damaged. Jeremy was discouraged, but stood
strong.

>From the time I learned that Jeremy was waiting, I began visiting him
regularly. I met his Mom, grandparents and a few friends as I routinely
stopped by. I usually saw him twice a week. Because of my schedule, and
the Labor Day Holiday, it was more than a week since I had seen him. I
was briefly in the hospital yesterday (Wednesday 9/8) and knew that
today might be hectic, so I trekked to his room to stick my head in for
a few minutes. Jeremy told me that he was very depressed, and didn’t
think that it was worth going any further. I spent the next hour telling
him that what ever it takes, my side of the surgery is worth the price.
I told him that if he gave up, his mother would be really hurt, as
parents never expect their children to die before them. He assured me
that he understood, but I could tell that as a therapist, I needed
better training and should keep my day job. I knew that I was supposed
to be there when he told me that He’d asked to have both the transplant
coordinator and Deacon Dan come see him. He told me that in his
desperation, he had prayed for anyone to come in and talk with him, and
then I walked through the door.

At the beginning of our visit, I was reminded that I needed to call
Paula, my coordinator about a prescription. She told me that today’s
biopsy might be rescheduled because they were currently working a donor
heart. With 10-12 people currently waiting at this center, I knew that
it could be for any one of them, and decided that in Jeremy’s fragile
state of mind, it wouldn’t be advisable to tell him about this
development. I finally left after an hour, not knowing if I’d helped.

This morning Jeremy’s Mom told me that he called her at 9PM last night
and asked her to pick him up this morning. After his dry run, I’d asked
Jeremy to call me regardless of the time of day, if anything ever
developed. I went to bed around 11:30PM without hearing anything. 

I don’t ask God for much when I pray, but I’m learning that he expects
us to ask. I didn’t even pray to receive my own new heart. I only prayed
for God’s will to be completed. I later found out that Linda prayed;
telling God that she couldn’t last much longer and He could deliver Jim
a new heart at any time . . . . soon. Last night, I too prayed that God
look favorably on Jeremy and give him a new heart soon. I woke at 3:30AM
and couldn’t return to sleep. After trying for a short time, I thought
about Jeremy and again asked God to bring Jeremy a heart soon. I finally
fell asleep around 5:30. 

Sleep was short but welcome. I had to be at the lab for a blood draw at
8AM, starting a full day of tests and clinic. As I went out the door,
Linda, told me that if I were to see Jeremy, I should tell him that we
are praying for him to receive a heart soon. (we hadn’t discussed my
prayers) 

If you don’t know, hospital lab people pretty much know what’s new in
the hospital. I asked if there was any transplant activity overnight,
and was told that the transplant team was in surgery as we spoke.
Because of recently enacted federal privacy regulations, the medical
community can not provide any information on the patient without the
patient’s direct consent. It was time to put on my sleuthing hat. I knew
where to start. I went to the monitor room where all the techs know me
and are always happy to see me since my surgery. Hoping, I looked at the
screen with Jeremy’s room and saw that the telemetry was off and the
text read, “waiting for patient”. I knew that it meant “waiting for a
new patient”. I uttered a resounding “YES”. One of the techs asked what
I was talking about, and I said, “Jeremy’s in surgery”. She answered,
“yah, we’re waiting for him to show up in CICU. I said, “Praise the
Lord”, and turned to hide the tears of joy that were streaming down my
face.

I first went to the cafeteria, where Doug and Steve (recent transplants)
were waiting, so that I could tell them the good news. I also needed to
eat something and take my meds. By then, we all knew that biopsy was
postponed, and that it would be a long day until clinic in the
afternoon. From there I went to the OR waiting area to find Jeremy’s
Mother. I hugged her and met other members of his family. It was there
that she told me of his call the night before. I found out that they had
taken him into surgery around 4AM. (well, no wonder I couldn’t sleep)
Just before noon I talked to Deacon Dan, and I learned how truly
miraculous this heart is.

Dan told me that the donor Paula had mentioned was a different heart for
someone else, but it was declined. So, like the day Steve got his heart,
this was a second heart in the same day. A miracle in itself, given that
there were only 12 heart transplants at this center in 2003. He then
told me that Pam had decided that she should tell Jeremy herself that
they had a donor, and it looked promising. She didn’t find him in his
room, and couldn’t locate him on the floor. The monitor showed that he
was still in the building. She finally found him coming out of the
Chaplain’s office. Jeremy was having reservations about his decision to
quit and had been praying that God would give him a sign. At midnight,
Jeremy asked Dan to call me, but since the donor organ wasn’t yet firm,
Dan decided that he would let me know in the morning, not knowing that I
really wanted to be there. Because Jeremy’s birth heart presented some
unique challenges, surgery was long. I was told this afternoon that it
was being finished up and all appeared to be going well. I’ll learn more
in the next week, but probably not before he is transferred from CICU.

In reviewing events of the past three months, I’m more convinced than
ever that coincidence is a myth. All things happen for a purpose. AND,
God is still in the miracle business.

Jim Miller
http://www.maze.cc