Very Strange Day

So today was very weird. Most of you know that I'm doing clinical work for Grad School in a Heart Failure/Heart Transplant office. Every Wednesday morning, we have a Transplant Patient Selection meeting. We review policies and procedures that might need updating, sometimes we have guest speakers, and every week we review the patients we have on the transplant waiting list. So this morning the surgeons, doctors, nurses, and social workers had to make a very hard decision. We have a patient that is at the top of the list, but his health and strength have been declining. The surgeons don't think he would survive the surgery itself. So, this morning the group voted to actually take him off the list. I don't think this has happened before with this Transplant center. Yes, they've taken people off the list because they've gotten healthier and no longer need the transplant, but they've never taken someone off the list because they didn't think he'd survive the surgery. It was very emotional and I had to look away, because half of the people that work so closely with this patient were crying.

Then, my preceptor had been working since 4:40 this am on a heart offer for one of our other patients. We had gone so far as to have the patient come into the hospital and be admitted to the ICU awaiting his transplant. We were waiting on the results of ONE test, where they actually mix our patient's blood with the donor's blood (called a crossmatch), to see if there is a reaction. If there is a reaction, the patient would most likely reject the heart. At 11am we finally got an answer, after delaying the other organ teams - there was a reaction. We had to go to ICU and tell our patient that he was not getting his heart today and that he was going to be discharged home. This only added to the high stress around the office.

Then, as I'm leaving, I get a text from Allison saying that I needed to read MckMama's blog because Stellan was having issues with VTach and they're starting him on Lidocaine. I got home and caught up on what was going on, so you'll notice that my button for her blog has been updated. If you have a moment, please take some time to send some prayers and positive thoughts her way! I think her friend (who originally posted about the VT) said it best - "sweet Jesus, be near!"

So needless to say, I've gotten my fill of hearts for today. It has definately been a little odd.