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(203) 688-2222
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(203) 688-3333
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(203) 688-2221
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YNHH patient stories:
Harriet Gelderman's story
By Katie Murphy
Harriet's main concern was getting back to work. Her doctors at Yale-New Haven Hospital were more concerned about keeping her alive.
"I'd had some back problems, but it wasn't until my family doctor put me on a 24-hour heart monitor that I found out I had a lot of arterial blockage. I went in for what was supposed to be a routine bypass. But things didn't go well. The left side of my heart was shot. There was nothing to bypass to. They had two choices - t hey could let me die or put me on an artificial heart.
"I became the first patient at Yale-New Haven to go on the LVAD machine. I had no clue what it was. I was pretty oblivious for a while."
| “The
inability to communicate was the scariest part. It never occurred
to me that I wouldn't eventually get out of all this.” Harriet Gelderman |
|
Harriet said, "I had no day. I had no night. I had no time. My consciousness seemed to almost have shut down. I was on a respirator for five weeks. Once I woke up, which took a couple of weeks, I was very frustrated. I couldn't talk because of the respirator, and I couldn't write because I had so many drugs in me. The inability to communicate was the scariest part. It never occurred to me that I wouldn't eventually get out of all this."
Harriet was in the intensive care unit and on the mechanical heart for 84 days. She was in the hospital for 18 weeks. While she was there, her daughter Rebecca turned 16 and learned to drive. Her son Quinton was 8. In between daily trips to the hospital, her husband kept the Gelderman Group going.
| “I was
home by Thanksgiving. I remember thinking, 'Now I can get on with
my life.' I never really stopped being a type-A personality throughout
this whole experience. But I did learn to rearrange my priorities.” |
|
Cardiothoracic surgeons John Elefteriades and Kenneth Franco knew that the LVAD was Harriet's only chance. They also knew she would be on the machine until a donor heart was found. What they didn't know until later was that there would never be a heart that matched Harriet's because of her high antibody levels. No match meant no transplant. With no other options, they decided to try an unmatched heart transplant.
"When I heard a heart was finally available, it was like somebody saying to me, 'I'm about to open up the cage and set you free.'"
Dr. Franco performed the transplant surgery. He also came up with the idea of using photopheresis to prevent rejection.
"I remember thinking, 'Now I can get on with my life." I never really stopped being a type-A personality throughout this whole experience. But I did learn to rearrange my priorities."
For almost three years, Harriet continued to receive outpatient photopheresis at Yale-New Haven, on a decreasing frequency basis.
Harriet Gelderman is part of history. She is living testimony to the effectiveness of the LVAD - which today is available in a portable, wearable unit. There have been few, if any, successful cross-matched heart transplants. It is unlikely Harriet would have survived anyplace else. If she weren't at Yale-New Haven, there probably would not have been a mechanical heart...or transplant surgeons...or photopheresis...or the brainpower and creativity to put it all together.
"Life's not perfect," Harriet said. "I sort of look like a road map. But nothing to bitch about. I'm here. It's life."
Next story: Two tales of transplant tastes
Last revised: May 22, 2007 (dh)
