威廉•桑德斯在等待心脏移植手术时说，他现在的妻子伯妮丝•“伯尼”•沃德全程陪伴在他身边。 “伯尼很了不起。 这次我抓紧了。 由于在埃默里成功地进行了手术和心脏康复，sanders和bernie这对28年的朋友于11月喜结连理。 eighteen。 --照片由williamsanders提供。 如果不是因为心脏移植，威廉•桑德斯很有可能不会在今年秋天结婚。 早在2018年，sanders就被称为mahmoud h。 abdou，医学博士，记忆心脏病专家，主治医师。 在接下来的几年里，阿卜杜是弗兰克·桑德斯的心脏不能正常工作，但他们会尝试所有可用的治疗方法。 干预措施包括药物治疗、植入式心律转复除颤器、起搏器等。 当这些都无法阻止心力衰竭时，阿杜继续坦诚相待，并告诉桑德斯他需要心脏移植。 “直到我回到家，它才真正引起我的共鸣，”sanders回忆起那次访问，“过了一段时间，我开始告诉自己，我必须处理这些问题，它们不会消失。”。 在那次谈话后不久，当时67岁的sanders也开始注意到变化。 他再也不能运动或游泳了，他必须直立睡觉，每隔几个月就要“来回去医院”。 在长期住院期间，sanders在精神和身体上都保持活跃，甚至召集其他心脏病患者在护理站周围与他一起散步。 三月底，sanders让儿子开车送他去医院。 抵达后，他们很快发现sanders的心脏功能大约为10%，因此给他安装了一个临时机械泵&推进器，这是一种旨在为心脏提供更多支撑的设备，使其每次收缩都能泵出更多的血液，使血液更容易流动。 根据他的病情，sanders在移植名单上排名靠前。 “哇。 这是一场战斗，”他说。 “我的护士告诉我，每个病人都必须做好身体准备，测试良好才能接受移植。 所以，我每天早上都在护士站走来走去，因为我知道一颗心正向我走来。 “他锻炼的也不仅仅是他自己的耐力。 sanders让其他心脏病患者和他一起散步，他们在房间里停了下来，最终，其他患者的配偶和伴侣都来找他寻求帮助。 “我告诉（其他病人），‘听着，你不了解我，但我要告诉你一些事情。 你可以随心所欲地躺在那张床上，但在你开始起床走路之前，什么都不会发生。 直到你移动身体。 我回来和你一起走。 ”“难道你不知道它每次都有效吗。 散步有双重好处：体力和长时间逗留期间的精神放松。 但是sanders的心还是很不舒服。 3月31日，他的病情进一步恶化，他接受了ecmo（体外膜肺氧合）治疗，这是一种长期的“旁路机器”，通过从体内抽取血液，通过人工肺为其充氧，然后将其泵入，来支持心脏和/或肺部。 sanders的优先地位也被移到了移植名单的首位。 当患者接受ecmo支持时，往往会出现更多严重的并发症，如果大约一周后无法获得合适的心脏，就需要做出一些艰难的决定来决定如何进行。 4月6日，在医院住了将近10天后，sanders从他的医生abdou那里得到了一些坏消息。 如果在接下来的几天内没有心脏，sanders将不得不选择是否使用lvad，一种左心室辅助设备，一种用于终末期心力衰竭患者的手术植入泵。 sanders请了几天时间仔细考虑。 他回忆道：“我们交谈后，我在房间里自言自语，与上帝交谈。一个小时后，我被告知他们有一颗心。”。 事情很快就发生了，sanders记得的下一件事是在他的房间里醒来，他的亲人站在他身边，祝贺他被emory心胸外科医生tamer attia，医学博士，博士成功移植。 每走一步，sanders都被他可以依靠的社区包围着。 他和未婚夫（现在的妻子）bernice“bernie”ward以及妹妹vera gainey一起说，他受到了很多亲人的全天候照顾。 sanders说，他在医院等待一颗新心脏的整个过程都被家人包围着。 其中包括姐姐维拉·盖尼，她从费城来到哥哥身边，与哥哥进行健康斗争。 照片由williamsanders提供。 sanders说：“这段经历让我生活中那些一直被我排挤的人离我更近了，让我从不同的角度看待事情。”。 sanders的心脏病让ganey大吃一惊。 这对兄妹只相差11个月，盖尼的年龄更大，他们一直很亲密，尤其是多年来他们失去了其他兄弟姐妹和父母。 两人在费城长大，盖尼仍然住在那里，但桑德斯于1981年搬到了亚特兰大。 这段距离让他更容易把健康问题放在背心附近，她在他入院后不到48小时就住进了医院，这让他很惊讶，这要归功于他儿子的一个电话。 gainey刚到的时候被房间里机器的数量惊呆了。 她说：“我们经历了一些可怕的时刻，但他回来了，他坚持了下来，下定了决心。”。 “他总是说这是他的第二个孩子，他会尽一切努力确保他不会离开我。 “起初，sanders也没有和他的未婚夫ward在一起。 “当我开始生病时，我开始避开她，”sanders说，“但她永远不会离开。”。 “经过28年的友谊，沃德一直带着食物过来检查，她知道出了问题。 虽然两人几年前有过几次约会，但sanders说这并不严重，因为他离婚后从未打算再婚。 但当他生病的时候，病房每走一步都在那里，他开始从一个新的角度看待事情。 “伯尼很了不起。 他说：“我不知道我是怎么差点让她逃走的，但这次我紧紧抓住了。”。 两人于十一月喜结连理。 eighteen。 移植手术后，gainey和ward共同努力，让sanders适应他一开始经常改变的药物治疗程序，并安排了随访，包括康复。 事实上，一个支持系统是如此关键，它是移植资格的考虑因素之一。 emory心胸外科医生tamer attia，医学博士（左）为sanders成功进行了心脏移植手术。 照片由williamsanders提供。 meredith hardie对emory decatur医院在健康中心提供的心脏康复计划最喜欢的一点是，它也让家人参与进来。 作为心肺康复经理，哈迪亲眼目睹了责任伙伴的影响，无论是定期锻炼还是营养课程，她说：“我们绝对鼓励家人、配偶和照顾者一起去。 心脏康复中心的erin-hill解释说，康复患者通常会有相当多的焦虑和问题。 当sanders在7月31日开始康复治疗时，他有一些问题，但他也很热心。 希尔笑着说：“他一直是个明星病人，我希望我们能克隆他。”。 在他接受康复治疗期间，sanders与hill分享了他的担忧和目标，hill指导他完成了治疗计划，减轻了他的恐惧。 希尔说：“当他进来的时候，他总是很积极，能接受我们要说的话。”。 “器官移植是一项艰巨的任务，它需要频繁的随访和每月的活组织检查，患者必须回到实验室进行检查，以确保没有器官排斥反应。 他们还需要服用大量的药物，所以他能够在所有这些过程中保持积极性，这一事实令人难以置信。 “与心脏病患者相比，器官移植患者也开始了不同的护理计划。 最值得注意的是，为了让胸骨愈合，移植患者在驾驶和举重方面有更多的限制。 而且，由于移植的心脏不是通过神经与大脑相连的，因此需要更长的热身和冷却时间，以及较低强度的训练。 运动生理学家马库斯·梅多斯见证了sanders取得的重大进展。 梅多斯说：“威尔带着一颗完全不同的心来到这里，试图做任何事情来重建自己。”。 “他在赛道上艰难地绕了三圈，他的心率真的很高，这是移植后的正常反应。 现在，他可以在不呼吸急促的情况下跑六圈了。 “在整个康复训练过程中，我们都会密切监测心输出量，以便在潜在问题开始之前将其停止。 梅多斯解释说，能够与患者一起查看报告对于那些感到在家锻炼足够舒适的患者来说是至关重要的。 gainey也看到了她哥哥的显著进步。 sanders最初被要求在车道上绕着车走，现在他要去接受物理治疗，做水中有氧运动，遛狗，和朋友一起旅行。 她知道她哥哥是清白的，所以回到宾夕法尼亚州的家就很舒服了。 gainey说：“护理团队非常出色。”。 “治疗师们简直不敢相信他的能量，但这真的是因为他在整个过程中从他们那里得到了爱。 自从手术后，sanders就成了emorydecaturs心脏康复中心的明星病人，而且前景很乐观。 由于患者在两到四个月的时间里每周最多要去三次心脏康复中心，他们与提供者建立了深厚的私人关系。 希尔和梅多斯都喜欢建立融洽的关系，帮助患者达到他们的目标，在一次改变生活的事件后，他们会重新振作起来。 对梅多斯来说，这起案件与个人关系更为密切。 梅多斯说：“威尔告诉我，我大约五岁的时候遇到了他。”。 事实证明，桑德斯曾在亚特兰大警察局与梅多斯的父亲共事，两人在转行期间一直是朋友。 梅多斯笑着说：“我告诉他我的姓氏后，他就把它拼凑起来，当场给我爸爸打了电话。”。 “和他有这种联系，能够帮助他度过这个过程，对我来说真的很酷。 一切都是圆的。 “事实上，就连sanders的第一次就诊也回到了医院。 这次，说声谢谢。 sanders也期待着在未来做志愿者，对于一个在等待自己手术时鼓励他人走路的病人来说，这并不奇怪。 sanders说：“我不会去任何其他医院，因为emory为我提供的护理水平是首屈一指的。”。 “让我感觉良好的不仅仅是医生，还有那些不是医生的人，从护士到治疗师再到监护人等等。 你不能给它标价。 ”。when william sanders was waiting on a heart transplant, he said his now-wife bernice "bernie" ward was there every step of the way. “bernie is magnificent. i’m holding on tight this time." thanks to successful surgery and cardiac rehab at emory, sanders and bernie -- friends for 28 years -- tied the knot on nov. 18.— photo courtesy of william sanders.if it wasn’t for the heart transplant, there’s a good chance william sanders wouldn’t have gotten married this fall. back in 2018, sanders had been referred to mahmoud h. abdou, md, an emory cardiologist, by his primary physician. over the next few years, abdou was frank sanders’ heart wasn’t functioning as it should be, but they would try all available treatments. interventions ranged from medication to an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator to a pacemaker and beyond. when none of those could keep heart failure at bay, abdou continued to be candid, and told sanders he needed a heart transplant. “it didn’t really resonate with me until i got home,” sanders remembers about that visit, “and after a while i started to tell myself that i had to deal with these issues, that they weren’t going away.” not long after that conversation, sanders, who was 67 at the time, also started to notice changes. he couldn’t exercise or swim anymore, he had to sleep upright, and he was “back and forth to the hospital” every few months.during his extended stay in the hospital, sanders stayed active, mentally and physically, and even rallied other cardiac patients to join him on short walks around the nursing station.at the end of march, sanders had his son drive him to the hospital. upon arriving, they quickly discovered that his heart was functioning at roughly 10%, so sanders was put on a temporary mechanical pump – impella, a device designed to give more support to the heart to allow it to pump more blood with each contraction and the blood to flow more easily. based on his condition, sanders was moved up higher on the transplant list.“wow. it was a fight,” he says. “i was told by my nurses that every patient has to be physically ready and test well to receive a transplant. so, i walked around the nurses’ station every morning because i knew a heart was coming for me.” it wasn’t just his own stamina he was building, either. sanders got other cardiac patients to join him on those walks by stopping into their rooms and eventually, the spouses and partners of fellow patients were coming to him for help.“i told [the other patients], ‘listen, you don’t know me, but i’m going to tell you something. you can lay in that bed all you want, but nothing is going to happen until you start getting up to walk. until you move your body. i’ll come back and walk with you.’”and wouldn’t you know it it worked every time. the walks had dual benefits: physical stamina and a mental reprieve during a lengthy stay. but sanders’ heart was still very sick. on march 31, his condition deteriorated further, and he was placed on ecmo (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a long-term “bypass machine” that supports the heart and/or lungs by taking blood out of the body, oxygenating it via an artificial lung, and pumping it back in. sanders’ priority status was also moved to the top spot on the transplant list.when patients are on ecmo support, more and serious complications tend to occur, and if a suitable heart is not available after about a week, some difficult decisions need to be made on to how to proceed. on april 6, after nearly 10 days in the hospital, sanders got some tough news from his doctor, abdou. if a heart wasn’t available in the next few days, sanders would have to choose whether to get an lvad, a left ventricular assist device, a surgically implanted pump used for patients with end-stage heart failure.sanders asked for a few days to think it over. “after we talked, i was in my room, talking to myself and having a conversation with god, and an hour later, i’m told that they had a heart available,” he remembers. things happened quickly after that, and the next thing sanders remembers is waking back up in his room, with his loved ones standing over him, congratulating him on a successful transplant by emory cardiothoracic surgeon tamer attia, md, phd.every step of the way, sanders was surrounded by community he could lean on. along with his fiancé (now wife), bernice “bernie” ward, and his sister, vera gainey, he says he was taken care of around the clock by a host of loved ones.sanders said he was surrounded by family the entire time he was in the hospital waiting on a new heart. this included sister vera gainey, who came down from philadelphia to be with her brother during his health battle.photo courtesy of william sanders.“this experience brought people in my life that i’d been pushing out closer to me,” sanders says, “and made me see things from a different perspective.” sanders’ heart problems had taken gainey by surprise. the brother and sister are a mere 11 months apart, with gainey being older, and have always been close particularly since they’ve lost their other siblings and parents over the years. the two grew up in philadelphia, where gainey still lives, but sanders moved to atlanta in 1981. that distance made it easier to play his health concerns close to the vest, and she surprised him by being in the hospital less than 48 hours after he was admitted, thanks to a phone call from his son. gainey was struck by the number of machines in the room when she first arrived. “we went through some terrible moments, but he came back up and he persevered and was determined,” she says. “he always says this was his second birth, and that he’d do everything he could to make sure he wouldn’t leave me.”originally, sanders hadn’t been forthcoming with his fiancé, ward, either. “when i started getting sick, i started avoiding her,” sanders says, “but she never would go away.” ward kept bringing food over and checking in after 28 years of friendship, she knew something was wrong. while the two had been on a few dates years ago, sanders said it wasn’t serious, as he hadn’t planned to ever remarry after his divorce. but when he was sick, ward was there every step of the way, and he started to see things from a new perspective. “bernie is magnificent. i don’t know how i almost let her get away, but i’m holding on tight this time,” he says. the two tied the knot on nov. 18. after the transplant, gainey and ward worked together to get sanders comfortable with his medication routine which often changed, in the beginning and orchestrated follow-up visits, including to rehab. in fact, a support system is so critical that it’s one of the considerations for transplant eligibility.emory cardiothoracic surgeon tamer attia, md, at left, performed the successful heart transplantation surgery on sanders.photo courtesy of william sanders.one of meredith hardie’s favorite things about emory decatur hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation program being offered in the wellness center is that it allows the family to get involved, too. as cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation manager, hardie has seen the impact of accountability buddies first-hand, whether that’s for regular exercise or at nutrition classes, and says, “we definitely encourage the family members, spouses and caregivers to come along.”erin hill, cardiac rehab rn, explains that rehab patients often come in with a fair amount of anxiety and plenty of questions. when sanders started rehab on july 31, he had questions, but he was enthusiastic, too. “he’s been a star patient, and i wish we could clone him,” laughs hill. during his rehab intake, sanders shared his concerns and goals with hill, who walked him through the treatment plan and allayed any fears. “he’s always positive when he comes in and receptive to what we have to say,” says hill. “organ transplant is a huge deal, and it involves frequent follow-ups and monthly biopsies, where patients have to return to the lab and have tests done to make sure there’s no organ rejection. there is also a huge number of medications they have to take, so the fact that he’s been able to maintain his positivity through all of it is incredible.” organ transplant patients also start on a different care plan compared to cardiac event patients. most notably, transplant patients have more restrictions around driving and heavy lifting in order to let their sternums heal. and, because transplanted hearts are not connected to the brain via nerves, it requires longer warm-up and cool-down periods, along with lower-intensity workouts. exercise physiologist marcus meadows has seen sanders make significant progress. “will was coming in with a completely different heart, trying to do anything to build himself back up,” meadows says. “he was struggling to do three laps around the track, and his heart rate was really elevated which is a normal response with a transplant. now, he’s able to go six laps without shortness of breath.” cardiac output is closely monitored throughout rehab exercises so that potential problems can be stopped before they begin. meadows explains that being able to look at reports with patients is essential to those patients feeling comfortable enough to exercise at home. gainey has also seen significant progress in her brother. originally challenged to walk around his car in the driveway, sanders is now going to physical therapy, doing water aerobics, walking his dogs and traveling with friends. knowing her brother was in the clear, she was comfortable going back home to pennsylvania. “the care team was phenomenal,” gainey says. “the therapists couldn’t believe the energy he has, but it’s really because of all the love he’s gotten from them throughout this process.”since his surgery, sanders has become a star patient at emory decaturs cardiac rehab facility -- and the outlook is sunny.because patients go to cardiac rehab up to three times per week for two- to four months, they develop deeply personal relationships with the providers. hill and meadows both love building rapport and helping patients reach their goals, literally building back up after a life-altering event. for meadows, this case turned out to have even deeper personal ties. “will brought it up to me that i met him when i was about five years old,” meadows says. turns out, sanders had worked with meadows’ father in the atlanta police department and the two have stayed friends throughout career changes. “once i told him my last name, he pieced it together and called my dad right on the spot,” meadows laughs. “having that connection with him and being able to help him through this process was really cool for me. it all comes full circle.” full circle, indeed, as even one of sanders’ first visits was back to the hospital. this time, to say thank you. sanders is also looking forward to volunteering in the future no surprise from a patient who was encouraging others to walk while waiting on his own surgery.“i wouldn’t go to any other hospital because the level of care that emory had rendered to me is second to none,” sanders says. “it wasn’t only the doctors that made me feel good, but it’s the people who weren’t the doctors, from nurses to therapists to custodians and beyond. you can’t put a price tag on that.” .本文来源： 心脏移植让埃默里的病人重获新生和爱
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