NY woman well after rare heart surgery
2000-11-22 12:27
Houston - A 57-year-old woman is walking, speaking and beginning to eat regularly a week after her heart was temporarily removed to cut out three tumours.
"I feel good. I don't have problems anymore with breathing," Joanne Minnich said on Tuesday, speaking publicly for the first time since the lifesaving operation.
The Mahopac, New York, woman drank a cup of hot tea as she sat in a wheelchair next to her husband, William, at Methodist Hospital.
"I'm just happy to be where I am, with my family around me," she said.
Minnich said she didn't think she would die during the surgery.
"When I came out of the surgery, I didn't say I am alive. I said it's over," she said.
Lead surgeon Michael Reardon said Minnich is making excellent progress and has passed several post-surgery milestones. Her heart has picked up its natural rhythm, after expected post-surgical
irregularities, he said.
Minnich is expected to be released from the hospital next week but will remain in Houston for observation before returning home.
Minnich's heart rested in a bowl while Reardon and a team of cardiac surgeons cut out three rapidly growing tumours on November 14. Doctors used tissue from a cow's heart to repair the damaged organ.
Although the surgery removed all cancerous tumours, Reardon recommended that she undergo chemotherapy.
Reardon performed the procedure, called an autotransplant, successfully in 1999. Two other patients died, in 1983 and 1998. Reardon said he developed the procedure with famed cardiac surgeon
Dr Denton Cooley in 1983.
Minnich relentlessly researched medical options for her rare condition on the Internet until she stumbled upon articles about Reardon's work.
"I love her very much," Minnich's husband said as he wiped away tears. "We want to get the message across to the world that there are options for you. Don't give up. Look for information on
whatever ailment you have."
On the Net:
DeBakey Heart Centre:
http://www.methodisthealth.com/debakey/hrtcntr.htm
- AP