Running Out of Time with HeartMate 3 LVAD 

I've had mine for 3 years now. No symptoms. I just dropped dead with my heart stopped and was extremely lucky to be with a friend who knew how to do CPR which saved my life. I'm still waiting for a transplant though ... I'd be surprised if Aiste has already got a transplant - I hope so - but 1.5 years seems a short wait.

@@team3383 It doesn't happen without a reason though. It's usually uncontrolled high blood pressure, high blood sugar and cholesterol that causes issues with heart usually (due to atherosclerosis) and genetic heart diseases like cardiomyopathies or sudden heart-related events like myocardial infarction, ischemia, etc. They didn't tell anything about her health background in this video... I'm very interested in her health background and what caused it to happen to her.

@@wlfgang I have a 35 page medical report explaining all. It's why I asked here. Because my heart just stopped "ticking" for 63 minutes !!! No cholesterol, arterial blocages, ischemia etc. All I retained is that both surgeons said it was a miracle I survived and another miracle that I've recuperated so well - Speech, balance & Coordination (I used to write at a 45° angle in funny squiggles) and they had already told the family that I would most probably spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair - probably as a vegetable. I looked up miracle as I didn't think a surgeon would use the word! There is a medical definition and a clerical definition. Medical definition = An extraordinary scientific event that cannot be explained. 1) My heart started again after 63 minutes 2) After 3 weeks coma, I can talk, walk and write again...! Clerical = Magic I'm alive and kicking.

> Also did she really never check her heart before? Like echocardiogram or EKG? How often people do EKG usually? I had it done only because it was required for sport competitions (I was semi-pro back in a day). And one other time it was a part of check to assess if I'm fit for an army. I assume there are lots of people who do not go through this and might have never had EKG done ever. Also my EKG always looked a bit concerning. One time a doctor moved me straight up to the next room and performed an ultrasonic for an extended check. He said it everything's OK but I'm still wondering what's going on there... And in a country where I currently live (Germany) no GP would bother to set me up for a check up, if I'm under 30 y.o. And a colleague of mine, who is a bit older, went through a check-up and told me that it was only superficial nonsense. Even the blood analysis was done only for very basic things; no EKG included into the check-up. With approach like this, no wonder heart failures come up seemingly out of nowhere!

@@nin3se understand your reasoning, however the tests are "basic" for the army but enough for that age group to see if they should be taken any further. Same happened to me (CH). If you feel you should be tested - ASK YOUR DR and he will set everything up for you. Dr's can't just guess who to check and who not to check.

That is pretty pessimistic. Look up your national statistics. Very few people die nowadays with a LVAD and if so it is because they have other weaknesses like diabetes. Simply check on the number of people on the heart transplant waiting list in your state/country and the number of people on the same list that died within the prior year and WHY they died. Its a dangerous operation - as dangerous as a heart transplant - but one well worth it. I'd be in a hospital bed now it I didn't have an LVAD for the past 3 years. The life expectancy is above 20 years with an LVAD and probably more with this newer LVAD III which is directly attached to the heart. I have been going from strength to strength since 2019. There are drugs that you can take to keep your heart working but they are so strong they poison your liver within 5 years so this is really the last option for people like me.

This is so true doctor's tells you about the advantage they do not tell you about the disadvantage, and if you end up with complication no nursing home will take you in because they are not trained to handle the device. Do your research before taken this risk