Press enter after choosing selection

Going Home For Birthday!

Going Home For Birthday! image
Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
May
Year
1969
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

True to his own predictions, Michigan's third heart transplant patient Gerald K. Rector left University Hospital today to celébrate his 44th birthday Sunday at home in Livonia. "I feel just great," he said huskily this morning just prior to his hospital discharge. Although his seven-hour transplant operation was longer than those performed on the hospital's previous two heart patients, Rector's 6%-week post-operative stay was shorter, hospital officials said. He received the heart of Roland Hoag, 24, of Westland, on March 16 after the donor under went unsuccessful brain surgery. Fïanked by his wife, Virginia, and 15-year-old daughter Terry Lynn, Rector said he'd "take it easy and rest a little while" but expressed eagerness to work again. "If I can go back to work, they can have my pension," he grinned. The patiënt had been a heavy equipment engineer until an enlarged heart made it impossible for him to work two years ago. He said he had read about the transplant operations and was holding out hope for such a chance. "I never had any misgivings about the surgery. No dpubts at I all that I wouldn't be áble to pull through." He agreed this may have been a factor leading to his fast recovcry. The state's first transplant, Philip T. Barnum of Kalamazoo, was released after three months, while Donald Kamanski of Alpena spent just over two months recovering. "My only thought since the operation has been, "I'm going home!'," Rector said. i Several times he expressed gratitude for "everything everyone's done for me. Things will be so much better now." He said he had received letters and wires from "people I haven't heard from in years. "I can eat almost anything I want to now, but someone's got to feed it to me," he mentioned. "Unfortunately," Ms wife said, "he dóesn't like birthday cake." A patiënt who underwent another highly complicated University Hospital operation, hemophiliac David Jones of Portland, Ore., was eating regular meáis again today and was reported to be in a much proved condition. In an 11-hour operation April 22, surgeons removed large tumors from Jones' thigh and abdomen and pinned a fractured leg. On the following day, they removed a small portion of bone from his left leg to aid blood circulation in a 90-minute operation. "The prognosis for complete recovery is very good," Dr. Barbara Avren of the U-M medical staff said today. "We believe we have the bleeding problem licked. The only thing we have to be afraid of now is infection." Jones, 27, was flown to Ann Arbor April 11 since the hospital is the only one in the U.S. that operates on "bleeders," Dr. Avren said. He received 54 pints of blood befdre, during and after his operation. In the past two days, he has required only three pints of blood, U-M doctors say, although he continúes to receive injections of antihemophilic Factor VIII, a blood clotting agent. His mother, Mrs. Joan Jones, who has been near her son's side since the surgery, has no reservations about his future recovery. "He has the grit of 10 persons," she said proudly.