Babydoll's Page
Imelda Vasquez's Groups
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Ideas for Increasing Awareness
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LifeSharers
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Donor Families
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Look Beyond The Heart
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Lung Transplants
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Imelda Vasquez's discussions
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Profile
- What is your city / state and country of residence?
- Riverside, CA 92509
- How are you touched by transplantation?
- I am a Recipient
- If you are a recipient, what type of transplant did you receive?
- Heart, Double Lung
- Recipients: In this space, feel free to list those you are grateful to for receiving the Gift of LIfe:
- I am grateful to my donor and her family. She is my hero, along with all those who choose to become organ donors! I am also thankful to all my family and friends who were of great support to me. Without them I don't know where I'd be. And to my loving boyfriend who without his love, care and devotion I would have given up!
- If you are a recipient, what type of donor did you receive your Gift of Life from?
- Deceased Donor
- If you are a recipient, when did you have your transplant(s)?
- June 1, 2007
- What is your principal transplant med(s)?
- Cellcept, Prednisone, Prograf
- What is your hospital and, or doctor's name, city / state and country?
- I had my transplant done at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. It was done by surgeon Dr. Abbas Ardehali. and my pulmonologist Dr. Rajan Saggar. They are excelent doctors!
- What do you do for a living?
- I am not currently working at this time.
- About Me: Please use this space to tell the community about yourself and your unique experience with transplantation:
- Hello everyone. First of all, let me say that there are so many wonderful people here and I am honored to be a part of this community! Thank you for making me feel welcome.
My name is Imelda Vasquez. I was born in Mexicali, Mexico at 7 months with a congenital heart defect called a “VSD”, (Ventricular Septal Defect). By the time I turned a year old, the enlargement of my heart and pressures that the VSD caused in my lungs developed into “Eisenmenger’s Complex. Eisenmenger’s is a combination of having a VSD and Pulmonary Hypertension. They could not operate to close the opening of the VSD before it caused the pulmonary hypertension because the hole was too large, I was too underweight and too small (3lbs) to survive the operation at that time. I was placed in an incubator for 3 months and my parents were told to go home and pray and hope for the best. My chances of survival were slim to none. My disease was considered terminal and my only chances of surviving was a heart/double lung transplant. But that was a path that would come later in life. They just had to find a way to maintain my health and keep me living for as long as I could before needing to get on that path.
My parents sought medical care for me in Guadalajara, but Eisenmenger’s is not a very common disease so they were not of very much help. They kept trying to seek help and care for me from several different doctors whom all gave different opinions; they finally decided to come to the United States.
They brought me here when I was 5yrs old. I am now 34 and live in sunny Riverside, California. I did pretty well as a kid and teenager. Except for that I was limited in my activity as I was breathless a lot of the time and blue from my fingertips, toes, lips and my skin had a bluish appearance. I never had to take any physical education classes, which was fine with me. I was never the sports oriented type anyway. My interests were always more in reading, writing and my love of art. I grew up having a pretty normal life. My parents never spoiled me or treated me different than my siblings. I did get sick a lot and almost always had to go to the hospital at least once or twice a year because I could not get rid of a cold as easily as anyone else. I was followed by different cardiologists, none really knew how to treat me except for making sure I took antibiotics before being seeing my a dentist. But the cardiologists were pediatric cardiologist and I was becoming an adult and my disease was slowly progressing. At that time there were no drugs for pulmonary hypertension…. and even when there were, my doctors were not aware that it was treatable and that they were available. As an adult I went on to see several cardiologists and was admitted in to the hospital more times than I can think of. I still was doing ok until once day I ended up in the ER with extremely low blood pressure and my heart barely beating at 30 bpm. After this incident my health plummeted. I could barely walk, breathe, or even talk. I was extremely fatigued all the time. I became wheelchair bound. I knew I had to do something. I looked for a different cardiologist a pediatric, even though I was an adult.
I went to see the new doc who looked at me blankly and referred me to UCLA. That was the best recommendation any doctor had ever given me. This was around 2005. I was evaluated by pulmonologist Dr. Rajan Saggar who told me about some meds that could possibley help me. I had already heard about these meds through a local support group that I had been attending. He was surprised about how much I knew about them and my own condition. He immediately put me on Bosentan (Tracleer) and a week later Viagra, (Sildenafil). He told me it was best that I try and make it on these meds until I absolutely need a transplant. I told him I was fine with that because I did not feel ready for it. He also warned me that I could not wait “too” long, so I should start thinking about the idea of getting listed. These meds worked wonders for me. I did great on these with periodic increases to the doeses for about 1 1/2 years. But then again my disease slowly progressed. I lost a lot of weight, was not eating very well and could barely do anything at all. I could hardly wash my hair, tie my shoelaces or get to the restroom in my own home. I was on 2 liters of oxygen to help me sleep. Using more oxygen with my condition did not help. It was like trying to fill a leaky balloon with air. I was on the highest doses of my medications. I had two more options available but my doctors were weary of those options because of the high risk of infection that came with them. One was Remodulin the other was Flolan.
By then I knew it was time. I my next appointment with my doctor he asked me if I was ready to be listed…without hesitation I said yes. I had all the workup done necessary and met with the transplant team and transplant surgeon who would be Dr. Abbas Ardehali. He told me that I would be his first heart and double lung transplant patient as normally he only did either hearts or lungs but not both at the same time. He told me that it may be difficult to find a donor for me because of my blood type (B) and size/weight. I’m 5’1 and weighed 110. And also, UCLA had not done a heart/double lung transplant in 5 years! I was didn’t care. I didn’t have time to find another doctor or another center that may or may not accept me. I put all my faith in them and decided to go ahead and get listed. I was listed on January 9, 2007 and got my call on June 1, 2007. The wait was short compared to others who waited much longer and many who are still waiting…. but still I kept thinking they’d forgotten about me……(to be continued)
- How did you find out about TransplantCafe.com?
- My beautiful friend Meghann!
- What is your relationship status?
- In a Relationship
- My "MySpace" Page:
- http://www.myspace.com/baby_doll007
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Comment Wall (17 comments)
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Susan
I like your drawings.
Z
Thanks for the kind words! I have just finished with my evaluation and now I'm waiting for the transplant team to meet about my results. Hopefully I will hear something soon. Have a good week!
Oh geez I've never been anyone's inspiration. :-)
I just read your story and it does sound a lot like mine! Oh, bonus points: I'm half Hispanic! My mom is from Barranquilla, Colombia. But my Spanish is "muy mal" haha. I hope to meet you at the 2010 transplant games! How does that sound huh?
Kim :-)
I hope all is going well. Love the pictures of your pooch.
I was wondering if you know Arlene LaRose?,...she's a transplant coordinator at UCLA....I think that's where's she's at....anyway, just wondering.....
How's it going?
Troy
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