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Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

Bucky

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I was implanted with this device five months ago and am feeling so well we are considering starting to travel again.

Any other tuggers have this device and how do you cope with lugging all the equipment around?

Thanks
 

lizap

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I have a good friend who had this device before her heart transplant. She had the transplant years ago and has done beautifully.
 

falmouth3

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I'm so glad you are feeling well with this device. I worked for a cardiac pump device company for a couple of years. They were sold to another pump company. You may have one of theirs. Best of luck with it.
 

Bucky

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I'm so glad you are feeling well with this device. I worked for a cardiac pump device company for a couple of years. They were sold to another pump company. You may have one of theirs. Best of luck with it.

I have the Heartmate 3 from Thoratec which is now St Jude.

Hi Bucky,

Google is your friend. Do a search on LVAD Support Groups and you'll get a number of hits where I'm sure you'll be able to find out a lot of information.

Here is one example: http://www.umcvc.org/heart-transplant-lvad-support-group

Best regards,

Richard

Thanks Richard. I already belong to a couple of Facebook pages devoted to nothing but this device I have. While the people on there are great, most of them don't travel internationally like our community here.

With TSA as daunting as it is now for normal people, imagine having to carry all of your regular travel gear and then add another full size carry on which cannot be out of my site. It holds battery charger and batteries, an ac adapter, spare controller, etc.

My hospital will provide a letter for TSA and the airline explaining that this is medical equipment that must remain with me at all times but it's still a little overwhelming at this point. I was looking for some first hand knowledge from our pros here.

The good news is it appears nobody else here has this problem! That's a great thing. In the long run this is just another bump in the road and I am after all, still vertical.

Thanks for the replies
 

falmouth3

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My company was bought by Thoratec, but your pump was designed by Thoratec, as far as I know.
 

Bucky

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My company was bought by Thoratec, but your pump was designed by Thoratec, as far as I know.

Yes it was and now Thoratec has been bought out by St Jude. The HM3 is still in the trial stage but all reports so far indicate it is a definite improvement over the HM2. At the one year mark it's showing an 80% survival rate and still no occurrences of thrombosis or any malfunctions. Looks like it's going to be a great thing for those of us with end stage heart failure.
 

lizap

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I'm glad that you are doing well with this device. It was a new lease on life for my friend (and hers was the older model).
 

easyrider

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