After a five-month medical leave that included a 30-day hospital stay and open-heart surgery on Jan. 29, I'm back: On Monday, I resumed my 38-year career as a SunTimes reporter.
That hospital stay was the result of a Jan. 11 cardiogenic shock - first cousin to a heart attack. Twice, I was placed on life support. Once, my heart had to be shocked by the defibrillator paddles. Then, on Jan. 29, I was implanted with a D-batterysize, $80,000 heart pump by Dr. Valluvan Jeevanandam at the University of Chicago Medical Center…
Now I must adapt to living tethered to a machine until the Mayo Clinic schedules me for a heart transplant.
Chicago Sun-Times, by Lacy Banks, 4/6/2010
Tags: heart transplant, Lacy Banks, Transplant