‘Champagne’ transplant

Press, 23 November 1987, Page 6

‘Champagne’ transplant

Mrs. . Adrienne Mackwell felt “all bubbly, like a champagne bottle" when she left hosIdtal on Saturday mornng, oaly two weeks after her heart transplant operation. ”■ “It was like being released from prison, she said. “I feel so good I just can’t describe it.” Mrs Mackwell, of Diamond Harbour, received a new heart at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, on November 7 after waiting five months for a suitable donor. “It is fantastic to be able to walk, talk and breathe at the same, time,” she said. “It is so good not to have my heart feeling like a big lump of lead in my chest.” Mrs MackweU will still

. visit the. hospital most days for pbysiotherpay exercises and tests. She will have a second blopOy tomorrow io test her body’s acceptance of the new heart She said that waiting for tbe remits-of< the Het biopsy was probably the meet stressful part of the whole operation. The result was favourable. Mrs Mackwell said she would be’working to get her legs fit first However, she was strong enough yesterday “ to walk to a picnic in a park near the apartment she and hor husband, Alan, art; renting.. r Mr and Mrs Mackwell will stay in Sydney until February, when she should be given the tinal clearance from St Vincent’s.