I just got this email this morning from Chris Juckett & knew all Howard's friends would want to share in the good news.Subject: A Christmas Gift For Howard

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Dearest Friends,

I am happy and scared to report that Howard received a perfect new heart yesterday. He is doing well but it's much more touch and go than I was prepared for. Because of his history of radiation treatment and subsequent damage, his aorta was basically a wreck. His own heart proved very difficult to remove... one of the surgeons told me, "my God, that thing was hard to pry out of there!" Because of this, he has also received part of the donor's aorta. He was taken to surgery at about 3:15 in the afternoon of 12-23 and I was able to see him and pat him at 1:15 AM on Christmas eve. He's woken up since then but is back under sedation... wish I was too! He is scheduled to go back to surgery this morning to completely close his chest.

He will be thrilled when he learns that his donor was 18 years old and from the Houston area. That is all we know and may ever know. I ask that all of you that have been praying so hard for us to please take a moment today and honor this very special gift from this very special person and family.

Howard is currently in the most critical care unit there is and visiting is very limited. If all goes well, we expect that he may be relocated in a day or two to an intensive care unit that is a little less scary and would be there another few days. Then on to the transplant floor. I'm expecting that we're looking at two weeks at the shortest duration. I'll feel better when I actually am able to talk to him. Hopefully that may happen later today.

My cell phone availability is limited because the waiting rooms are deep in the hospital. It's been hard to make and receive calls since I've been here. Be patient if you don't hear from me for big stretches of time. Let's all hope no news is good news. Email is the best way to communicate for now.

That's all for now. Three hours of sleep was not exactly enough for me! Hope tonight may be better.

Keep praying... hard.

Love to all,
Chris and the "Newly Rebuilt" Howie
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God Bless you Howard.
bp

Just talked to Chris and things are going well. Long, tough process though. Keep the prayers flowing.

Christmas update

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Merry Christmas!

Howard is doing well. I have just spent about an hour with him. He's a little awake and knew I was there. He's still on the vent and can not talk... very frustrating for both of us. He smiled as much as possible with a whole mouth full of stuff, held my hand, winked and found a way to tell me to stop crying. I told him to leave me alone about that! He's been too sleepy to have the vent removed but maybe later today that can be done. He's still nice and pink and warm and actually looks rested. More than I can say. I'll get to see him again at 5:00 and will hold his hand again.

Keep up the prayers.

Love to all,
Chris

12/26 update

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It's a miracle!

This morning's visit at 10:00 AM found Howard sitting up in bed, talking, sipping water by himself, and eating jello! He looks great, he sounds great and remembers things that went on in the days prior to surgery. In between a few sentences, he naps... alot! That to me is good thing because it passes the time. He's not up to watching Oprah yet. His Houston cardiologist is supposed to be off this week but he came in to see Howard while I was there. He is very pleased and said his pressure was too high... I freaked... but he said that was a good thing. All is going very well and he may be moved to the next unit today or more probably tomorrow.

I'll probably not send another big email until he's moved and settled into another "less intensive" intensive care. Just know that all is moving in the right direction.

Thanks to each and everyone of you for love, support, prayers, good thoughts, jokes, everything. We cannot begin to tell youhowmuchithashelpus.

Love to all,
Nurse Chris

Howard is amazing. He is a very dedicated rider. I'm not sure that everybody knows that Howard has been riding with a broken heart for several years. In fact, riding could have killed him at any minute. I would guess that he will be back riding again and I'm sure it will be against his doctor's orders. Kicking the bucket while doing something that you love sounds like a good deal to me. It's beats wasting away in a nursing home. Hang in there Howard and see you on the trail.

My position is Howard should not be allowed to ride in the age classes. Not fair with an 18 yr old heart. Thats pushing sandbagging to a new level!!!

12/29 update
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Hello all...

Just a fast note to say we're still here... Howard would like to not be.

He's still doing well but very tired today. He has been sitting up all day for the last two days in a big lazyboy chair, walked a 300 yard lap yesterday and two laps today... at a rather fast clip, I might add. We had a very wonderful physical therapist who is associated with the transplant team come in today and get him up and around. She was impressed with his "walk racing." I told her she didn't know yet who she was dealing with... that he's a real racer. She wanted to know if we had told the transplant surgeons he raced motorcycles and I said hell no!

He still has some drain tubes in so he's limited in his mobility. Hopefully we can get those removed very soon. That's about all to report. It's Saturday and hospital people "disappear" on weekends... and holidays, but I also think he's pretty boring so we're not getting a great deal of constant medical attention. A good thing.

I have been completely blocked from the hospital WiFi internet access today... very frustrating and I have not been successfull finding someone to help me. It may never get fixed. I will probably give all of us a break from updates for a few days. I'm tired!

Love to all... Chris and Howie

12/31 update
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Hey everybody...

This is the first time I've been able to get an email out. Howard has been "playing" on the computer all day. He's had an even better day today. He says he's almost feeling good. He still has two drainage tubes and is leaking quit a bit from his surgery site... too much information I'm sure! It's a good thing though to get him all dried out. Today, once again, I missed a whole gaggle of doctors but Howard was able to tell me that they think he's just doing great. He's still being given a medicine to bump up his heart rate and when he can keep it to a certain level himself, they'll transfer him to the regular floor. It's very interesting... when a donor heart is removed and spends a period of time out of the body, it experiences swelling and stiffening. That's why Howard isn't yet to the right rate. As swelling goes down, he should be able to get things going himself. And now the docs have let him in on the specific number that they want him to reach so he has a goal. We all know what he does with goals. He also ran a physical therapist around the hall today... 4 laps which add up to almost a quarter of a mile. Very impressive.

And... almost forgot, he had his first heart biopsy this morning. They are checking for rejection and infection signs and because of the holiday, we probably won't know results until Wednesday. His other numbers looked good.

That's all for now. I will be spending a really exciting New Year's eve in the Marriott bar/only open restautant with maybe one other man who's there EVERY night. He arrives in a wheelchair and gets himself up in a bar stool and proceeds to drink about a 5th of something. I stay way on the other side of the room!

Have a nice day off and stay out of trouble!

Love... Chris and "Just Do It" Howie

1/2/08 update
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Hi to all of you out there in the world...

It's Wednesday and the holidays are over and the hospital is jumping today. A much better feeling than when I walked all over yesterday and hardly saw a soul.

We are great. Howard walked with a PT this morning and SHE made HIM stop. He would have kept going. I was following along behind just to get a little exercise myself and heard her tell him that instead of the usual patient that they have to prod to get up and going, she could tell that they would have to keep him from doing too much. BIG SURPRISE! I could have told her that.

The results of his first biopsy came back as a 1R... 0 meaning that there is no sign of rejection and 3 being at where they would start treatment. Dr. Bogaev was very happy with the 1R... and everything else. As of this morning, he's had his pacing wires removed so he's really running on his own now. And, he's down to only one chest tube drain. I think it's a short matter of time until he will be bumped upstairs. Keep your fingers crossed that they will let us come home after spending some time in a regular room and not make us stay in Houston.

I have been generously given the use of a FREE apartment, provided by the Heart Exchange Group... a non-profit made up of transplant recipients. The apartment is a few miles from here and I will have to drive back and forth. I'll probably stay at the Marriott at least tonight and will then have to decide if the cost outweighs the convenience of the hotel. Walking sure beats dealing with parking garages around here. It's a quandary.

Will be in touch later... Chris and Howie