|
From RuralNorthwest.com Kootenai People Originally posted March 21, 2007 By Judy Capparelli It has been awhile since I have written anything for RNW, I am glad to be back, and hope I can please you with my stories. I am just a common woman from North Idaho. I was born and raised in Wallace, and now live in Hayden. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. I have driven a school bus for almost 30 years, so a lot of my stories stem around the antics of the school bus. The last couple years I have driven Special Needs bus, so, there are a lot of "Special" Stories there. The newest old story, is about Dave Eubanks (There have been several stories in other papers, and a clip on KXLY news). Dave is a teacher from Lakes Middle School in CDA that has had a heart transplant. If anyone deserves a new chance at life it is Dave. He and his wife, Sheri, have adopted 5 special needs children with Downs Syndrome - on top of raising 5 of their own, and fostering countless others. I think the reason Dave had to get a new heart is because he wore the old one out with all the love for these children-I also think that is what keeps him going.
I drive the bus that takes these kids to school. They are all great kids, each with a different personality. They all pretty much take care of one another. They all know what is expected of them, and if one isn't doing what he or she is suppose to be doing you can bet one of the others is going to tell on them. Nicky graduated last year, but we still get to see him when he comes to the bus stop with Mom or Dad to pickup the others. In December, Dave was hospitalized with heart problems. They said his heart was only functioning at 40%. So they implanted a pacemaker, and a couple days later sent him home. After a day or so, he was right back in the hospital. The pacemaker wasn't doing its job- and his heart was deteriorating. They did more tests, and found out his heart function was just 17%-- a candidate for a Heart Transplant. The Transplant Team from Sacred Heart did the "32 Point" checkup on him to make sure that there was nothing else wrong with him. He was in perfect health except for his heart. They said, "We can fix that" Dave remained in Sacred Heart hospital, hooked to a life saving IV. He had to have the $2,000.00 dollar a bag medicine in order to stay alive while waiting for a new heart. He has a rare blood type B Negative, so there are not as many donors with that blood type, but even less recipients. Dave was on the transplant list just 17 days when they found a heart for him. They didn't tell him that they had already turned down 2 hearts prior to finding the Perfect Heart. They wanted nothing less than perfect, they wanted to get the job done right the first time. They told the Eubanks at 6:00 am on the day of surgery that they had found a heart. The first thing Dave said was "Oh I guess I can't have breakfast" They let him eat as it was going to Be a long day. 12 hours later he was in the operating room. 7 hours after that, he was in ICU recovery. He said he remembers nothing from the time he climbed up on the operating table and was telling them to be careful with his shoulder as before when he had open heart surgery they wrenched his shoulder- until 2 days later when he heard a voice from way off saying; "Mr. Eubanks- we are going to pull this ventilator off you- breathe!" He gasped and kept on breathing. That first day he was awake, he had to take 57 different pills. This included anti rejection drugs, steroids, and so on. The side effects of the drugs cause tremors. He said his body swelled up, and was vibrating so bad it was making the whole bed shake. It was like his new heart wanted OUT! He said it was so freaky that sometimes the new nurses in ICU would think there is a ghost in there. Now, 6 weeks after his transplant he still takes a massive amount of medicine, but is down to 25 pills per day. He will have to take some of this medicine the rest of his life, and because of the surgery and meds his chance of getting Skin Cancer has gone up 65%. He still gets tremors at times. At night the tremors are sometimes so bad that it will wakeup Sheri, his wife, while he sometimes sleeps right thru it. He is thinking of charging her a quarter for a vibrating bed.
This has been very emotional for him in more ways than one. Because of men's testosterone, and all the meds you have to take, patients can come out of this either very angry, and crying for no reason, or happy and crying- like PMS. Luckily, for them, Dave says he feels euphoric but at times will cry for no reason. One thing that really bothered Dave is that he was thinking someone had to die so he could live. Another was while in the hospital he met and made friends with many of the other people waiting for hearts, or waiting to be released after getting the transplant. He would go visit with them on a daily basis. There was "Joe" on one side of the hallway, and "Lynn" in a room on the other side. (*not their real names) One day he went down the hallway to make a visit and they were both gone. "Joe" had gone home to go live his new life. "Lynn" had passed away. This really ate at Dave wondering which way he would go. When asked if they had heard anything about the donor, he said all they know was the heart came from a male, 23, in Alaska. They aren't even suppose to know that much. They sent a thank you card to the anonymous donor's family via the transplant team, but haven't heard anything back. They would like to hear from the donor's family, to thank them personally, but understand if they choose not to respond. One thing that Dave does not want is for the donor's family to send pictures of the donor like one of his Transplant friends has received. The family sent baby pictures on up thru his life. Dave said He couldn't have handled that. When asked about the pain of having his chest opened up, he said there was hardly any. After 3 days he told them he didn't want any pain meds. Because of prior Open Heart Surgery, he had wires woven in his chest. Once they were clipped it was easier access. Just nine days after his Transplant he was released from the hospital. Two days later, he had to go back for a couple days so they could regulate his medicine. Two days after that, he drove his kids to the bus stop! When asked later about how soon after surgery did they allow him to drive, he said 6 weeks. He said after being cooped up in the hospital not knowing if he was going to live or die he was going stir crazy and needed to be doing normal things.
Dave is going twice a week to get a Cardiac Biopsy- Where they go thru his carotid artery to his heart, snip a microscopic piece off and test it. This procedure is very painful- but worth it. With this they can tell if anything is going wrong way before the patient feels that there is anything wrong. Thankfully, they have cut it down to one time a week, and he has only eight more weeks to endure. Dave would like to stress the importance of giving the Gift Of Life (meaning being an organ donor). Every day in America 18 people die while waiting for a heart. There are 2000 Heart Transplants per year, and 3000 people on the waiting list. He would also like to let everyone know that if you have a heart problem to go to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane because they are GREAT - they know their stuff! He felt he couldn't have had better care anywhere. Dave will be returning to work in the fall at Lakes, but until then he is busy finishing the remodeling job he started right before he got sick- and waiting for warmer days so he can get his garden in. There just aren't enough hours in the day now. ------------------------------------- COMMENTS: March 24, 2007 Good Morning, A friend next door just gave us your issue on Lakes Middle School teacher Dave Eubanks. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We had heard he and his wife had done so much for both of their families and it's nice to see the community made aware of this. Thanks! Ken and Jane Shipley Cd'A © Copyright 2007 by RuralNorthwest.com |
