3 Apr 2008 10:31:00 pm

my boring life.

IN TAIPEI - A TAIWANESE man lived without a heart for 16 days, kept alive by two artificial heart-lung machines as he waited for a transplant.
Mr Chen Chi-chung, 60, thus became the world's first 'heartless' survivor, according to the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) where his heart transplant was done.

It all began in January when the retired electrician, who had no record of major illnesses, suffered from severe coughing and displayed flu-like symptoms.

There he was diagnosed with infective endocarditis - a bacterial infection that can seriously damage the lining of the heart's chambers and valves.

A day later, his heart failed and doctors performed emergency surgery. They found the damage so extensive that they had no choice but to remove his entire heart.

The surgeon of 23 years told The Straits Times that it would have been difficult to reconstruct the man's heart.

'Even if we had done so, from my experience, it would have been unlikely that the patient would have lived more than a year. He likely would have suffered from repeated congestive heart failures and intra-cardiac infection.'

The patient was then connected to an ECMO or 'extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation' machine.

The artificial heart-lung machine is usually used to temporarily support - not replace - a patient's damaged or infected heart or lungs until a donor is found.

A day after the operation, Mr Chen was transferred by an ambulance to NTUH, the top hospital in Taiwan, while still hooked to the machine

The journey - from one end of the island to the other - took five hours.

Artificial arteries transferred blood from the gaping hole in his chest to an external blood pump and artificial lung. The blood was warmed and filtered before being returned to his body.

'We believe it is the first case in the world that a patient has survived without a heart, relying only on artificial machines,' said NTUH's Professor Wang Shoei-shen, who performed the heart transplant.

But some doctors expressed reservations about the implications of removing the entire heart.

'If the patient died before the transplant, how do we decide on the time of death?' said Dr Ke Wen-che of NTUH's intensive care unit. 'When we remove his heart, where do we draw the line between life and death?'


Am very disturbed by this article.
Just don't like the idea.
What's a human without a heart.
-------
on a lighter note, went to school today, and got disturbed by e teachers.

first was ms chan.
didn't want to see her. but tau and hx went to find her and i got bored, decided to walk around and got caught.
'grace! i miss you!' [she repeated twice, make me so paisay]
wtfffff. -.- that's after calling me yesterday afternoon to check that im actually studying.
wa laooo ehh. was slping actually. HAHAHA. asked if it was rex, jumped up after identifying her as ms chan. HORROR.
i know im not very disciplined la, but... =.=. bugged for me to get a 7 today again.
so scared i'd disappoint her. aiya boo la. hurrr. so unpredictable.

next was mr cameron.
mr evanno didn't want to let me out of math class to attend business.
evil evil. HAHA.
the first thg he said when he saw me was, 'hi grace, had enough sleep from the past two days?' =.=
anw, half way thru class, mr cameron came in to talk to evanno. asked if 'grace swears in your class', evanno went 'swear? nono'. he stared at me, 'swear?' big eyes and all and made a fist punching action at me, while smiling. TSK.
i think the teachers have all gone a lil bonkers.
cameron came in again after, and they started speaking french to each other. don't know what they were talking about.

evanno started being funny again when we started revising for mathematical induction. he did the workings on board and we did it on paper. Was damn sian, started staring at him do workings on the white board instead.
half way through, he wrote on the board...
'assume..... n+1.......'
'.......'
'.......'
'sin (x + k(n+1))... = 32242343546534546, grace'
went errrrr after i saw that, and then laughed.
he said that's for staring at the board for too long.
HA HA. =.=

yuan lai qu xue xiao shi bei suan de.
BU QU LE! hahahaha.


bought movies. seven (YANG HUIXIAN, YOU..YOUUUU, reminded you since monday, NV EVER RMB DE!! BOO YOU. HAHAHAH), the eye and orphanage. watched vantage point just now. kao, make me dizzy only. realized orphanage has good eng subs! HAHAHAH. at least it sounds like its good. who knows. can't understand spanish. o.O don't give me false hope. don't want to be wrung to death. or stabbed. >...< trust that first 4 lines! HEEE. the movie review on CNA says its quite good. 3 popcorns for a horror film, not bad. they usually give one or smth. tsk!

and the chio chio newscaster dunno go where le.
think the new one has no rapport with the guy!
sense of humour different! will leng diao on air, HOW BAD.
and i just can't accept that the chio chio lady's gone. WHERE's she.
someone tell me she's on medical leave.

asked mummy if i can buy red alert 3 and install on her computer.
haven't found if they support mac. plus mummy's computer is faster.
she said NO, cause will lag her computer.
daddy's was funny. his eyes sparkled. 'red alert 3?', 'can use dl on my computer'.
mummy 'eh please hor, your laptop's for work, not playing games'
*ignores mummy*
nudged me, 'i got harddisk, install on my harddisk'
HAHAHA. WHOOO. so happy, got supporter. HAHAH.
did i not say daddy's a big fan of red alert too. HAHA. and he sucks equally bad as me. nono. im better. which shows how much he sucks at it. HAHAHAH. okay la, cannot diss him. he's a busy man. oh, speak of the 'devil', he just came in in his tattered clothes to serve barley. HEE.

okay its 11.20pm and i have no bathed.
haven't done anything productive besides watching tv, slping and eating. HMM.

and jt, hx say go pudong! zheng da. WHEEEE. fooood. xD
im excited. missing our 3 'us' time already.
hugs!