Patients and Caregivers Forums

Lets get to it. The worst thing that can happen to an LVAD user is a drive line infection. It can put you in the hospital many times over and cures with the various antibiotics may or may not work for you. It can lead to extra surgeries for debridement and in some cases make it worse. In my case I...

This may not be the forum for this question, but who better to answer my questions than those living with an LVAD and the people who care for them. My fathers LVAD (Heart Mate II) was implanted August 2015. When he had his heart attack we were literally told to take him home so he could die, as the...

Hello everyone! My husband was transplanted recently and we have a ton of changing kits. He had the heartmate 3. I know these can be expensive for folks, so I am more than willing to ship to anyone for free. We don't have a huge place so just looking for the storage back, so hopefully send out as...

My father just got the heartmate 3 and was recently sent home. He is having some back pains from mostly laying in a hospital bed for the past 3 weeks so I wanted to take him to get a massage but we are afraid that they might mess with the driveline. So ultimately, my question is has anyone gotten a...

My father got the HeartMate 3 some month ago. For we have no shop in Germany to buy according shirts and my father dont`t want to order a LVAD shirt online, I want to sew him an appropriate shirt. I would like to surprise him, thus I cannot measure the exact sizes of the batteries and the controller...

--Invitation to Participate-- We would like to better understand the experience of providing care to a family member or friend with an LVAD. If you are a caregiver of someone with a LVAD, we invite you to copy paste on the following link to see if you are eligible to participate in our study. https...

My husband has end stage heart failure and has the option to have an LVAD. As his caregiver, I am trying to find information on how well a person diagnosed with mild Alzheimers/dementia would be able to function with an LVAD, especially as his cognitive skills declined. We have talked about what we...

Hello, I lost my sister last month and I have her case of Driveline Management kits. I am selling the case for $200.00 plus shipping and Thoratec battery pack and wall unit for $200.00 plus shipping. if anyone is interested you can email me @ maxine66@verizon.net.

My husband and I have a motorhome and would like to resume travelling. Since we enjoy state and federal parks which often have no electric hookups we will have problems with charging batteries and using the mobile power unit. There must be others out there who can help us with an answer to this...

Hello, we are new to the VAD community. My husband received his VAD (Heartmate III pump) on August 5th. We live in a small town located 5 miles away from a much larger city, and 24 different home health care agencies refused to provide home health care services (blood draws for lab work) because we...

Link to Article about Data Recorder from Vienna: https://zmpbmt.meduniwien.ac.at/wissenschaft-forschung/cardiovascular-dynamics-artificial-organs/projects/vad-monitoring/ Link to Belly Band: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C24WY1D/?coliid=I1TNYOCUGLDJA2&colid=2E8W66B2JHK9W&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it...

Hello A dear friend of mine has just received and HVAD and will be coming home from hospital within a week. Some ladies and I are working on moving her bedroom downstairs and wanted to setup an area to store all the bandages, equipment and items needed for driveline management. What has been the...

My husband received his LVAD Oct 2016 and although there’s been lots of highs and lows - we are grateful for the time he’s gained and still gaining ! However he has a lot of phlegm (sorry) and respiratory secretions that are getting worse . Has anybody else experienced these symptoms, he’s kind of...

I have had an LVAD for 8 years. The new daily cleaning of my driveline is a pre-packaged kit, which includes an effective infection prevention disk called biopatch. Because of skin issues, I am unable to use them. Every day I have a new disk to add, and have a good-sized bag now. They are packaged...

It has now been eight weeks since my LVAD implantation and life has been going reasonably well since my surgery. Two weeks in the hospital, one week in a motel adjacent to the hospital, five weeks at home. My caregiver returned to his family last week so I am now on my own. I will be starting back...

Medi-Materials now offers the original WHITE Freedom Undervest in larger sizes: 2XL-3XL and the new 4XL-5XL. There is no price mark up for the larger sizes, at all. The 4XL-5XL BLACK Freedom 2 Undervest will be available sometime this Fall.

Hello, I am a very recent LVAD recipient, one month ago today. I just got the ok to go home two days ago. Just starting to get the new lifestyle together. Just thought I would;d introduce myself. I will definitely check out the "bag alternatives', that thing hurts my shoulder, and will be happy to...

I was advised not to shower. But I can use a hand held shower. I was wondering if someone knows if it's better to use teg ad er m or if the press and se al is the same or worse? Thanks.

My husband had his LVAD placed on February 11, 2019. Right now we should be experiencing a lot of then things you all are posting about. What to wear, what can he do, what has it been like etc. We had plans. Unfortunately for me, God had other plans. My beloved died on February 13, 2019. See he...

Hello everyone, To have a great website like this can give hope and happiness for alot of people. My husband had his lvad 2 months back. And he have a C-rtd too. Still trying to adjust with his new life style. I have one question, i tried to google it but i couldnt find an answer for it, hopefully...