Bob Pitcock’s Transplant Story

Hello. My name is Bob Pitcock. I drove trucks over the road for twenty-nine years, prior to my transplant. I am now sixty-four years old and fully retired.

My history of heart problems goes back to 1985, when I had my first heart attack. In 1986, I had a second heart attack, followed by heart double bypass surgery. In December 1986 I went back to trucking on the road again.

In December 1988, while singing Country and Western music on stage at our local "Texas Opry Jamboree," I had another heart attack, right up on stage at the microphone. I was rushed to the hospital, stabilized, and I spent six days in the hospital. When I was released I went back to trucking again. Everything went fine for another twelve months.

In December of 1989 I had my fourth heart attack. This one was a whopper. My cardiologist suggested a heart transplant. The previous attacks had severely weakened my heart. Forty percent of my heart was damaged. I waited on the transplant list for nine months before I got the call from my Transplant Coordinator at St. Luke's Hospital here in Houston. She said, “Get your toothbrush and come on down, there’s a donor in Florida.” My coordinator knew that I had a great sense of humor, that’s why she threw the toothbrush bit in our conversation.

The following morning, I had seventeen kinfolks and loved ones on hand at the hospital to support me with hugs and tears. I went into surgery at 4:00 a.m. that morning. Three hours later, I was in Intensive Recovery. I stayed in the hospital seventeen days, went home with my new heart, and have been feeling great ever since. I haven't had any rejection episodes whatsoever.

One thing for sure, I have learned to smell the roses along the way and to be very thankful for my extended life. Sometimes, I really feel "Love" pouring out of every pore of my skin. I feel as though someone stood back and poured a bucket of sweet honey all over me, by golly. It's such a great feeling! I do, at times, think about my heart donor and his family in Florida. I really thank God for their compassion.

My medications consist of daily doses of 125 mg Neoral, 150 mg Imuran, 5 mg Prednisone, and 1 Baby Aspirin. A stent was placed in my heart artery in 1998. everything has been fine since then. I go back each year for my post-transplant check up. Since my first heart attack in 1985, I think that I've had around twenty-five catheterizations through my groin. It's gotten so routine that I just joke with my surgeon while he's doing his thing, and while I watch that image of my heart on the monitor.

I do my part to promote transplantation, which is something we all should do, because if we don't, who else will?

My heart was flown into Houston, Texas from Florida on a chartered jet. I printed some T-Shirts back then that said on the front, “MY HEART HAS HAD AN OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE.”

I wrote this shortly after my transplant:

One's life, from beginning to end, is like a warm blaze in a fireplace from start to finish. Whenever a few logs are set ablaze, they seem to have a small gradual burn. When I see this, I am reminded of an infant crawling, then learning to walk alone.

The flames seem to get bigger and burn more briskly. This again reminds me of a youngster growing and experiencing life as it is, gaining knowledge and growing to adulthood.

At its peak, the logs in the fireplace seem to emerge into a roaring flame. This brings to mind the fast-paced part of life – the years when marriage, raising children, and working to keep life on track, takes up all of one's time. There never seem to be enough hours in the day. Life in this period is fully roaring, with many responsibilities. But, like the fire in the fireplace, life can be very warm and satisfying, if one chooses to let it.

Soon, the fireplace has only red hot coals, reminding me of retirement years. For extra excitement and a bit more happiness, one only needs to stir the red-orange coals for a little flame.

When the coals turn grey and cool, that means to me that we've gone to Heaven to meet our Creator. Our fire has burned out in this life.

One more thought comes to me, though. When I received a heart transplant fourteen years ago, it was as if God simply and with love . . . threw another log on my fire . . .

Bob Pitcock, Magnolia, Texas
Heart Transplant Recipient
January 28th 1991
St. Luke's Hospital, Houston, Texas