Loh Foon Fong
The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Heart transplant patient Tee Hui Yi was mostly breathing on her own Friday and, if all goes well, the ventilator will be removed on Saturday.

The National Heart Institute transplant team head Datuk Dr Mohd Azhari Yakub said the medical personnel were building her up gradually on nutrition, muscle strength and breathing ability as her body had been weak before surgery.

“We are taking it one day at a time,” he said.

Hui Yi’s ventilator was removed Tuesday but put back on the following day when she was feeling tired breathing on her own, he said after Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil visited Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Hui Yi and lung transplant patient Lang Kong.

“Adik Tee’s heart biopsy test showed no signs of organ rejection. We remain optimistic about her progress,” said the chief cardiothoracic surgeon.

“She was alert and cheerful and shook hands with Datuk Seri Najib. She cannot talk because of a tube in her airways but she can communicate well with us through gestures. She can move her hands, her legs, turn her body and smile,” he added.

Hui Yi is still on nasal gastric tube feeding, he said.

The media were not allowed to visit her in the Intensive Care Unit.

“We have to restrict visits because it is a critical time for her. We have given her a lot of immuno suppressant drugs for the body and this lowers her defence against infection,” he said.

On when she would be able to come out of ICU, Datuk Mohd Azhari was unable to say that she would be monitored daily adding that doctors and nurses would be on call over the Hari Raya weekend.

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: It will be Hari Raya with the family at the National Heart Institute (IJN) for former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

His daughter Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir said yesterday family members would celebrate the first day of Hari Raya with Dr Mahathir after morning prayers at the mosque.

“It is just the usual thing like makan-makan but only this time we are going to the hospital to celebrate,” she said.

“We are very traditional, so most probably the food will be nasi himpit, kuah kacang, rendang and lemang.”

The former Prime Minister is recovering from coronary bypass and wound debridement surgeries at the IJN.

He was recently transferred out of the intensive care unit to normal ward.

Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali has been with Dr Mahathir since his admission on Sept 2.

Visits, said Marina, were still confined to immediate family members to cut down any risk of infection.

She added that doctors and physiotherapists were happy with Dr Mahathir’s progress.

“He is determined to get well quickly. It has been a long road and we should be moving forward,” she said.

The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: Heart transplant girl Tee Hui Yi’s body is showing almost no rejection of the new organ she received.

National Heart Institute heart and lung transplant unit clinical director, Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib, said a biopsy conducted yesterday showed that her body was experiencing Grade 1A rejection.

“It means almost no rejection,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Lower grade numbers meant low levels of rejection while Grade Four was the highest level of transplanted organs.

Dr Ezani said Hui Yi was put back on a ventilator to help her with breathing.

“She was not strong enough. She is still weak. She needs more nutrition,” he said, adding that she would be on it for another day.

He said Hui Yi was also doing her exercises well.

Hui Yi went through two operations – on Oct 3 and Oct 4 – after her body rejected the first heart which came from a 15-year-old boy from Sitiawan, Perak.

She fared better with the second heart from a 20-year-old mechanic, declared brain dead after an accident in Johor Baru, enabling her to have a second transplant.

As for the patient who received the 15-year-old’s lungs, Dr Ezani said he completed a 300m walk without any problem.

“This is amazing. Before the transplant, he was completely tied down to the oxygen cylinder.”