Hours after her heart-lung transplant, Sandra Jensen was already trying to speak. That wasn't surprising to those who know the 35-year-old woman with Down syndrome.
"Sandra is going to get up out of that bed - and out of her mouth are going to come the marching instructions," said Dr. William Bronston, a state rehabilitation administrator and friend who helped lead the yearlong fight for Tuesday's operation.Jensen is believed to be the first mentally disabled person in the United States to receive a major transplant. She was recovering Wednesday in the intensive care unit at the Stanford University Medical Center and listed in critical but stable condition.
The Sacramento woman had congenital heart problems and pulmonary hypertension that became critical a year ago.
Initially, doctors at Stanford and the University of California at San Diego rejected her as a transplant candidate. They didn't think she was smart enough to handle follow-up care and any complications that may arise.
Dr. Bruce Reitz, who led the transplant team, said he still thinks most Down syndrome patients could not understand the required care after surgery.
But he changed his mind about Jensen after meeting her.
"We found she was functioning at a very high level and could take care of her treatment," said Reitz, who performed the first successful heart-lung transplant in 1981.
Stanford placed Jensen on its transplant recipient list after California's Medicaid program offered to pay for a full-time caretaker to make sure she takes her anti-rejection drugs, exercises and avoids strenuous activities.
Medicare paid for the surgery and hospitalization, state health officials said, while Medicaid will pay undisclosed costs for drugs and post-operative care.
Jensen's mother, Kay DeMaio, of Elmira, Ore., said the struggle was to have her daughter treated as an individual.
"It's not an issue of whether everybody with Down syndrome should have a heart-lung transplant. The issue is should Sandra Jensen have a heart-lung transplant," said DeMaio, who was at her daughter's side before and after the operation.
Jensen, a high school graduate who has lived on her own for several years, will spend two to three weeks in the hospital, DeMaio said.