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American Morning

'Newsweek' Gives Account of Tools and His Artificial Heart

Aired August 27, 2001 - 11:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Robert Tools is living history. The world's first self-contained mechanical heart is beating -- or humming, if you will -- right now in his chest. If he hadn't gotten the pump back on July 2, doctors say that he would surely be dead by now.

Tools remained anonymous until last week. And now "Newsweek" has put together an incredible account of Tools' surgery and the days that have followed since. Anne Underwood wrote the article for this week's issue. She and a colleague talked with Tools and his wife and nine members of his surgical team.

And Anne Underwood joins us this morning from New York.

Good to see you. Thank you for coming in and sharing some with us this morning.

How long did you get a chance to spend with Mr. Tools and with his family and with the medical team?

ANNE UNDERWOOD, "NEWSWEEK": I spent two days in Louisville, most of it talking with the medical team. I spent about 15 minutes with Mr. Tools and probably close to an hour with his wife.

HARRIS: Yes. What did they tell you? I would like to know what the family was telling you. Did they tell you about what they thought was perhaps the roughest part of the whole -- the patchy road they had to go through all this?

UNDERWOOD: The amazing thing about his family is how calm and self-assured they have been through all of this. His courage and determination has really been inspiring. He did say that there have been some hard days. And that's understandable when you go through major surgery like this.

But everybody is just thrilled with how he's doing.

HARRIS: Yes. What's been amazing is to watch -- or at least to read and hear about the transformation that he went through physically. Tell us what you observed.

UNDERWOOD: This is a man who was virtually dead when he came in. As his doctors said, he showed no personality. He could barely even hold up his head. And now they say to see him walking around the hospital, chatting with all the nurses, teasing them -- he has quite a sense of humor and wit about him -- they say it's amazing. One of the nurses described it as if they were watching his personality being reborn.

HARRIS: Yes. From what I had read, before he went in the hospital, this man was too weak to even talk. And now they say they can barely get him to shut up.

(LAUGHTER)

UNDERWOOD: That's true.

HARRIS: That's great.

Did he tell you at all what it felt like? Because it can't feel like a regular heart, No. 1, because it is hard and it's heavier, from what I hear. But it doesn't really beat, does it?

UNDERWOOD: Well, it does have a beat, unlike some systems. But it just does feel different. As he said, it feels heavier than a normal heart. And, obviously, this man is not ready to go jogging. But he's doing so much better. When you talk about his condition, it's a question of whether you look at the glass as half empty or half full.

When you consider that two months ago, this was a man whose glass was virtually empty -- and now that it is half or even two-thirds full is just really wonderful. And, as I said, he's up and about. All of his functions are back to normal: his kidney function, liver function. His diabetes is under control -- blood pressure normal. His doctors are absolutely thrilled with how he's done.

HARRIS: Well, let's talk about the doctors, if we can here, briefly.

I know they had to put up a good front and say that they had lots of confidence going in. But there had to be some sneaking doubts.

UNDERWOOD: Well, if there were, they don't express any. These doctors had practiced this operation many times before. They had done transplants -- implants, rather -- of this heart into 40 calves.

And then, as a sort of dress rehearsal for the actual surgery, they had performed the same operation three times on pig with exactly the surgical team they were going to have to use. These are also very experienced heart surgeons. So they did know what they were doing. The question was just about the device itself and how that was going to work. And they're, again, very, very pleased with how that is working.

One problem with previous artificial hearts was clotting of blood. They allowed blood to coagulate. And that could lead to stroke. In this case, what they found -- purely by accident -- is that Mr. Tools was unable to tolerate a heavy regiment anticoagulant drugs. So they have had him on what they've described as virtually no anticoagulants, just a few very light drugs. And there has been no problem with clotting at all. So that speaks very well for the heart itself.

HARRIS: Well, will you be speaking with Mr. Tools or the family again later on down the read, or what?

UNDERWOOD: I certainly hope so. They are both wonderful people.

And the nurses talked about how, after the surgery, they came and tried to console Mrs. Tools. And instead, she was reassuring them and telling them that things were going to be fine.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: That's great -- what a remarkable group of people.

Anne Underwood, thank you very much for sharing with us that.

And, folks, I just want to advise you again, you can find the story in this new edition coming out this week of "Newsweek" magazine.

Anne, thank you very much. Take care.

UNDERWOOD: Thank you.

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