Artificial heart recipient passes 30-day mark

Dr. Rob Dowling operated on recipient of first fully self-contained artificial heart

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (CNN) -- An unidentified 50-year-old man who is the first recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart has passed the 30-day mark since the device was implanted at a hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Doctors had told him he had 30 days to live due to impending heart and renal troubles and his diabetes condition. CNN anchor Carol Lin spent some time speaking on Thursday with one of the artificial heart recipient's physicians, Dr. Rob Dowling, a heart surgeon.

LIN: How is your patient doing?

DOWLING: He's doing wonderful. He's gaining his strength. He's able to get up and move around. We're just very pleased with his progress.

LIN: How is he spending his days now? What's he doing?

DOWLING: Oh, yes, well, we kind of keep him busy. You know we have the physical therapists coming to see him and the nurses are exercising him and sometimes he just goes and sits and hangs out at the nurse's station and interacts with all the doctors, the lung doctors, the kidney doctors, everyone that's coming by. And sometimes he just listens to his CDs or watches a videotape, but you know, he's -- we keep him kind of busy.

LIN: I heard you have a new definition for the 100-yard dash.

DOWLING: Yes, pretty much. You know when we first saw him he couldn't take really two steps without help. You know now he can get up and move around and, you know, cover a pretty good amount of territory.

LIN: The nurses are saying, too, that his personality has really changed since the operation.

DOWLING: Oh, I don't know that his personality has changed, it's that -- just that when he's feeling stronger his true personality is coming out and he's just full of life and he's a very clever, witty, little bit of a prankster, so it's been fun, yes.

LIN: Do you think it's just dawning on him that he may actually live?

DOWLING: Oh, I think when he -- when we first had him he was very aware of his limited survival of his own mortality and I think every day that he has that he views as a blessing. You know he wrote -- he wrote us a note the other day. We had a video conference with some of the other surgeons and nurses that are involved in the project, and his one message to them was "life is wonderful." And he truly believes that and he's just happy to be here with us and happy to be able to breathe without an effort and get up and so forth.

LIN: Life is wonderful. I hear he's eating a lot of ice cream and cheesecake, is that true?

DOWLING: Well, not a lot, but we're just kind of starting him. And he did have some ice cream and some sherbet the other day and some cheesecake. And one of our goals for the next week or two is to get him switched from a feeding tube for his nutrition to just taking his nutrition the regular way, by mouth, like we all do.

LIN: Dr. Dowling, when are we going to actually meet your patient?

DOWLING: Oh, I don't know. It's -- you know he's anxious to get out and show the world that he's just a normal guy that kind of had a bad set of circumstances fall on him and how he was able to deal with that. But I think he wants to get a little stronger and feel more confident. But, you know, I think, you know, relatively soon.

LIN: Soon. All right, matter of weeks, months before he can check out and meet the press?

DOWLING: Oh, I think probably within a month's time, but it's going to be up to him. I'm just kind of speculating now because I know you guys want an answer, but I would think at least a couple of weeks, maybe a little bit longer.