Faculty Bibliography

''The gift of life is the best present of all,'' Mrs. [William J. Schroeder] said. ''Bill is recovering but very slowly and at this time it is not appropriate for him to meet the press.'' ''He has some intermittent drooping of the right side of the face, which depends on the time of day you catch him,'' Dr. [Gary Fox] said. ''When he is tired and has been busy it seems to be a little more apparent and at other times it is not obvious at all.'' ''He knows where he is, sometimes,'' Dr. Fox said. ''He will answer correctly the name of the President of the United States, sometimes, and he will identify his family members correctly at times. All these things seem to vary from time to time. At times he will sort of refuse to answer any questions.''

Several doctors not connected with the case who saw a published picture of Mr. [William J. Schroeder] this weekend questioned Dr. [Allan M. Lansing]'s statement. These doctors said in interviews that it seemed to them that the right side of Mr. Schroeder's face was drooping as a result of the stroke. Dr. Lansing said today that when Mr. Schroeder tires, the right side of his face sometimes droops. ''When he is alert and fresh, it is very difficult to detect,'' the doctor said. If clots had been were present in Mr. Schroeder's body and the radioactive platelets had settled on them, ''hot spots'' would have showed on the scan. But there were none in Mr. Schroeder's case

Loss of EnthusiasmHowever, Dr. [Allan M. Lansing] said Mr. [William J. Schroeder] still lacked the spontaneity and enthusiasm he had last week when he talked on the telephone with President Reagan. The doctors do not plan to treat Mr. Schroeder's depression with mood-altering drugs. ''We are relying on encouragement more than drug therapy,'' Dr. Lansing said. In an effort to give Mr. Schroeder a psychological lift, doctors moved him out of the coronary care unit this afternoon and into a private room on second floor of the hospital. The move, Dr. Lansing said, was ''a sign of our confidence'' in Mr. Schroeder's condition and opportunity for recovery. Mr. Schroeder also went for a wheelchair ride to join carolers in singing ''Silent Night'' and to visit a friend from his hometown, Jasper, Ind., who is recovering from a heart bypass operation. The doctors also stopped prescribing Aldomet, an anti-high blood pressure drug, for the transplant patient because of the possibility that it might be contributing to his depression. Mr. Schroeder's doctors plan to do another CAT scan later this week as well as a special radioisotope test to determine if new clots were present in his artificial heart. The radioisotope study will be done under the direction of Dr. F. David Rollo, a Humana vice president who is a professor of radiology at Vanderbilt Medical School in Nashville. Depending on the findings, the doctors might add aspirin and other drugs to the coumarin, or blood-thinning drug, he now receives. There is also a possibility that the doctors will take Mr. Schroeder back to the operating to replace his artificial heart with another one. In trying to put some perspective on Mr. Schroeder's prognosis, Dr. Lansing said he had seen people who looked worse than Mr. Schroeder recover completely. ''I wouldn't give up hope,'' Dr. Lansing said

Dr. [Allan M. Lansing] rated Mr. [William J. Schroeder]'s edema at three-plus and said it was most noticeable in his legs. The surgeon said the edema ''is no discomfort to him, but it is a bother to me that it is still present because everything else improved and it should have gone away.'' He also said the team ''may not have a valid answer after seven tests'' and that the team might quit after only three or four such implants ''if the results are poor.'' ''It is a seven-game series,'' Dr. Lansing said. ''We'd like to win it and to do it in five games. But it is still early on.''

Ordinarily when physicians put their hand on a patient's chest, they feel for the strength of the heartbeat and for evidence of a ''thrill.'' They use the word to describe a vibratory sensation. Thrills can be felt, for instance, when the valves of the heart are severely damaged, or when there is an artery blockage. Mr. [William J. Schroeder] expressed gratitude to Dr. [William C. DeVries] and his other physicians. And the patient cried as he said he had a ''new real purpose'' in life. Mr. Schroeder called the program a success and said he had two goals: ''to get myself healthy'' and ''to be able to help others.''

''I feel real good, really good,'' the patient said, noting that after a couple of days of being ''a little down,'' he had ''come back and picked up eating - doing real good and I feel super.'' ''That purpose,'' he said, ''is to be with God, and I feel like He's Number 1. He saved me.'' 'I've Got a Purpose' ''I've got a purpose right here,'' Mr. [William J. Schroeder] said, pointing to his wife. ''We've been married 33 years. I've got something to look forward to - her and six healthy children.''