First day, third time

 What a day. It is incredible to think that at this time, two days ago, this scenario was not on our radar.

Laura had a great first day, all of her numbers looked strong, and the doctors were pleased with her progress. They did decrease her sedatives to check her response and she was able to open her eyes, grab a hand and give a thumbs up. The plan for tomorrow is to close and remove the breathing tube.

She is so strong. Really amazing to watch the progression.

Thanks for all the emails, txts, comments.

Cheers,

Out of OR

 Good morning. Laura is out of surgery. I just spoke with the surgeon, and he was thrilled with the procedure. There were no complications. The lungs fit perfectly and started to work immediately. Bleeding was minimal. Only 6 units were needed, which is significantly less than expected. Her body was strong throughout, all other functions working correctly.

They only used 6 units of blood means less stress on the kidneys, which is excellent news.

They did not close just as a precaution. During her second transplant, they had to reopen to do what is called a wash (clean up bleeding). They do not expect that they will need to do that, but if they do, it eliminates the need to re-open. She will be sedated until they close, likely tomorrow.

Hopefully, today will be a non-eventful day for her.

I will share more news as I have it.

Cheers,

Path to Threedo

 Happy New Year to all. 

I wanted to share some news.  On Dec 31st. the Duke team officially listed Laura for her transplant.  The team was very excited and really thought that the wait for lungs would not be too long. Given our experience in California, we had set our expectations a bit differently.

This morning we receive a call that they had possibly found a donor.  Laura went into surgery this evening at about 11:45.  We expect this surgery to be long upwards of 14 hours.  There is a very large team that is very excited to welcome Laura into a very exclusive club of threedos (A Duke term for triple lung transplant recipients).  She will either be the 10th or 11th person to receive a third double lung transplant.

We appreciate all the well wishes, thoughts and prayers.  We hope you all enjoyed a wonder holiday.  Stay safe.

Cheers,

The Zs 

Back in Durham and moving forward

 We made it back to Durham! Another great cross-country trip. SmartLess, thanks for helping us make it across for the third time in 6 months.

We had a full day of appointments at Duke with the surgeon and the head of the pulmonary department this week. All of the initial tests were positive and the plan will be to list Laura on Dec. 31st for her third double lung transplant.

Prior to listing, she will spend one night in the hospital in order to be desensitized to a new antibiotic that will give her more protection from infections through the surgery. We have a number of meetings this week as well. All are just part of the process and all positive steps in the right direction. More to come.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and have the opportunity to spend time with friends and family.

Cheers,

The Zs

and waiting

 Hello to all,

It has been a few weeks since I last provided an update. The delay has been due to the fact the process of identifing a living donor is moving. The Lung team wants to identify a qualified, approved living donor prior to listing Laura. We originally hoped that identifing a few possible donors would be enough but that is not the case.

A number of people have asked what is the process to be a donor. The first qualifier is blood type. O is the winner. You must be under the age of 70, have no past issues with melanoma, and completely vaccinated. If you pass those qualifiers you then go to blood a set of blood tests.

For those lucky enough to pass the above tests, you win a mostly expensed paid trip to Duke University for 2 days of testing!

Many have ask about how to start the process. Below is a link that outlines the process, without sarcasm, and provide a comprehensive overview of the donor process.

https://www.dukehealth.org/.../transplant.../kidney-donation

Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to move on to the listing phase. Laura's LAS score should be high and hopefully once listed we will move onto the next phase of the journey.

As always, thank you for all of the support, thoughts and prayers. The little notes and text are always appreciated.

Hope you are all well.

Cheers,

The Zs

Still waiting

 Hello from Durham.  We are still here.

For the past 5 weeks, the doctors have been evaluating Laura's kidneys to ensure that they will make it through the surgery.  Given the number and amount of medications she is on and will be on directly after the surgery, they are concerned that she will need a kidney transplant to manage her health long-term.

The question they are now trying to answer is about a need for a kidney and a lung transplant at the same time, or should they wait to see how the kidney performs after a transplant and then, if needed, do a living donor transplant. 

After the evaluation, they have determined that the living donor transplant is the best option.  This means that a donor must be screened and identified before her being listed for the lung transplant.  Ugh.  More time waiting.

They will begin flying people to Duke for onsite evaluations in the next few weeks.  Hopefully, that goes smoothly and quickly, and the process can move on.

Until then, Laura continues to do PT daily with the team.  The PT seems to be working as her lung function has remained in the 20s throughout the process.   She has had to increase her oxygen flow, but that is to be expected.

We appreciate all the notes, cards, and support. Hopefully, we will have more good news to share in July.

We hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Kevin and Laura

Still grinding

 Happy Friday. Another long week of waiting under the belt. Laura's kidney numbers did improve w/w, but the team is still very concerned about the kidneys' ability to function once she goes back on high doses after the lung surgery. Her numbers are improving, but they lowered or eliminated several important meds that will go up.

Laura had a full session with the Kidney Transplant team to go over the procedure, how it aligns with the lung transplant and the next steps. The team is great and explained where they place the new kidney (they do not remove the old - crazy) and what to expect as part of the recovery.

We are now back on the hamster wheel waiting. The lung transplant team will decide if they do just a dbl lung or a dbl lung and a kidney. There are numerous benefits and negatives to each, but they will make the call with the input of the kidney team. They will discuss either next week or the following, hopefully, next week, so we can move on.

The therapy program continues to be great, keeping Laura's numbers pretty stable. Lung function was at 27%, given that they eliminated some medication that assists lung function; this is a surprisingly high number. The daily workouts are tough but obviously paying off.

Thanks to all for the support, cards, text...etc.

Cheers,

Kevin and Laura