Wow. That was fast. I was called this morning and told they believe they have suitable lungs for me! So I very calmly dressed :) and said a long goodbye to my juju and headed for Duke Hopsital.
And the next waiting game begins... I am being prepped for surgery with bloodwork, X-rays and such. Right now a surgeon from the duke transplant team is on his way to see the donor lungs in person to make sure they are of good enough quality to transplant. Once that is decided I will get another call notifying me we are moving forward and the lungs are on their way to Duke. I've been told the lungs are from "not far away" so that possibly means the wait won't be too long. But I still expect it will be a good 4hrs more minimum.
My mom, Ellie, and my dear friend Brianna Norton (who is also a infectious disease specialist at duke) will be updating this blog once I go into surgery and through the first difficult recovery days when I will be unable to type. So be sure to follow the blog so you will be notified of new updates as I won't be able to post it Facebook.
To set expectations... The surgery will last about 6-8 hrs. Then I will be brought to ICU and left sedated on a ventilator for at least 24hrs. Once I am able to breath on my own they will wake me and remove the ventilator. The sooner the better so that I begin using these new lungs and adapt them to my body. And then the hard work will begin on my part. I will need to start walking. I'll leave it to Brianna and my mom to update you on all that.
For now, lets hope these lungs are good!
Remember ill be looking forward to seeing all the photos posted on my album when I wake up. So keep sending them to gigistransplant@yogile.com. And please put your name in the subject so I know it's from you!
Xoxo
Gigi
Sent from my iPhone
We'll all be praying for your speedy recovery and that the lungs will be good. We'll look forward to the updates. Heritage Baptist Church, Wake Forest, NC (Bev Howard)
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