Hi, it’s Carol.  I’m writing to update because of how sudden and fast the surgery was–four days after being listed!

Yesterday Susan was taken down to the OR at 4pm (having been given 20 minutes notice) for a “possible” transplant.  They weren’t sure about the donor organs, but wanted her prepped in case it worked out.  Well, it worked out.  She returned to the 10th floor ICU at 3am in stable condition.  The surgeons were only able to transplant the left lung because her right lung was too adhered to her chest cavity.  However, they said the right lung actually looked really good, so they’re hoping that with the new left lung, she’ll be able to function and breathe without oxygen.

Today she woke up, had a bronchoscopy and an epidural, was extubated, and sat in a chair.  Tomorrow, they’re hoping to remove her chest tubes and get her walking.

She’s in a lot of pain (the clam shell incision is known to hurt a lot more than a sternotomy), but doing well.   Hopefully she’ll be energetic enough to write the next post on this blog.