The Time Has Come - Karine's UCLA Transplant Story
It has been a crazy week for our family and I wanted to share the updates I sent out to our family & friends in real time. This is our side of the story, written in waiting rooms & hospital hallways.
Tuesday - March 10th
Late that night, Mom got the call that she had been matched with lungs. She was asked to come in Wednesday morning at 7 am to begin bloodwork and testing.
Wednesday - March 11th
Our family beings the journey to get to LA. Michelle and I (through our handy travel agent Uncle David) booked a quick flight at 12 pm. After getting to the airport our flight was delayed a few hours. Mom got the notice that her surgery had been tentatively scheduled for 4 pm. Uncle David booked us on an earlier flight.
4:00 PM
Surgery postponed to 5:30, we were waiting in a cramped radiology post op room. I still thought that there was a chance that this was a dry run and we would all go home. I’m glad I was wrong!
6:00 PM
We got the notice that the surgery was happening and we quickly said our goodbyes. Here are the text messages I sent out.
6:06 PM
She is off to surgery! It will take them 30 to get situated and confirm that the lungs are right. After that 3 hours to prep the lungs. Estimated surgery time is 6-12 hours.
6:37 PM
Lungs are a go! Next call in 2 hours for prep before surgery.
9:05 PM
Hi! Surgery has started. They said the lungs look excellent and everything is great. They will call every 3 hours but said the surgery will be a minimum of 8 hours from now.
Thursday 3/12/20
1:21 AM
They are placing the new lungs in!
4:13 AM
Surgery is done & mom is recovering. Doctor Ardehali said it was an extremely difficult surgery but that she did well and the lungs are working. They will try to wake her up tomorrow. He said we are not out of the woods yet. But we are celebrating!
7:30 AM
Hi there! Karine update! She is in the icu sedated and on a ventilator. She has 4 chest tubes and is on lots of medication. She lost a lot of blood during the surgery so the doctors and nurses are working hard to make sure all her levels are good and her body accepts the new lungs. This means lots of tinkering with all the medications she is on. Currently her low blood pressure & blood sugar are areas of concern they are working to raise.
They will wake her up slightly later today to test her motor function and if everything goes well, tomorrow afternoon they will ween her off the respirator.
They were very honest about how intense her surgery was and how she has a long way to recover but we've made sure to tell her how loved she is. The hospital party crew is tired but doing well.
Happy New Lung Day! Let's all welcome Ashley & Mary Kate (we've named her lungs) to the family!!
1:27 PM
Another update! Just talked to the charge nurse and she said that the bleeding is looking like it is stabilizing. The earlier X-ray showed a shadow in the left plural space which could be bleeding and would need to be surgically drained. The most recent X-ray is showing some slight improvement so Dr. Ardehali will make the call on if she will need a ct scan and potentially need to go back in to drain the bleeding if they see the need to. They aren’t rushing into anything so it’s not emergent. Probably like in the next 12 hours they will decide if she need the scan.
9:00 PM
Evening update - During her transplant, due to the amount of scarring, she had a lot of bleeding which resulted in needing a high amount of blood and fluid transfusions to replace the lost blood. The doctors explained that lungs are extremely sensitive to fluid and with the amount that she needed, it has irritated the bottom area of the lungs. The CT scan and X-ray have confirmed this so Dr. Ardehali will go back tomorrow with another surgery to clean out the excess fluid and blood that is bothering her lungs. This should be a 2-3 hour surgery where they will also perform a tracheotomy so she won’t have the ventilator tubes in her mouth (she has expressed happiness about this). After that they will ease her off the sedation and wake her up more to move around. The good news is that the lung function is great, and her oxygen saturation is high. The surgery is scheduled for 7am tomorrow. She is awake now and able to hear so we are reading her all of your messages! We will continue to update as we go.
Friday 3/13
11:00 AM
Surgery is complete. They didn’t find any bleeding and so just cleaned her up and closed her quickly. All the chest tubes were flushed out but pretty much left untouched which is great. Minimal surgery all in all. She was given some heavy sedation so will be drowsy for a few hours. Trach is placed with no complications
Saturday 3/14
Hi everyone. A bit of a long update. Mom is doing great. Donor Lungs had a bacterial issue upon transplant and so mom will need to stay on the trach in the icu for a least a week to help fight the infection. She did a quick trial today and breathed on her own successfully but with lots of discomfort so they kept it short.
In other news our family has been banned from the icu due to a member coming down with a cold. We've been tested and it's not the flu or step. Trying to get COVID testing which is harder than it seems. This means Craig, Michelle, Nicole, Shannon and myself are not able to visit with mom. We have reached out to other immediate members to help keep her company but due to coronavirus / travel precautions only Uncle David was able to make it. He spent the night last night, most of the day with her and will spend the night tonight as well. So grateful for him!
She is awake and not in pain ( or being managed) and able to communicate via writing and mouthing the words. All in all she is holding strong and healing like the warrior she is.
Which brings us to today. Mom is doing great & already having short moments sitting up in a chair. What an amazing lady she is! We are stuck at home during all these important milestones but resting in the knowledge that she is in the best place for her continued health and safety. <3
I want to compile messages to her and make them into a book so if you have any notes or pictures or words you would like to share, please email me at tarynkealani@gmail.com
This is open to everyone and anyone so please share this to whom ever. I will be sharing the notes with her in live time as the are received as well. I've read her all of the messages and prayers sent to her and I know they brighten her day. So thank you 💕
Love, T