Sunday, Mollie was doing very poorly, not able to catch her breath, pulse was racing and her oxygen saturation was dropping dangerously low. Doctors recommended putting her on ECMO, which essentially is a lung bypass machine. This procedure would require surgery, and they would insert a tube about the size of a garden hose in her neck which would take the blood directly from her heart, filter and oxygenate it with a machine that bypasses the lungs and then pumps it back into the heart for distribution to the rest of her body. Once in place, her lungs wouldn't work any more, ever, but it would keep her alive a few more weeks in hopes that a match would be found. As you can imagine, this was probably our lowest point in this three year journey, and we spent the night Sunday worrying and praying for wisdom, knowing that without this radical step or a new set of lungs, Mollie's life could be cut short very soon.
All along, Mollie has been listed very high on the donor list. The delay had been her size. At 5'2", she is considered small for transplant and most donors are adult males who are typically 5'10 -6'2", therefore their lungs won't fit.
Monday, the doctors returned and told us if we were ready, they could perform the surgery to place her on ECMO that afternoon. I posted an update on Mollie's blog and Facebook, asking for prayers on her behalf and several of our friends and family shared that request and "tweet's" were sent out all across the country, through friends and several firefighter networks as well. An hour after posting the prayer request for Mollie and the ECMO surgery, the doctor returned to get her written consent for surgery. As Mollie was signing the forms, her cell phone rang, and the voice on the other side of the phone very clearly said, "Mollie, we have lungs for you!"!
Prayers were answered just when Mollie needed them the most and the path of her life instantly changed. Instead of prepping for ECMO, we prepped for transplant! Doctors, nurses and techs from all over the hospital ran into our room to congratulate us on the good news. Mollie's nurses openly cried with her at the bedside, and tears full of fear moments before were replaced by tears of joy!
We quickly packed up her room where she had lived for three+ weeks, called the family, and she was moved to the ICU to be prepped for surgery. They do not tell you anything about your new lungs, where/who they came from is confidential. The only information we were told was that the surgery would be early in the morning on Tuesday. There was still several go/no-go hurdles we had to cross. The donor is tested for lots of diseases and other contra-indictors, just to make sure the organs are suitable for donation, and if everything looks good its a go. Next, a surgical team is sent by ambulance, helicopter or jet to harvest the lungs from the donor, and if they don't look good the surgical team can deny the lungs; they looked great, so we were still a go for transplant. Then the lungs arrive in Cleveland and the surgical team here inspects the lungs before surgery. They determined that the lungs looked really good and we were given the green light for surgery around 1AM Tuesday.
By this time, Mollie's parents and one of our pastors, Eder Justin Huffman, had arrived and we all sat with her and prayed with her as her anxiety was thru the roof. Mollie was having a very hard time breathing and the doctors were trying to calm her and keep her stable. Around 01:45 they took her back for surgery and we headed to the family waiting room to wait for news.
8 long hours later, her surgeon, Dr. Tong came out to let us know the surgery was over. Dr. Tong told us the lungs looked perfect, and the surgery overall had gone well.
Mollie was in the ICU Tuesday - Friday. The first few hours she was sedated and intubated, but if you talked to her tears would roll out of her eyes and she would move her eyebrows. She had the tube removed from her throat and was breathing on her own with her new lungs within 12 hours of her surgery. Thursday she was sitting up, no longer sedated, talking, etc. Other than not getting any sleep, she was doing great. She did have a paralyzed vocal chord, which complicates swallowing and talking. Friday, they injected some gel into her left vocal chord, which appears to have fixed the problem. They tell us it is common with people who were intubated for an extended period of time.
Friday afternoon, after they did a swallow study to make sure she could eat properly, and after the vocal chord procedure she was discharged from the ICU, back to the 8th floor where she resided pre-transplant. She is back in a nice private room with more peace and quiet. She will start physical therapy bedside tomorrow and as long as there are no complications she should be released from the hospital by Thanksgiving.
She is required to live in Cleveland for about 6 weeks. We have rented a furnished apartment for us to live in as she will have frequent visits to the Cleveland Clinic for check ups and tests. As long as there are no complications each week she will have fewer and fewer appointments, until they finally will let her go home. She will be on a host of medications for the rest of her life, these medicines are expensive ($1,000+ a month) after insurance, but will hopefully prevent her body from rejecting the lungs, which is always the major risk of any transplant. To help with the life long medical expenses Mollie has a taxer fundraising account set up at https://m.helphopelive.org/campaign/5178
The whole process has been amazing, from the care we have received, to the miracle gift of new lungs. More than anything, we have seen the HUGE benefit and power of prayer! We rejoice in God's grace and mercy on us and the miracle of the new life Mollie has been given. We also continue to pray for the donor's family, as they are unknown to us. But their loss is our our gain, and we are so thankful they chose to be a donor family.
Thanks for your care, love, prayers and support.
Steve
Amazing answers to prayer~
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