Just met with the surgeon, he said Elizabeth did really well. He said that her lungs were really crappy and he felt that if she had not had the transplant she would not have left the hospital from this admission. WOW! He said they did close the hole in her heart and did the aortapexy (where they fixed the artery compressing her airway). She will most likely be kept sedated for the next couple of days, and intubated by the tube down her nose/throat. She will most likely have her trach put back in early next week. Since she has been on a ventilator for so long, it will most likely take her longer to come of it. So we will just see how she does over the next few days. She will need to work hard to get off the vent and get rid of the trach. The next few days, will show us if her body is going to heal and accept these new lungs. We are so excited about her new gift, but we have to keep in mind that things can still go wrong.
We spoke to the pulmonologist about her donor, but he can't give us any information. The only thing that we have heard is that the donor was alot younger than Elizabeth due to the size of lungs she needed. But the surgeon told us the lungs were the perfect size for Elizabeth.
WOW what a day is all I can say!! Seriously there are so many emotions mixed into this. Our "wait" is over for lungs but now a new journey begins. Transplant living is still not easy, but it offers Elizabeth a chance to live outside of a hospital and do some normal things. We want ALL of you to know how much we appreciate your thoughts and prayers over the past year and especially today! We will continue to share Elizabeth's story and use this experience to encourage others to become donors.
We will update again once we see Elizabeth and hopefully post a picture or two.
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