Mostly All About Jess

14Dec

Yes, wonderful things did happen and Jess received her new lungs!

I picked her Mom, Carla, up around 5:30am (because Dj is here to stay with Dad, I can leave) and we were allowed in to see Jess as soon as we arrived at the hospital. She opened her eyes wide and gave us a little smile, even though still well sedated. Immediately the lips started moving..around the vent tubing and all. She had only come to the ICU around 3am and already thought she was in charge!

The first thing we did was tell her she had received her new blowers and was doing a fantastic job at making them feel at home. She gave us a quizzical brow and shook her head. We assured her it was true, she had spent the night in surgery and was now in a room in the ICU to start her recovery. 

The monitor in the rear shows O2 sat of 100%!

The little smile spread and her eyes bugged out as this incredible news sank in...then, the lips started to move around the tubes! “help me, help me” was the first communication she gave us. I asked if she was in pain or wanted me to get a nurse for here (Penny was right at my shoulder the whole time). Then she blinked and mouthed “water...water”. Penny knew right away what was up and told us she’d get her a sponge swab dipped in ice water - then run that around the inside of her mouth. The  ICU is kept very dry (helps reduce the growth and circulation of airbourne pathogens like Legionaire’s, etc.) and that, combined with the tubing and medications would make Jess very thirsty. One sponge did not cut it for this girl though...two or three later, she settled in.

The RT came to check her sats and suggested he'd like to take her off the vent by mid day, so throughout the morning they would slowly reduce both her sedative and the level of work the ventilator was doing for her - she would be doing an increasing amount of the breathing on her own. By late afternoon, they decided they'd leave her on vent (although at a very low setting) until the next day - which just gave him a bit of assistance and allowed her body more rest and repair time.

We only stayed a short time (5-10 min), then left so she could rest and the morning routine could happen. Carla and I headed to the Atrium to have a Timmie’s breakfast sandwich and watch the day arrive - bringing a whole new life for Jess!  It really is a miracle what they do here...

We went back in to see her just after 11 am, and she was sitting up in bed (this allows for better chest expansion and getting the lungs working). She gave us a big grin and then we noticed the clipboard on her lap. The paper was full of short notes she had been writing for her nurse, Penny. We stayed about 20 minutes, shared messages that we'd been getting for her, showed the nurse photos of her dog Griffin, Brad and the boys. She kept writing - "I can't believe it. I feel good, I don't feel like I've had major surgery!"

She then asked for more water by way of sponge (she can’t swallow anything because of the tubes and the risk of aspirating something into her precious new lungs). Penny said to go ahead and give her as many swabs as she needed...she bit the second sponge I gave her (to get the extra water out of it) so I threatened to give her no more...she just grinned. 

Jess & Mom, Carla

The surgeon came by and told us that everything had gone very well during surgery and that Jess was doing incredibly well so far. Here's hoping that trend continues and she is able to come off the vent today.

Thank goodness Brad updated Jess' blog - I know many of you are now following her as well, via the link in my blog (bottom of the column at the right for those who haven’t yet explored there - livelaughlungs). She was doing fantastic during her first 24 hours post transplant. They asked that in future, we not come before 11am, as mornings are very busy with re-positioning her, administering meds, surgical team rounds and ICU team rounds and nursing shift change - not to mention Jess had been writing notes since mid morning yesterday, so she was keeping them hopping...

Carla and I left in a daze...in awe of what had happened, amazed at how alert and upbeat Jess was after such a major surgery (it turned out, she was just getting started) and in a bit of a fog - this is just a surreal experience...as miracles tend to be.