This morning Karen and I received some upsetting news. Another of her transplant friends has lost their battle.
As most of you will know, a little over two years ago Karen received a double lung transplant. Her recovery was complicated. At one point on a Friday morning I was told to prepare myself for a conversation on turning off life support early the following week.
Fortunately we never needed to have that conversation. Karen's recovery was slow and often it was a case of "two steps forward and one step back", but about 18 months post transplant her recovery took off. This was especially noticeable during our US road trip last year. Today she says she is as healthy as she has ever been. But some of her friends have had a very different path in their transplant journey.
Edna was the first person to introduce herself on our first visit to the National N Z Heart and Lung Transplant Centre, known as Hearty Towers. A vibrant and outgoing woman she received a transplant about six months later, but at the 18 month mark she caught a bad infection that required a second transplant. Edna was following our US adventures daily via WhatsApp when she received the call that a donor had been found. Unfortunately her recovery this time was almost as complicated as Karen's and been. IN December we were at Hearty Towers for Karen's regular followup review and were told we could still not visit her int he ICU. Edna passed away in mid January having never left the ICU. Her last message to me by text was as positive as she had always been in the time we knew her being convinced she was getting out and onto a ward in another few days.
Kirsty and her twin sister Nicky both suffered from cystic fibrosis. Nicky had her transplant and we met them both prior to Karen's transplant when Nicky was at Hearty Towers for a followup review and Kirsty was there for her first assessment. Their mother was also there and told us that this was her second time as a support person. It was just ad difficult as the first.
Kirsty received her transplant while we were in residence at Hearty Towers and her recovery was straightforward. Last October she travelled to Australia where she won medals in every event she entered at the Australasian Transplant Games. Soon afterwards her body went onto chronic rejection. It was so bad that she could not even be considered for a second transplant.
Kirsty, a mother of three young children passed away last month.
Emma and Karen shared a room in the ICU for several weeks. Another sufferer from cystic fibrosis she was only 18 when her lungs began to critically fail her. She needed so much oxygen support that she could not be cared for at home. When she received notification of a donor she had approximately two weeks to live, and that day arrangements had been made for her dog to visit her in hospital one last time.
Because her lungs were so weak Emma's chest muscles had forgotten how to work. She was on a ventilator opposite Karen while her muscles recovered. When I first saw her I thought she was only 13 or 14 year sold, she was so tiny, and her window sill was lined with teddy bears.
Neither Karen or Emma could speak due to ventilators, but they smiled and waved at each other opposite every time one managed to accomplish something they had been unable to do. During her recovery at Hearty Towers Emma remained fairly private, but she and Karen continued to support each other at the daily physiotherapy's sessions. Emma passed away last Sunday and Karen found her notice on-line this morning. Emma was still only 20 years old.
I am not a religious man. I feel that history has too many examples of religion leading to less than desirable outcomes. But at the same time I have witnessed, and occasionally been the recipient of, quite a few instances where severe injury or death should have but did not result, leading me to believe in a higher power. I have really only seriously prayed three times that I can remember. The first time was when Karen went into respiratory rest in 2015. The second was when doctors spoke about considering the possibility of turning off life support. Both times I prayed for Karen's survival.
The third time was when my mother was in the last few weeks of her battle with cancer and it was obvious she did not have much longer to go. I prayed for her to have a peaceful end, which she did.
There are three more angels in heaven. All now at peace.
As most of you will know, a little over two years ago Karen received a double lung transplant. Her recovery was complicated. At one point on a Friday morning I was told to prepare myself for a conversation on turning off life support early the following week.
Fortunately we never needed to have that conversation. Karen's recovery was slow and often it was a case of "two steps forward and one step back", but about 18 months post transplant her recovery took off. This was especially noticeable during our US road trip last year. Today she says she is as healthy as she has ever been. But some of her friends have had a very different path in their transplant journey.
Edna was the first person to introduce herself on our first visit to the National N Z Heart and Lung Transplant Centre, known as Hearty Towers. A vibrant and outgoing woman she received a transplant about six months later, but at the 18 month mark she caught a bad infection that required a second transplant. Edna was following our US adventures daily via WhatsApp when she received the call that a donor had been found. Unfortunately her recovery this time was almost as complicated as Karen's and been. IN December we were at Hearty Towers for Karen's regular followup review and were told we could still not visit her int he ICU. Edna passed away in mid January having never left the ICU. Her last message to me by text was as positive as she had always been in the time we knew her being convinced she was getting out and onto a ward in another few days.
Kirsty and her twin sister Nicky both suffered from cystic fibrosis. Nicky had her transplant and we met them both prior to Karen's transplant when Nicky was at Hearty Towers for a followup review and Kirsty was there for her first assessment. Their mother was also there and told us that this was her second time as a support person. It was just ad difficult as the first.
Kirsty received her transplant while we were in residence at Hearty Towers and her recovery was straightforward. Last October she travelled to Australia where she won medals in every event she entered at the Australasian Transplant Games. Soon afterwards her body went onto chronic rejection. It was so bad that she could not even be considered for a second transplant.
Kirsty, a mother of three young children passed away last month.
Emma and Karen shared a room in the ICU for several weeks. Another sufferer from cystic fibrosis she was only 18 when her lungs began to critically fail her. She needed so much oxygen support that she could not be cared for at home. When she received notification of a donor she had approximately two weeks to live, and that day arrangements had been made for her dog to visit her in hospital one last time.
Because her lungs were so weak Emma's chest muscles had forgotten how to work. She was on a ventilator opposite Karen while her muscles recovered. When I first saw her I thought she was only 13 or 14 year sold, she was so tiny, and her window sill was lined with teddy bears.
Neither Karen or Emma could speak due to ventilators, but they smiled and waved at each other opposite every time one managed to accomplish something they had been unable to do. During her recovery at Hearty Towers Emma remained fairly private, but she and Karen continued to support each other at the daily physiotherapy's sessions. Emma passed away last Sunday and Karen found her notice on-line this morning. Emma was still only 20 years old.
I am not a religious man. I feel that history has too many examples of religion leading to less than desirable outcomes. But at the same time I have witnessed, and occasionally been the recipient of, quite a few instances where severe injury or death should have but did not result, leading me to believe in a higher power. I have really only seriously prayed three times that I can remember. The first time was when Karen went into respiratory rest in 2015. The second was when doctors spoke about considering the possibility of turning off life support. Both times I prayed for Karen's survival.
The third time was when my mother was in the last few weeks of her battle with cancer and it was obvious she did not have much longer to go. I prayed for her to have a peaceful end, which she did.
There are three more angels in heaven. All now at peace.
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