Update from the ICU

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and good wishes through the night. I am happy to report this morning that, after 10 hours in surgery, Pop has been transferred to the ICU with new lungs in his chest! However, the transplant surgeon is keeping him under anesthesia for another 24 - 48 hours to give both Dad’s body and the new lungs a chance to recover from the trauma of surgery and transplantation.

The lungs were donated by a man in his 40s who was brain dead prior to donation, so the lungs have not functioned without assistance for a bit now. The surgeon wants all systems to rest before they are asked to function fully on their own, so Pop is still on an ECMO machine. Given his relative youth for a transplant patient and lack of other serious medical complications, the surgeon and anesthesiologist do not have concerns keeping him under for another day or two. The surgeon did say that Dad’s heart is in great shape and his pulmonary hypertension was completely resolved by the transplant, which is great news.

I will write post another update if anything changes in the next couple of days—otherwise keep praying for his successful re-entry to consciousness in the next day or two.

Sending out love and gratitude the entire transplant team at Duke Medical, and to all of you.