Post Operative Recovery

Adam was sedated and rested well all last night.

Around 10:00am this morning his sedation was reduced and finally stopped. He opened his eyes to see his parents, Dane and Joanne, waiting for him in his room. He was quite groggy for awhile and asked, "How long did the surgery take?" about 12 times. The surgery took just a little over 3 hours as everything went extremely well, no transfusions were needed, no packing, no heart by-pass...just great progress for all in the process.

It was truly a miracle to have been "Active" on the list for just over 20 hours and end up with new lungs in an almost record time by the Transplant Team. Great job Barnes Lung Transplant Team!

Around Noon today respiratory therapy removed his breathing tube and took him off the ventilator. He did very well with just a few coughs and was breathing on his own with his new lungs.

It was around this time he started to complain about pain in his incision areas and his epidural med's were increased and he was given a PCA button to help manage his pain. He soon felt much better and was asking for ice chips.

It was around 2:00pm when his nurse removed his femoral arterial line and also removed his leggings to allow him some movement in his bed. He was asking for juice, water and more ice ships. It was the best Juice he's ever tasted!

Around 4:00pm Adam was on the phone calling his nurses on 13100 and telling them he was doing just fine and wanted to know when they were going to visit. He also started using his respiratory machine and was exercising his new lungs by inflating them to maximum amounts 10 times per hour...of course he asked for more pain medication.

6:00pm the plan is to remove additional arterial monitoring lines and to get him sitting up in bed and to move over and sit in the comfortable chair in his room. It's time to get him up and moving around to be sure his lungs fully expand and he doesn't have any issues with pneumonia or give the lungs any chance to act up.

His spirits are great, he's feeling very happy and is trying to use his humor to create a fun environment in the ICU...he's Adam with a whole lot of breath and energy...plan to see him walking around the floor in the next few days. He's now asking about Brayden and is thinking about playing soccer and running around the playground with his son and his new set of lungs. Adam has a great outlook and will accomplish a lot of the many things he has not been able to do for many years.

Please continue to pray for his healing and continued success as he now faces new challenges involving possible infections and the always present organ rejection issues so commonly associated with any organ transplant.

Stay Tuned.

The Transplant Blogger.