Caitlin has come out of the OR to her room at the ICU where the team is working to keep her stable. Right now, her biggest problem is her liver. It’s not functioning and needs support. The liver can take a lot of trauma and turn around so we have to hope that’s going to happen here. We can’t have a failing liver, or she will fail.
Her chest is open and covered with a rubber membrane because of the swelling. In a few hours, they will take her back to the OR to clean this area up a bit.
She’s got a lot of swelling and bruising.
So: lungs, heart, kidneys are okay and manageable.
Caitlin has come out of the OR to her room at the ICU where the team is working to keep her stable. Right now, her biggest problem is her liver. It’s not functioning and needs support. The liver can take a lot of trauma and turn around so we have to hope that’s going to happen here. We can’t have a failing liver, or she will fail.
Her chest is open and covered with a rubber membrane because of the swelling. In a few hours, they will take her back to the OR to clean this area up a bit.
She’s got a lot of swelling and bruising.
So, lungs, heart, kidneys are okay and manageable.
Dr. D’Cunha just came in and said she’ll be going back to the ICU in about half an hour. The bleeding has slowed down, turned to oozing. They are still concerned about the liver. She’s going back on full ECMO so that’s an issue. One thing at a time.
The small tiger is recovering in the right direction.
Dr. Jonathan D’Cunha–a man who has worked tirelessly for more than 36 hours now, to organize and execute a plan to save our daughter’s life.
It’s past midnight, and all are still working on Caitlin, and that is still happening in the OR. We haven’t had an update in well over two hours when one of the surgeons reported that they were trying to stop the bleeding in her chest wall. They were thinking that it was her liver causing that.
OKAY! She is successfully off the heart-lung bypass machine, and transitioned back onto ECMO. This needed to happen, and happen as quickly as possible.
The dialysis will work to hopefully reduce the lactates in her liver.
Thank you to our blessed real-life angel Sinead. I woke her up in London after the surgeon dropped the frightening news on us. She tapped into Caitlin, and worked with her for fifteen minutes, told me what was going on with her body, told me what I could do myself. I was up in the chapel and when I came down the elevator, Nick, Andrew, and Jess were waiting to tell me of the success.
This is going to be a very bumpy road… we expected it and it’s here. The recovery is tough, but we are all here to help her through this.
We are still waiting in the waiting area. She is still critical. But….
Technically, the surgery is done, but they’re having trouble getting Caitlin off the heart/lung bypass. Her body needs to start up again on its own, generate blood pressure. They’re setting up multiple dialysis machines to try and help her transition off the heart/lung support back to ECMO.
We got word that the lungs arrived safely to the OR at noon, and just recently got word that the right lung is already in. It was a perfect fit, with no trimming needed. This is what you hope for.
Her left lower lobe was removed when she was 11, so there is a lot of scar tissue on that side. That will be more of an issue, but it’s very very good news that the right lung went in so easily. I am overcome to know that our wonderful Caitlin now has a healthy lung inside of her! Google transplanted lungs and you will see what these people have been trying to live on for so long.
Thank you, thank you, dear donor and family.
A tribute to donors, along “the bridge.”
Late yesterday afternoon, I brought Jess over to the “bridge,” which connects Presby Hospital to Montefiore Hospital. It’s the prettiest part of the complex here, with lots of glass windows, and walls lined with photos of bridges across the world. (Pittsburgh is called the City of Bridges). It’s been hard for me to go over there these past ten days, because I associate it with Caitlin, but I wanted Jess to see it. We walked along and looked at all the photographs, and talked about Caitlin, and how brave she has always been. For example, in 2012, she packed all of her oxygen equipment and medicines into a suitcase almost as large as she was, and rented an apartment for two weeks, alone, in Paris. As hard as that was to do, she knew time was running out for her to do it at all. Indeed, 2013 was the year she finally crashed and began to use oxygen 24/7.
After crossing the bridge, Jess and I went into the Meditation Room/Chapel and sat quietly. I wrote a request in the Prayer Request book. Jess said, “Can I add something?”
“Of course,” I said.
She wrote, today.
Our friends MJ and Scott Hamilton told us about someone who is waiting for sainthood, but needs another miracle, so we added him, too. He died on Groundhog Day in 1921, and February 2 has always been an auspicious day for our family.
At 8:30 am, Caitlin was taken to the OR. At 9:30, we got word that the blessed donor lungs are good and that surgery will begin as these lungs make their way to Caitlin. (It’s a carefully timed and choreographed surgical dance.)
This will be a long day, with few updates. It’s an extremely high risk surgery at this point, and we can only hold tight. This is usually a 12-hour or so surgery, but it can go for up to 20 hours, or even more.
I’ll update, during the day, with what I know and with little stories about how this all went down.
THANK YOU, ALL, for your prayers and love and light for our beloved Caitlin, and for the donor family and their holiday loss. I am holding them in my heart.
Caitlin’s holding steady, but her liver is causing problems, bilirubin rising. She’ll soon have her third bag of acetadote which they’re using to try and combat this. I also emailed Caitlin’s brilliant Boston acupuncturist, Marcy, to ask what points I could possibly work on. When I took a long Q-tip and started massaging the left ear point, Caitlin made an “ouch” face—the first physical reaction in two days.
Jess and Nick and I are working those points frequently.
Her 4am labs showed lactate levels also rising, possibly due to lack of oxygenation in the tissues and worrisome, but the late morning labs had them trending down, slightly.
Last night, a Boston TV station aired Caitlin’s story. Nick and our dear friend Laura Kelly did a great job. Thanks to Jess for getting the pictures to the reporters who worked on the story and were so very compassionate.
WordPress seems to be having some embedding problems, so click here to view the story if it doesn’t show up as embedded:
9 Lives Notes 