Our Cat has Nine Lives
Update needed, as Caitlin would say. Three years ago today, on the 9-month anniversary of her lung transplant, during a walk around Walden Pond, I decided to start writing what I called “the Caitlin book.” I wasn’t even sure what kind of book it would be, or if I could manage to write it, but […]
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Bottom line for all who are holding their breath: 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 […]
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Caitlin just got out of the OR again, where the head lung transplant surgeon here at UPMC Pittsburgh, Dr. John D’Cunha, inserted a trach. It gets the breathing tube out of her mouth, makes her a lot more comfortable, and helps her oxygen saturation. He came in to tell us that all had gone well […]
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First of all, I want to say thank you thank you thank you to all the notes, messages, texts, calls, gifts, food—–all the LOVE we are receiving. The support is tremendous and allows us to keep vigil by Caitlin’s bedside, and I know she feels it. They can’t keep her too sedated because it suppresses […]
Read MoreYesterday I wrote, “Now it is absolutely essential that she get back to a stable place, so she can receive another offer.” It’s early morning on Friday as I write this, and I am happy to report that with the help of her fantastic team here, she did reach a tentatively stable place, finally, yesterday, […]
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Thank you so much for the outpouring of caring. Reading all the notes made me teary and grateful for all of the wonderful people in my beautiful daughter’s life. I’ll try to update every day, but sometimes it might be hard. Things are changing quickly. After a traumatic couple of days, Caitlin was relatively stable […]
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Yesterday my dad sent my mom and me a photo of a little menu he had drawn up: “How to entertain yourself when your wife is in Pittsburgh.” He had gone to the Ashland farmer’s market that morning — where he is a regular, making the rounds — after returning the previous night from the […]
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So, an update. Today marks 18 months on the waiting list. A year and a half. It’s a longer-than-normal wait, no question. Caitlin had her biannual transplant appointments this past week. There is a new surgeon here (there are 3 on the team), whom we met and really liked. Everyone on the transplant team seemed […]
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We haven’t posted since July because there’s been little to say until now. Nothing’s changed for Caitlin but UPMC is having a bit of a crisis—mold in the cardio-thoracic ICU and elsewhere in the hospital that may have contributed to the tragic deaths of some transplant patients. Until they get the problem under control, UPMC […]
Read MoreWell, the purpose of this blog is to keep friends and family updated about Caitlin’s health/transplant. We were lucky she’s been so stable for so many months, but she has had a rough week+, and since I know a lot of you would like to keep her in your thoughts during her trying times, I […]
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9LivesNotes 