" What's the latest with Jian??!!"

Hello all!

Alley had a great day today. She is slowly waking up more. She is able to play charades with us, even though we are not great in guessing what she wants. Thankfully, the nurse gave her a letter board for her to spell out words. One of the first questions she asked me is what's the latest with Jian Ghomeshi! The staff found it quite amusing. 
Cindy, David and mom went to a drop in pottery class and brought pieces that she had painted and made back to show her as they were due to be picked up. She seemed quite happy with them. 

Obviously, this made her very tired so we left early to let her rest. She still has her pain meds which makes her sleepy. They took out a few more iv lines, which is nice. They are talking about taking out her breathing tube within the next few days. 

Cheers!

Amy

Pasteries and progress

Hello Alley followers,

Alley is doing really well with her new lungs! She was taken off the ecmo last night, hurray! She had to be taken back down to surgery last night as one of her lungs was bleeding. They drained all the blood and fixed the problem. The docter said that this is common, especially where her orginal lungs were so bad and would be hard to take out because of the scar tissue. Also, they had to thin her blood because of the ecmo. It doesnt seem to be bleeding today so that is an improvement.

She is still on the ventilator but is doing all her own breathing, just with some pressure support. She is opening her eyes today when you talk to her and they are slowly turning down her pain medication to wake her up slowly. 

They are also starting to give her some food through a tube to see how she does with it. 

We have found a european bakery nearby so we all happy and I have gotten cindy addicted to lululemon. All in all, a great day. 

Beginnings and endings

While we rejoice today over seeing Alley begin to breathe with her new lungs, we are overcome with a depth of sadness and thankfulness for the family who so generously donated their loved ones lungs. Their family may be having a funeral today-----it could have been us.

This is the paradox of a double lung transplant.  The mixed emotions are forefront in our minds and I don't think its all because we are exhausted.

The donor's family would have had to endure their loved one kept on life support longer than if they didn't donate.  That is not an easy process.  BUT we hope that the knowledge of the precious gift they have given ----new life for another ---- will comfort them in this time of loss.

If everyone who is praying and thinking of Alley would talk about organ donation, maybe recipients wouldn't have to wait 13 months to receive their needed organ. Maybe more lives would be saved, less complications would arise, less rejections would happen.

We would like to thank the donor's family for this selfless gift of life and also ask that you hold them in your thoughts and prayers today.

When a hand squeeze had us all in tears!

Hello all,

Today was quite a day for Alley. They allowed her to semi- wake up for a little bit today!! She was able to squeeze our hands, nod her head, and I even got a hug!! It was very emotional for all of us, very very thankful. The nurses than put her back to sleep to let her body rest.

They are also weaning down the echo machine ( the machine that is filtering her blood like her lungs) and making her new lungs do some work. Her new lungs are doing quite well with this and they are slowly adjusting her ventilator as well.

The surgeon came today and said that she is doing much better than he expected. Hurray!!

She is still quite critical but doing well and stable.

Thank you again for everyones support at this time. It means so much to all of us.

Love Amy

Out of Surgery!!

Hello, this is Amy! Alley is out of surgery! It went quite well. She needs an ecmo machine which helps filter the o2 in her blood ( basically acts like lungs) so that means that her recovery will be a bit longer. She may need this for 1-2 days up to 2 weeks. So while she is on it, they will keep her sedated to allow her body to recover and accept the new lungs as her own! The recovery will be a bit longer than " textbook" as her body is trying to fight the new lungs so they will give her body a chance to heal. The surgeon said that this is common at times.  Alley was quite sick in the few days leading to the surgery so this is why they tried hard to make these lungs work for her, and why there was such a long delay before her surgery.


Myself, David and Cindy made it here tonight, and beat the snow storm.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. It means so much to everyone to have your support.