Nikki's New Lungs

Trav again. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers for us and the donor family.
Nikki is still heavily medicated. They’ve made the decision to keep her intubated until tomorrow which is normal. They are trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. She can’t really have visitors yet. It may be a few days before she’s out of ICU. The surgery went well, but she has a long and difficult recovery ahead of her.
We’re grateful for the offers to help. We’ve got a good, core team right now of immediate family trying to get a handle on things. However, Dana may be coordinating some extra help in the next couple of days.
We’re fortunate to have our billet hockey player, Berg, at the house taking care of Rosie.
Thought I would share a couple of key items that were on Nikki’s “transplant day list”:
No flowers or plants
Hold her hand
Water plants on Wednesday
Buy bagpipes

Will keep you updated on progress.
Thank you again.

Travis here again. The surgeon just spoke with us and let us know that there was less scaring than he expected so they were able to remove her old lungs easier than they had anticipated. Because Nikki is so small, they were concerned about the size of the donor lungs. In surgery, it turned out that they were a perfect fit.
Nikki had a longer than expected wait on the transplant list of 3 years, 2 months and 21 days. We were surprised at how quickly she was brought down to surgery and really surprised with how efficiently and swiftly the surgery was performed. The team here has been great.
Nikki has just been moved to ICU and we’ll get to see her in a few minutes.
We’ll update again soon.

Travis here again. At 4:00 A.M. we were informed that the surgeons have been able to transplant the second lung. She’s off the bypass and they’re going to begin to close her up. They’re hoping to transport her to ICU in an hour or so. Stay tuned for more updates.

Travis here. We were just notified that they started surgery around 11:25 P.M.
Thank you all for the kind words and for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. While we are hopeful, excited and just a little bit scared, please remember there is also another family grieving that could probably use some prayers as well.

Today at 5:28 p.m. I received “the call”. I’m not in surgery yet but it sounds like it could happen quickly!!

Happy Birthday to my honey, you’re still looking cool at 39! This is also a video blog, enjoy!

I have been enjoying myself a little on the weekends lately. A week ago I made it back in the bike saddle again! Even though my knee is still healing and not 100% I do feel strong enough to get back on my bike. We took a ride to the Uptown Art Fair on our bikes and walked around.

This Friday, we had our annual girls day on our friends’ boat. Thank you Ro and Kathy for hosting. It was such a beautiful day to catch up with some of my gals. I was a little exhausted from the sun and excitement. I didn’t have enough steam in me to make it to dinner but sure had an awesome time on the lake.

Lungs- Luckily I have been able to maintain my lung functions since my bike accident two months ago. Well, thanks to the I.V. medication. We decided last week to continue with the I.V. therapy until I can fully exercise.

Sinuses- Last week I started having sharp pain episodes that would last for about ten seconds deep inside my head. Usually that only happens when Travis is talking 🙂 We did a CT scan and found that my left sphenoid sinus is completely plugged. Just as the mucus in my lungs is thick, so is the mucus in my sinuses. It is a difficult sinus to clear because it is so deep and hard to reach but most often it will improve within a month or so. It can also be dangerous because it is so close to the brain. I have a small constant headache at the moment but I was advised if I have a severe headache I need to head to the emergency room. My ENT also gave me some wonderful news today at my appointment. All the hard work I do with my sinus irrigation’s has paid off, he told me he has never seen a CF patient with such clear sinuses! Except for that pesky deep sinus the rest are awesome. It proves that taking care of yourself pays off.

Knee- I am walking! I have even started to walk slowly on the treadmill, although I am not up to full speed I am getting closer everyday. Physical therapy continues as I am told it is still in healing mode. We have added other activities also, my mountain bike has the back tire hooked on a trainer acting as a stationary bike for movement (I have not been able to use it for years because of my lungs), at least it is finally going to good use 🙂

Hello! Sorry I have not posted in quite some time. After waiting for summer weather to finally get here, my limited schedule filled up quickly. I will catch you up to date in the next couple of days. We are off to treat Rosie to a “pup cup” at Dairy Queen for her ninth birthday.

Yesterday my doctors appointment went surprisingly well. My lung functions have remained the same even with no exercise. Thank goodness for antibiotics. Today I have started a new adventure. This is also part video blog, enjoy!