Report from Duke Lung Transplant Center

Doris and I drove to Durham, NC, last Saturday and Sunday (11/5-6) for a second battery of tests all day Monday.   Duke pulmonologist Dr. Alice Gray believes that my lungs have “progressed” more rapidly than anticipated in the past three months.  The full team will decide next Tuesday, but they may ask me to return in 3-4 weeks for more testing.  I hope they decide I can wait until 2012.

            When I return they will probably decide when we need to move to Durham.  Ideally they want you doing their exercises at the Duke Center for Living five days a week four hours a day for six weeks before surgery.  They want me to be in top physical shape in every way before they do surgery.  When they think I’m ready for transplant, I’ll be “listed” and given a beeper.  When my new lung is ready, I must be on the operating table in two hours.  Lungs are the most fragile organs.  Size and blood type must be compatible. 

            I know that my lungs are deteriorating because I need more oxygen for everything.  I can walk only a short distance (needing 4-6 liters of continuous flow oxygen per minute).  Standing up is an aerobic exercise for me.  Doris is helping me find energy conserving aids in the apt.  I have a junior chair in the kitchen and a bath chair in shower.  I do as little as possible in both places.

            I may be unusually debilitated at the moment and hope to regain some energy.  I had to take antibiotics for ten days, which left me constantly nauseated and exhausted.  The first day off antibiotics we got on the road to NC.

            I fetched Doris from the airport on Thursday, Nov. 3.  We were both exhausted and happy to just Be Together in what she calls my “tree house.”  She loves the pond, fountains, ducks, herons, and especially the turtles that swim right up under my balcony.  We ordered Chinese delivery, which may become my mainstay. 

            On Friday evening the DeVore’s whirled in with their own Chinese take-away and then out in a couple of hours.  They regaled us with pictures and stories.  Dave and Cheyenne played Chinese Checkers, pointedly not inviting me to join them because I always win.  “Can’t you let Cheyenne win?” asks Doris.  No, when she beats me she will have learned how.

            By the time Doris and I headed northward on Saturday, it was already after noon, but we made it to the Best Western in Florence, SC, an hour after dark. On Sunday I felt strong enough to push my oxygen a short way on my rollator into Trader Joe’s in Raleigh with frequent pauses to sit down.  We arrived at the Durham La Quinta about 2:30.  After lunch at Red Lobster next door, we did a practice run to Duke Medical so that we could find our way in the morning. 

            Monday started with 8 am lab tests and ran non-stop all day.  We stole half an hour for bfst/lunch by convincing the med psych evaluator rosy-cheeked scholar Patrick Smith, PhD, that he could certify us sane and stable in half an hour—not the full hour allotted.  Thus we could grab a sandwich at Subway. 

            Happily we arrived at my tree house in daylight on Wed.  Coughing up gobs of mucus had frightened and exhausted me.  I called my FL pulmonologist’s office for advice on the road.  I was told to come in on Friday afternoon. 

Yesterday I did succeed in pushing myself through most of my exercise routine— 15 minutes on the treadmill but only at 1.4 mph on 6 L oxygen and 10 minutes on recumbent bike with no resistance.  After that I met with the pulmonary support group for the first time, but it wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped.  Most had been coping with COPD for years, and none required the amount of oxygen I do.  The nurse who led the group talked about stress over holidays.  Most of the old breathers claimed they’d given up stress years ago.

While I was at WP Hospital, Doris and Lisa went to IKEA.  I knew they were both having a good time stimulating the Swedish economy.  After meeting up with Doris, we spent three hours at the pulmonologist’s office where I was told to take Zyrtec and Mucinex and come back in four weeks. 

It’s a long strange trip ahead.  After Doris leaves early Tuesday, I’ll get back to writing.  I have all the LN files here now.  I hope I can draft my Florida chapters in the next two months before we have to pull up stakes again and head to NC.