Mrs. T survived her double-lung transplant surgery and was moved to the cardio-thoracic intensive-care unit of New York-Presbyterian Hospital at noon today. She was on the operating table for roughly twenty hours, somewhat longer than expected.
Her doctors tell me that the surgery proper was fairly uneventful. As of this hour, their main concern is that her blood is not yet clotting properly. Hence she is receiving transfusions more or less around the clock while they wait for her body to recover from the “insult” of major surgery—and it doesn’t get any more major than a double-lung transplant—and reset itself.
We should have a clearer idea of what to expect by this time tomorrow. For now, the doctors are describing her condition as “stable but guarded,” which sounds about right to me.
I saw Mrs. T briefly a few minutes ago. She looks about like you’d expect her to look (pretty scary, in other words). She is heavily sedated and will likely be kept unconscious for the next few days. My plan is to divide my time between the ICU waiting room and our apartment, which is only a mile from the front door of the hospital. I have quite a bit of writing to do, and I’m glad for the distraction. I might try to catch a show later this week if she remains stable, but I’m not making any promises.
Once again, no cards, flowers, or calls, please: I need to keep my line clear in case the doctors need to get in touch with me while I’m away from the hospital.
As always—but never more so than now—I am profoundly grateful for your support.
UPDATE: I just spoke on the phone to the thoracic surgeon who performed Mrs. T’s transplant. He is very cautiously pleased with her post-operative progress. As he put it, “We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re moving in the right direction.” That’s good enough for me to get some sleep tonight!