This morning, mom received word from the Duke University Transplant Team that she is not a candidate for transplant.  There was one test that we were not worried about that she did not pass, the MRI.

Today, the transplant team will discuss mom's case.

If you would like to contribute to the fund for mom's transplant, make your check payable to:
Brenda Cross
324 E. Gray Ave.
Mooresville, NC 28115

Also, please write "FBO/Lung transplant fund" in the memo.


We will keep this site updated with the progress of the fund raising.

Thanks to all of you who have and will give.

Mom had the Gastric Stomach Emptying Test today.  They made her a small portion of eggs with some radioactive material in it, and then they took "pictures" over the course of about 4 hours.
  
 It was not a difficult test for her, but it was an important test.  Evidently this is the last test that will effect the outcome of the evaluation. 




We have been blessed with very nice doctors, nurses and technicians.  It makes going through this process much easier.

After the emptying test, she had an MRI/MRA of her head and neck.  They were looking closely at the blood vessels in her head and neck.

So it seems that the essential tests have been completed, and we are simply waiting to hear back from the team.  Look for an announcement of the results on Tuesday night or Wednesday.

Thanks so much to all of you who were praying.  Please, please continue to pray for favor during the discussion of mom's case on Tuesday.  All of the doctors, finance and our coordinators will be involved in this discussion. 

Prayer Points:

• The team discussion of mom's evaluation, Tuesday, June 30th.
• Funding to become available quickly.

It was a really long day for mom.  It started at 9:30 am in the NuclearScience Lab for a test that would monitor the function of her kidneys. They injected a radioactive substance into her veins and tested herover the course of three hours.  Thank you to those who were prayingtoday.  Evidently they had to draw blood at exact times, and the firstone was very close to being missed because they were unable to getmom's port (a permanent port added to an artery in her chest) to workto draw blood.  The port has been great at taking in fluids, but it hasbeen difficult for them to get blood from it.  Anyway, they had tohurry to find a good vein to draw blood.  The second time was not ashurried, but evidently neither time was "gentle."

The only other thing going on today was to see the transplant surgeons,and they were running about two hours behind.  Needless to say, mom wasexhausted by they time that they showed up.

The first young man to show up was Dr. Reddy.  He seemed to be having along, rough day too.  Please pray for him.  Also pray for Dr. Lin. They will both evaluate mom's condition and give the team theirrecommendations on Tuesday.  

They gave mom all of the harsh statistics about the death percentage. Notice I didn't say survival rate...  I know that their job is partlyto give the bottom line and to make sure that the patients are goinginto this with their eyes wide open.  Evidently the percentage of thosethat don't make it is a whopping 10%, but from our viewpoint 90% makeit!!!!!  And at one year, 85% are still living... and at 5 years 50%are holding their own and living life.


Some of the other hard statistics are the fact that she may have tohave a tracheotomy and a feeding tube.  It is also possible that hervocal chords may be damaged in the surgery.  The surgeon also made heraware that there is a chance that if she receives a feeding tube, itcould be for the rest of her life.  He made it clear that if she had tohave one, there would be no argument from her or the family, for thereason that it would save her life, and they could not just let her sayno after receiving the lungs that could have saved someone else's life. 

I believe that they were looking for mom to back out.  I'm sure thatthey look for that in all of the patients that come through, but mom issure about one thing, she wants this transplant, and she wants tolive.  Even with all of the risks, she knows that this is better thanwhat COPD will do to her.


One week from today we will know the results of this week.  Keep praying!!!



Prayer Points:

• Dr. Lin and Dr. Reddy:  Blessings and rest for them personally and favor toward mom.
• Our Transplant Coordinator - Khara:  Easy delivery and healthy birth of her child!
• Mom:  She needs rest, energy for the coming days and open doors through this process.

It was a short day today.  Two things happened today:  We opened the account for donations, and we had the consultation with Dr. Perez.

To make a donation make checks payable to Brenda Cross and write Lung Transplant Fund in the memo.  I will have a donate button on the website by the end of this week.

The meeting with Dr. Perez went well, but he did have concerns about mom's previous surgeries and if they would keep her from having a procedure called a stomach wrap, if it is necessary.  In spite of what you might be thinking, a stomach wrap is nothing like a lettuce wrap or even a cool ranch chicken wrap.  It is taking a section of the stomach and pulling it around itself and stitching it in place, causing the opening to only allow things to go down, not up.  Evidently a stomach wrap will keep acid from moving up the esophagus and into the lungs causing an infection.  Of course that makes this a very important point in the lung transplant evaluation.

The good news is that after speaking to Dr. Perez, he seems to think that her previous surgeries will not be a problem. 

Later this week she will have a test that will see how long it takes for food to empty from the stomach.  This test is very important to the transplant team as well, concerning how she will do after the transplant.  The doctor mentioned that they will be looking closely at this test.

Prayer Points

    * Please pray that she will pass this test with no problem
    * God to continue to grant us favor with the transplant evaluation team

It was a hot day, but that did not keep people from showing up at our first fundraiser!!!!!

     
It was a success!!!!! 

Mr. Turkey didn't make it back into the box...



A great deal of hard work went into this fundraiser.  Mom and I would like to especially thank Kathy & Danny Childers.  I am speechless and humbled...  Thank you so much!!!!!

We would also like to thank:
Rodney & Lucinda Russ and Family
Diana Meitzler
Randy & Arlene Hobart (location / storage and kind hearts)
Brian Childers
Libby Voyles

Your contributions and help are greatly appreciated.  Some of you helped without even knowing mom, and we are forever grateful!!!!  We pray that you will all be blessed tenfold for your support.

To those of you who attended this first fundraiser for New Lungs For Mom, we would like to thank you for your purchases, kind words and prayers. 



To view more photos of the yard sale, visit the Photo section of this website.


Also, continue to visit our blog as we update about the process at Duke University and fund raising.  If you subscribe to the blog, you will receive a notification when we update the blog.

~ Tonya

         

Big Yard Sale!!!!


June 20th - 7:30am-12pm
1862 Landis Hwy, Mooresville, NC
(approx. 1/4 mile from Carrigan Farms)

...a New Lungs For Mom fund raiser