LIFE ADVENTURES AND JOURNEYS

My husband, Randy, received a double lung transplant in 2013. It came as a huge shock. Randy had always enjoyed perfect health, and suddenly we were facing a future none of us could have imagined. At the time, we were told his life expectancy was 50% at five years. This past January, after 12 1/2 years of life post-transplant, we lost him. The lung transplant was unexpected; the ending, in many ways, was not. Expected or unexpected, life has a way of surprising us.

I began writing about this unexpected journey on Travels with Tam after we learned, in August 2013, that Randy needed a double lung transplant. He had been scheduled for a biopsy, but before we could get there, his lung capacity suddenly dropped to 21%, and he was taken to the hospital. A week later, his lungs fell to 0%, and he was placed on ECMO, a machine that supported him while he was in a medically induced coma. He remained on it for nearly two weeks. After 12 days, I was told he would be removed from ECMO within a couple of days because he was nearing the point where recovery might no longer be possible. The next day, the doctor told me there was a chance they had found lungs. By the following morning, Randy was in surgery.