Wallaceburg woman recovering after double lung transplant

Wallaceburg’s Julie Rice is recovering in a Toronto hospital after receiving her long-awaited double lung transplant earlier this month.

Rice told the Sydenham Current her surgery took place on March 9, just a couple of weeks after receiving a false call.

“When I got the second call, just after getting out of being admitted in London hospital the day before, I was kind of shocked,” Rice said.

“The next day I actually had to ask (my boyfriend) Tony if it really happened because I couldn’t believe I was so lucky.”

After waiting nine months for her transplant, her actual surgery took approximately 12 hours to complete.

“I wasn’t scared, or nervous, except that it might be another false call,” said Rice, who has battled cystic fibrosis her entire life.

“I needed the lungs, I could feel myself over the winter getting worse than I already was and that was making me scared.”

Bumps on the road to recovery

Rice said her recovery has had some hiccups.

“When I was 20 I had a collapsed lung that wouldn’t heal so they had to perform a talc pleurodesis on my left lung permanently sealing it to the chest wall,” she said.

“This is why they decided to take out the left lung last, they knew it can and might cause problems taking it off the chest wall. In this process I received some nerve damage to my vagus nerve in my diaphragm. So after a couple days of being extubated and breathing on my own, my breathing became too distressed after getting a six-inch mucus plug they had trouble removing from my air way.”

Rice said the idea was to re-intubate her with the lowest form of support from the machines.

“I technically can breathe on my own but until that left side of my diaphragm becomes less lazy it’s a bit more distressed than they would like it to be,” she said.

Earlier this week, Rice said she had a tracheotomy placed in her throat in order to get the tube out of her mouth.

She said this will make it more comfortable and safer for her while she is recovering and receiving more physiotherapy to start building her diaphragm back up.

“We’re not sure how long this will take but I’m working hard on it walking and sitting in a tall chair everyday to build muscles up,” she said.

Rice said he also contracted a non-contagious disease, similar to tuberculosis (TB), from her donor lungs.

“The infectious disease team is working very closely with me to treat it,” she said.

“It is treatable in anyone but just requires a long course of treatment.”

Rice said besides the couple of setbacks everything is going well.

“My spirits are still high and am excited for all the things I will get back to doing in life that I’ve had to give up the last few years,” she said.

There is no timeline for how long she’ll be in Toronto for, Rice said.

“We have a condo rented for a couple months so far but the extra time on the ventilator, I don’t know how long that will go for,” she said.

Donations being accepted

To help offset cost and expenses, donations are being accepted for Rice in a couple of different formats.

A crowdfunding campaign in ongoing on GoFundMe. You can can donate to it, here.

There is also an account for Rice setup in trust at CIBC under Amie Elliott.

The account/transit number is 08782/89-28991 and donations are being accepted.

Here is the story we published about Rice from last spring: A Wallaceburg woman’s quest for new lungs