Lung transplant recovery for Deb Rice

A courageous and resilient Chatham woman is looking for the community to help her leap past the final hurdle, in what has been become a 20-year marathon towards better health.

Deb Rice, 59, is currently under sedation at Toronto General Hospital, after undergoing an 18-hour-long lung transplant surgery on January 9, 2016.

The strength of Deb has persisted over the past 20 years: she has beaten cancer not once, but twice, undergone a single bypass after suffering a heart attack, battled through each day with rheumatoid arthritis, and relied on oxygen on a daily basis in order to breathe.

As Deb lies unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit at TGH, her family is frantically trying to prepare for her – longer than anticipated – time of recovery in Toronto.

An apartment has been leased near the hospital (running a $2,400 a month bill) and the length of highway on the 401 between Chatham-Kent and Toronto, is not getting any shorter.

A plea is being made to assist with donations to ensure Deb can cross this finish line – minus an oxygen tank and breathing tubes – and start the rest of her life with her husband, children and grandchildren in a healthy, positive and comfortable way.

Getting diagnosed with BOOP

Since 1996, Deb has been battling what doctors first called BOOP – bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia. It is a non-infectious pneumonia; specifically, an inflammation of the bronchioles and surrounding tissue in the lungs.

This disease has affected her heart. In 2008, she suffered a heart attack and had single bypass surgery.

BOOP also often increases complications of an existing chronic inflammatory disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Deb also suffers from this and has had rods put in her fingers on one hand to straighten them and relieve pain. She is hoping to get the surgery on the other hand in the near future.

Being placed on “The List”

A surgery that has topped her list though is a double lung transplant, and although she has been dependant on oxygen for almost 20 years to assist her breathing, she was unable to be put on the transplant list due to various forms of cancer.

She was treated for thyroid cancer and breast cancer since being diagnosed with BOOP, and successfully beat both.

Finally in October 2014, Deb became eligible for the transplant list and started the process of going to TGH three times a week for clinics, tests and physiotherapy.

The magic call

On January 8, 2016 Deb and her family’s wish came true as she got the ‘magic call’ as Deb refers to it.

It came at 8:30 p.m. on that Thursday night.

Her two daughters, husband and sister made the drive to Toronto for what they knew may be a false alarm. The lungs they had waiting for Deb could be damaged. It is common that someone on the list waiting for lungs has at least one false alarm.

Deb arrived at TGH at midnight on January 9 and began a string of tests and x-rays to prepare her for the surgery.

There were no beds available on the floor where patients wait to go into surgery so they put her in a recovery room where three other patients had received organs. Deb and her family waited to be called in and were informed that it would take hours to prepare the lungs she was going to receive.

To make sure the lungs were not damaged they went through Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion – which is a method of rapidly cooling the organ to preserve it and to prevent irreversible injury to it.

The nurse informed Deb this could take eight hours.

After eight hours, Deb and her family were preparing themselves to hear it was a false alarm. The wait continued until 3:30 p.m. when Deb was taken into surgery.

Her family was told the surgery would be about eight hours… 18 long hours later, the surgeon appeared in the waiting room before Deb’s family, by this time it was January 10 around 11 a.m.

He said there were complications during the surgery because of scarring left behind from her bypass surgery years ago, as well as scarring from her disease.

The left lung was completely damaged and the right lung they discovered was fine and free of the disease, but there was no way they could have known that until the surgery.

She had been living solely on her right lung and it had some repairable damage from all of the hard work over the years, so they decided it could stay and they performed a single lung transplant.

The surgeon also discovered that the donor’s right lung was somewhat damaged and it was a blessing that Deb’s was mendable.

During the procedure it was necessary to stop Deb’s heart to attach the left lung.

This is what put the surgery into overtime.

It also meant that the new lung had to sit on ice longer than planned to prepare for this, which in turn, caused some damage to the new lung. The surgeon also said that in most lung transplants, going from warm, to ice and then back to warm, causes damage as well.

This will all make the healing process take longer than expected.

Once Deb was resting comfortably, still sedated, the doctors kept a close eye on her blood, to beware of clotting.

It is not uncommon for a patient to go back to the operating table within the first 24 hours to repair internal bleeding or get rid of clots.

In Deb’s case, this happened a few days after surgery and she was brought back to the operating room at 6 a.m. on January 13.

During a much shorter surgery than the last, they found the bleed and stopped it while also removing some clots.

Next steps

Deb is still sedated, but has responded to her family members voices.

Deb’s family says the doctors and nurses at TGH are truly the best at what they do and say Deb will be in ICU for at least a couple of weeks due to all she has been through.

After that she will be moved to a step down unit and will start physio and treatments.

The estimated time for staying in Toronto for a standard lung transplant is three months but Deb may have to stay longer.

This is where the communities help and support is vital.

Deb’s family has leased an apartment near the hospital in downtown Toronto, which will make it convenient for Deb to attend her appointments in the later stages of her recovery. The off-the-top cost for this amenity is $2,400 a month.

Deb’s husband Dave, daughters Dana and Delynn, and sister Kelly will all be taking turns away from their homes and work, in order to be by Deb’s side each day throughout her recovery. All living in Chatham-Kent (Chatham, Wallaceburg, Buxton) the travel costs for multiple trips each week from C-K to Toronto will also come with a hefty price tag.

Any assistance and donations that can be made to Deb’s campaign would be greatly appreciated by her and her family.

Updates will be provided on Deb’s progress.

In the meantime, please support Deb and her family by providing a donation to this crowdfunder that has been setup by Inspire Daily:

Lung transplant recovery for Deb Rice

– Photo: Deb Rice, left, with her daughter Dana Haggith.