Bee's Transplant Tribulations
Donation protected
Throughout the last year, Bernadette has had her medical ups and downs. We moved cross country for better medical care to get her off IV nutrition (TPN) and on tube feeds.
At CHOP they tried to jumpstart her gut with no avail--it simply wasn't perfusing well enough to supply blood to her (what was left of her) intestines to digest and caused bleeding as a result. Due to the damage sustained in surgery, as a result of clotting and sustained by TPN and lipid infusion, Bee has end stage liver disease on top of her short gut syndrome. She has been in one hospital or another since early September and will until she receives the multi organ transplant she is currently waiting for.
Bernadette is in Washington DC awaiting a donor for a multi-visceral transplant (liver, small bowel, pancreas and stomach). She is very high on the list, as high as she can be, but organ donation is a "game of luck" as the doctors say and there have been no offers yet. If she is lucky enough to get a second chance at life, it will be a long, tough road to discharge from the hospital and the ability to go home to Philadelphia. It requires 4-6 months of living in DC after discharge for doctor's appointments and unexpected inpatient stays. It requires many, many daily medications that are timed to the minute to prevent infection and rejection (where your body attacks your new organs) among other things. It requires a lot of time, love, and dedication.
Until her transplant, we will strive to value every moment with her. We appreciate any love, prayers, support that is offered! Thank you from the Sanchez family!
Find her daily story in her Facebook group Hive Five for Bee.
At CHOP they tried to jumpstart her gut with no avail--it simply wasn't perfusing well enough to supply blood to her (what was left of her) intestines to digest and caused bleeding as a result. Due to the damage sustained in surgery, as a result of clotting and sustained by TPN and lipid infusion, Bee has end stage liver disease on top of her short gut syndrome. She has been in one hospital or another since early September and will until she receives the multi organ transplant she is currently waiting for.
Bernadette is in Washington DC awaiting a donor for a multi-visceral transplant (liver, small bowel, pancreas and stomach). She is very high on the list, as high as she can be, but organ donation is a "game of luck" as the doctors say and there have been no offers yet. If she is lucky enough to get a second chance at life, it will be a long, tough road to discharge from the hospital and the ability to go home to Philadelphia. It requires 4-6 months of living in DC after discharge for doctor's appointments and unexpected inpatient stays. It requires many, many daily medications that are timed to the minute to prevent infection and rejection (where your body attacks your new organs) among other things. It requires a lot of time, love, and dedication.
Until her transplant, we will strive to value every moment with her. We appreciate any love, prayers, support that is offered! Thank you from the Sanchez family!
Find her daily story in her Facebook group Hive Five for Bee.
Organizer
Kate Sanchez
Organizer
Cheltenham Township, PA
