Help us support the Gosselin family during Keren's recent heart transplant surgery! Anyone who knows Scott, Keren, and the boys know that they are the absolute last people in the world to ask for help, but will 100% be first in line to help bless anyone they can.

While currently they are being told all hospital bills for Keren's surgery are going to be covered, there will still be a long recovery process for Keren. Funds will go directly to Scott and Keren and help with any medical costs and business costs that still happen while Scott is spending time being next to his wife.

Scott and Keren, you guys are so loved. Let us all show you how much you are loved in return.

Medical updates for Keren are directly from Scott's Facebook page and will be updated here as he updates all of us.

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I haven’t seen her yet but a staff member came out and said she’s out of surgery The rumor is that it went well It went so well that they’re delaying me from going back so they can try to take her off the vent I don’t know if you read any of the other updates, but there’s a common theme: she hates that vent.

Sorry I can’t share any pictures of her. I’d like people to see her sweet smile, but she’s not photo-ready yet

Quick confession (with backstory, of course): there are always 2 nurses in the room with her at all times; 1 at her bedside and 1 at the machines or computer. Since I’ve been here for awhile and I’m not doing (too many) weird things like pushing buttons without asking, etc, the nurses are leaving me in the room with her alone (foreshadowing).

So last night when I was by myself with her I lifted the blankets from her torso and put my hand on her chest. There was only a thin piece of fabric separating my hand from her new heart…it was possibly the most incredible thing I have ever felt in my entire life.

Gotta go - she’s ready!

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Keren was taken to surgery a little later than planned, but the team was hopeful of a great outcome - remove the ECMO (pumps her blood), remove a lot of tubes, and close up her sternum. If that goes as planned, they can take her off the vent later tonight. She should be out by 10a. I’ll update when I’m allowed to see her

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[email redacted]

Keren was taken to surgery a little later than planned, but the team was hopeful of a great outcome - remove the ECMO (pumps her blood), remove a lot of tubes, and close up her sternum. If that goes as planned, they can take her off the vent later tonight. She should be out by 10a. I’ll update when I’m allowed to see her

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A story before I take an evening walk: Keren has to have her wrists tied to the bed frame so she doesn’t pull out any of the wires, sensors, or the tube of her nemesis-the-ventilator. It’s sad because she can’t scratch her itches or adjust herself. She’s lying on this plastic sheet-thing because the cotton sheets keep soaking up too much blood. It’s probably for the best, but have you ever laid down on a plastic sheet? Holy sticky-back, Batman! And sticky legs. And pretty much sweaty sticky everything-that-touches-that-dang-plastic. And you can’t reach under yourself to move your skin away from that mess. It’s gotta be awful.

Anyway, so for a lot of the time I was with her today (~10hrs ) I’m trying to jam my hands or washcloths between her bed and her body to dry up the sweat and just help move the skin a little. I don’t know, I feel like that’d feel good, ya know?

The problem is that she has a huge hole in her chest and apparently Mr Scottie’s hands are not small enough to do this comfortably. The pressure of my hands stresses her ribs, which is very painful for her chest. If you’ve ever seen the SNL skit for the Maharelle sisters, you should look it up. I was imagining Keren probably wanted my hands to be more like Dooneese’s (https://youtu.be/8KLSg1h0e-M). Maybe, I don’t know.

Aaaaaanyway, one of the nurses said we needed to log-roll her and change all her dressings, wipe down her back, change her pillows, and give her a new plastic sheet. These nurses are awesome.

So we do it, and you can tell it has got to be the most excruciatingly painful thing we could possibly be doing to her. Lying on her side is putting pressure on her chest hole, the ventilator tubes are twisting in her mouth, and I’m 100% positive we pulled out a wad of her hair trying to get the blood-soaked pillow out from under her head. She’s wincing and writhing in pain. Tears are streaming down her face but she can’t really show face-emotion because of all the electrodes on her face and wires taped to her skin. Her little eyebrows are furrowed. Oh, and her nose and mouth are still bleeding from earlier in the day (see 12.30 post).

We finally get everything back in place and are reattaching her wrist tie-downs and she pulls one of her wrists free and reaches toward her vent tube but the nurse catches her hand real quick to stop her. She’s shaking her head ‘no’, so I ask her “are you ok?” “No.” “You can’t take out your vent tube…is that what you’re trying to do?” “No.” “Ok, do you need me to scratch an itch on your head?” “No.” We have to go through this whole hierarchy of questions to find out what she’s trying to say…it takes like 6-7 mins of questions. Finally, the nurses decide it’s safe to let her use her hand and she won’t rip out the ventilator. So she bends her needle-&-tube filled elbow, which must also hurt like crazy, and taps her chin multiple times. A lot of times. The nurse looked at me and said, “What? I wonder…what is she doing?”

I started sobbing, because that’s my job around here now, “She’s signing ‘thank you’.”

What in the heck man. She finally gets her hand free to do whatever-in-the-heck she wants (I promise I’d have ripped that stinkin’ vent tube out), and what does she do? She signs ‘thank you’ 50 times. OoooooOooookay. This lady is literally FULL to the ABSOLUTE FREAKING BRIM with gratitude, appreciation, and love. It is incredible. I would recommend setting some time aside to meet her when this is all over. It’ll be the best day of your life.

Surgery is scheduled to start in 6.5 hrs. I’m going for a walk to pray. And also probably cry some more, because, you know, it’s been like 8 mins, so I’m due

To learn how to be more like Keren: (https://youtu.be/OCJ8ZoHrDgU).

P.S. that was a lie…it’s been 2 mins. Maybe 3, tops.

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It’s been a busy day for Keren. The systemic swelling has been too bad to perform the surgery today, so they are planning for 1.15@7a, and that may change depending on how things go today. The surgical goal is to take her off the heart machine and put the full load on her new heart; if the heart can carry that load for a little while they will close up her chest cavity. Right now the machine is doing ~40-50% of the work. They will not take her off the ventilator until way after surgery.

She had a feeding tube placed through a nostril, which injured a membrane and caused quite a bit of bleeding again. Not so bad that she needed a transfusion, but it was a doozy.

They have been able to reduce the sleeping meds, which means she has been much more alert today. The down side of that is increased pain awareness, which I’m sure is incredible. She hates that ventilator more than anything. Well, maybe not more than the gaping hole in her chest…that’s her #1 complaint, but she said the vent is a pretty close #2.

Her labs and organ tests are coming back with encouraging results…it’s just that dang pain.

Thank you again for the offers to help - I am doing fine and really don’t need anything. You are all too sweet to me. When I’m not talking to the nurses or docs (or Keren, now that she can communicate with nods), I have been in prayer for her pain and for tomorrow’s surgery. Thank you everyone.

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1.13 @ 8pm

She went from bleeding too much to inappropriately clotting because of an overcorrection in her meds. It was necessary, though. The nurse told me she has not needed more blood since 1.45 and there has been a lot of progress since 1.45.

I was able to spend ~5 hrs with her this afternoon - she seemed to like the 2 hr scalp massage, 2 hr foot & leg massage, & 1 hr hand and arm massage. I was whispering to her and praying with her for a lot of that time, and in the last 30 mins SHE OPENED HER EYES! Then she moved her hands and legs on command. This was such an incredible experience, except that she’s not supposed to do that - she’s supposed to be asleep lol. But the nurses said it was a great sign, and then they put her back to sleep.

It was amazing to get a glimpse of those beautiful eyes. If you haven’t seen them, you should do a weird & awkward staring contest with her the next time you see her. Don’t tell her you’re going to do it. Just surprise her with it. She’ll love it! And she’ll really love that it was completely your idea

Tomorrow the plan is to have another surgery sometime in the afternoon. They said she has issues of fragility with her aorta and major arteries, so there is another chance of bleeding. Thank you for your continued prayers and for being so incredibly kind to us. Keren will thank you later with a super-intense stare-off. If you look into her eyes, you will immediately be the winner.

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1.13…I think people know what year it is [email redacted]

Lots of details are being skipped here, but it was rough this morning. Rough news. But God is good, regardless of the news. And now new news has been given that she has made a great turn for the better. Bleeding has been much more controlled. She’s at 27 units so far…I asked what is their record but they wouldn’t tell me. Keren likes breaking records, but this is wild one to choose.

Anyway, she looks so much better. And she’s warm to touch now, which is great in itself. She was so cold the first time I saw her. She is very swollen. Unrecognizably swollen. She will remain on life-support for breathing and heart function for the time being.

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I just saw her. She’s going back in for another surgery now - the bleeding is unstable, although it has improved. She's used >20 units. They’re unsure if she’s losing blood because of a surgical issue or a clotting issue from all the blood thinners.

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A different surgeon just came back to the waiting area to say Keren has been very unstable, which is why they haven't come back to let us see her. She needed over 18 units of blood transfusions and is still bleeding. They're going to have to go in for another surgery sometime today to figure out where she's bleeding from. Despite that, I should be able to see her in the next hour.

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Praise to our Glorious God, it’s done! The surgeon said everything went well but Keren will be kept asleep and on a heart/lung machine for 1-2 days. They removed her best-friend-the-defibrillator as well. Her chest wall is being kept open to monitor, so please continue praying for her strength, healing, and immune system. I should be able to see her in a few hours and I’ll post another update when that happens

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OSUWMC & The James: Doing well, procedure progressing as scheduled.

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OSUWMC & The James: Doing well, procedure progressing as scheduled. []

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OSUWMC & The James: The patient's procedure has begun.

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This is purely a post to request prayer from our faith-filled friends, family, and loved ones…strangers are welcome to read this also!

14 years ago keren was diagnosed with a genetic heart condition. It has progressively worsened over that time and now she is in need of a heart transplant. The testing and preparation to be added to the heart transplant list has taken us just shy of 1 year. She was finally officially accepted to the list less than a week ago.

…and we received a call informing us there is a heart for her last night. Not even a week on the list? What in the world? God is so so good to us.

These are the last known pictures of my sweet Keren with her tired and overworked, but incredibly, insanely, remarkably, amazingly loving heart. That heart has been through a lot…and pulled her through some wildly tough times.

There were complications with the donor heart - the person sustained significant neurological trauma and was on life-support for some time, which means it might be initially weak. TMI warning: after the surgery, they will keep Keren asleep and on life-support for ~36-48 hrs in order to allow for the heart to more easily adapt and transition to the new home. During this time they will leave her chest wall completely open, with the heart exposed for visual monitoring. The heart will be covered in a medicated plastic, but literally open to see. How unreal is that? Answer: 100% unreal.

This is surreal.

The transplant should be complete in 4-6 hrs; barring complications she’ll be done by 1am on 1.13.25. She will be at OSU for ~10days and then must have someone with her 24/7 for 3 months. No driving for 3-4 months. No lifting >5# for 3-4 months. Lots (and lots, and lots) of appointments to look forward to.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers…for both keren and the family of the donor. We are aware and appreciative someone had to lose their life for Keren to regain hers. I firmly believe God has a plan and a purpose for Keren. And, side note, I believe God has a plan and purpose for YOU! I hope we are all using our time wisely and with Kingdom-focused purpose