Let's get Karen on Route 66

In 2008 Karen came down with a severe bronchial infection. She never recovered fully and each year saw her with another infection. Also each year her level of recovery was less. During this time Karen watched a TV series where Billy Connolly rode a trike along Route 66 and told me she would like to make a similar trip, but by car.

As a musician I had always had a secret desire to drive Route 66, preferably in a convertible with an electric guitar on the back seat. Karen is also both an Elvis and Country fan and I was thinking that maybe we could make the trip when I eventually retire in mid 2026, using the payout from my Long Service Leave to pay for the trip.

In 2014 Karen caught another infection. By the time I got her to the doctor almost every organ in her body was starting to fail. Karen was diagnosed with Stage Four (end stage) Chronic Obstructive Pulmimary Disorder (COPD) and placed on oxygen for 16 hours a day.

For the next year Karen struggled to stay at work full time, then in winter 2015 she was admitted to Taranaki Base Hospital ICU with spontainious respiratory failure. For the first week she was given only a 50% chance of survival, but Karen is a fighter and she pulled through. She was no longer able to work at all which placed a strain on our savings as there was a shortfall each fortnight in our income. Luckily we had a sufficient savings account that would see us through until March 2018 when Karen qualifies for National Super to fall back on.

Karen could only take care of her basic personal needs, but she completed a pulmonary rehab program at the end of that year and in early 2016 was referred to the National Heart/Lung Transplant Centre for the possibility of a double lung transplant.

At our first visit we were told that if Karen did not receive a lung transplant her chances of surviving the next two winters was again only 50%. Karen was placed on the Active Transplant list in mid May 2017.

That winter was rather mild but Karen suffered from a series of minor lung infections. Each one was treated with antibiotics and a steroid but as the winter progressed each infection took longer to treat. And the time between infections became shorter, from around 2 weeks to only a few days. Then from early December Karen suffered a constant infection only being held at bay by a continually stronger regmen of antibiotics and steroids.

In March 2017 after 10 months on the waiting list Karen received her lung transplant. Unfortunately things did not go well for her recovery.

Several hours after her ventilator was removed Karen's breathing became distressed and it was found that her infection, which still lingered in her blood and surrounding tissue, had spread to her new lungs. Karen was put back to sleep and her ventilator reinserted.

By Wednesday of week two post transplant Karen had developed pneumonia. While the doctors were hopeful they simply did not know if she could fight this off because of the anti rejection drugs she was taking. To add to this both her liver and kidneys were failing and she was placed on dialysis. By Friday that same week Karen was not expected to survive and I was warned that soon life support may need to be withdrawn.

Luckily neither the ICU doctors nor Karen were ready to give up and by the following week it was clear she had turned the corner, although it was another week more before we knew she would survive.

Karen sent 8 weeks in the ICU unit followed by another 3 1/2 weeks in the respiratory ward. She developed an infection in her transplant wound site which required further surgery. Once she was discharged back to Hearty Towers, the national heart/lung transplant centre she suffered extreme nausea and stomach problems which saw her hospitalised for another month. The cause was an infection in her dialysis line that was being spread throughout her body 3 times a week. The line was removed for a 4 day period to fight this infection, during which Karen's kidneys started working again.

Today as each day passes Karen is continuing to improve. She has now gone 4 weeks without dialysis and she is building her strength up. We hope to be able to go home for a weekend visit in another month, and for a longer, more permanent, stay soon afterwards.

I have learned life is far too unpredictable to plan 9 years in advance. I want to take Karen on her US trip as soon as she is well enough to go. Hopefully this will be in March/April 2018, after the 1 year anniversary of her transplant.

We have a little money set aside in a term deposit but no-where near what a month or 6 weeks in the US will entail, especially since I am using the majority of my long service/retirement leave during her recovery in Auckland and we are not in a position to raise the rest through a loan. So I am setting up this givealittle page to raise the funds.