What was meant to be a routine checkup has found Ben back in hospital for at least the next three days. The results of a blood test, as well as the lung function test, taken this morning prompted the transplant doctors to perform a bronchoscopy to discover the cause of abnormalities they'd noticed. Later this afternoon the biopsy confirmed what they had feared; there were signs of rejection.
Initially they are unable to tell what caused it. However, they suspect a mixup in medication, which saw Ben taking 100mg of Cyclosporine instead of 200mg, may have been the culprit. Irrespective of how or why the most important thing now is to get him better. How do they plan on doing that?
The next step is to get Ben hooked up to a Prednisone drip. For those of you who don't know, Prednisone is a steroid that is used as an immunosuppressive. In Ben's case it is vital they kill the immune system which is causing his body to fight against the healthy donor lungs (remember, Ben's body naturally sees the donor lungs as a foreign body). The plan is to administer this type of treatment over the next three days; the chance of success is good, around 85%.
The comforting news is that the doctors believe it will be a success. We're all very confident in them and Ben's ability to beat this and it's a nervous, fingers crossed, wait until early next week when we'll know.
I'll keep you informed!
Paul.
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Dear Ben and all the family,
We are thinking of you especially at this time of set-back. We have only just read Paul's email and read the blog. We are sure Ben will pull through this as he has through the other set-backs.
Marian is here with us and tomorrow Marian, Maureen and I are driving to Queensland, where we expect to arrive on Monday. We are staying with Theresa and Roger and will be staying until Friday. We hope to be able to at least say hello to Ben, although we understand that he may not be up to an extended visit. We'll check progress on arrival and make plans according to the circumstances.
Keep your chin up. All the very best from all of us,
Rob
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