Will the new lungs have Cystic Fibrosis in them?
No. The miracle of a lung transplant is that the new lungs will not contract CF and Jason shouldn’t have to do breathing treatments anymore.
How does this waiting process work?
The first step in the transplantation process is getting an appointment for an evaluation with the transplant clinic. Jason has already scheduled and completed his evaluation at USC and is looking forward anxiously to his evaluation at Duke University on June 11th-14th.
After the evals are completed, the transplant committee meets and decides whether they will list the patient with their center (this usually takes 6–8 weeks). Once listed, relocation is required to be near the center. When a patient is toward the top of the list a call for the transplant can come at any time, and the patient must rush to the hospital.
When does Jason expect to have the transplant?
Each transplant center has different average wait times. Because there are multiple transplantation centers in the geographical area in southern California, the wait time is longer than Duke. USC's average wait time is 17 months and Duke’s average wait time is 1 month.
What are Jason's plans after the transplant?
Jason has one quarter left of his second year of optometry school. After Jason recovers and rehabs fully, he plans to come back to Fullerton, CA and finish his program. The school is extremely understanding and has been great to work with through all of this.
Will Jason and Geri have to move?
Jason and Geri hope to move out to North Carolina and get the transplant at Duke University. If things go according to plan, they will move there and receive the transplant late summer or early fall.
What is the recovery expected to be like?
We expect Jason to be in the hospital after the operation for about 3 or more weeks. He will start his rehab shortly thereafter and continue outpatient rehab for at least 6 months.
How does this process fit into Jason and Geri's plans of having babies? *correction has been made*
After the transplant takes place, Jason will be on numerous medications—but if there are no big complications in the recovery this should not effect the making of babies. The transplant research specialists at Duke have suggested to Jason and Geri to wait for about a year before they begin the in vitro fertilization process and to meet with in virto specialists, but it should be a possibility.
