Transplant: Intensive Care

Remember that the risk of organ failure goes down every day in the weeks that follow your high-dosage radiation/chemo, and is reduced dramatically by the two-month mark.  Your immune system, however, will continue to evolve and change for a full year after the transplant.

Your team will watch for any abrupt changes in your health status and respond immediately with treatment to forestall any big failure in either of these two categories.  Here’s one examples from my own in-patient experience:


I had some lung issues that began to look like pneumonia might be developing.  I was taken down for a chest x-ray, and when the problems continued into the next night a portable x-ray machine was brought to my room and the test was repeated.  When my blood pressure began dropping (hit 95/50 and was still going down), I was sent to the ICU (intensive care unit) where I stayed for 24 hours until my bp stabilized and went up a little.  As soon as they had my blood pressure under control again, I was sent back to my quarantined wing.


You should make note of any Intensive Care stays or treatments in your journal.