On Monday, November 17, 2014, Maggie was discharged from Stanford Hospital. The photo below, in which she is shown sporting this season's 100% HEPA filter mask, was taken outside the main entrance of the hospital as we were getting into the car. It was quite an emotional moment, to be going home just 12 days after her double-lung transplant surgery. During that time she spent 1 day in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the following 11 days in what is called the Intermediate ICU. The ICU has a 1:1 nurse to patient ratio, where as the Intermediate ICU is more like 1:2 or 1:3, still with close monitoring. Her initial recovery progress was extremely fast, then towards the end it slowed down as we waited for the last remaining chest tube to stop draining so it could be removed. Maggie received such wonderful care from all the staff at Stanford, I really can not thank them enough for looking after her so well.
Coming home has been a lot for Maggie to take in. In many ways her mind has still not had a chance to catch up with what her body has been through over the last 2 weeks. Maggie now has to learn how to use her new lungs and is still trying to figure out what "normal" is meant to feel like. We have been instructed to call Stanford immediately if anything seems wrong or concerning. Of course, it is difficult to know what is a problem and what is just part of the healing process. In these early days, the best policy is to call if in doubt, even if just to be reassured that everything is fine.