Lifesavers for Latasha

Another day, another chance at greatness.

Latasha had the ventilator breathing tube removed last night. I tried to be by her side as long as I could. I asked nicely to leave twice when visiting hours ended, so I did so as not to become that family member. That wasn’t easy, but I knew she’d be okay because they were just waiting for blood work to come back to remove it.

Sure enough, the tube was out when I arrived at 7 am. Today is just a slow day of resting and testing, but it’s more of the same.

Tasha is resting peacefully right now; it takes her a long time to come off sedation entirely—still a lot of medical concerns the medical team is watching for. Without going into too much detail, there is an infection they’re trying to narrow down, fluid around the lungs, some internal bleeding found (although it doesn’t seem active), and stomach issues still.

I find it very hard to open up to this level, but we decided early on that a lot of information out there about transplants is frankly watered down and doesn’t show the true rawness and ugliness it takes to get through it. We wanted to be transparent in the journey to hopefully help another family prepare better and help family and friends under the totality of the journey and understand why the transplant was such a necessary step but not an easy step and indeed not an easy process for anyone involved.

Yesterday, our nurse opened up to me about some things she’s seen and how emotional it is to deal with patients and families. She expressed her most profound and genuine concern for Tasha and me. She was worried about Tasha’s depression because she could see how hard this was for her and the frustration she had.

The level of respect I have for her empathy and love is immeasurable.

So, as we keep going, please know why I am opening up like this: to inform and educate others on the entire transplant journey/process and the importance of being a donor and supporter of these programs.

Until next time, GO, Team Warner!