March 1st update

Greetings Friends,

Since I last wrote, as usual, much has happened in this transplant journey. As I’m writing, Walker is on his 2nd stay at the Mayo Clinic where they have been working hard to help him fight acute rejection of his new organs. 

After a fun and relatively uneventful holiday season where both Laura and Walker where home, Walker started to feel sick late in January. Several days later and breathing very heavy, Candy rushed Walker on Wednesday February 1st to the Mayo ER in Jax. His docs, Dr. Alvarez and Dr. Narula, saw him and immediately admitted him for treatment. 

At first they thought he had a pneumonia but after much testing they determined it did not culture as a bacterial or viral infection naming rejection as the main problem. They found his cyclosporine, anti-rejection meds, levels were very low and this they could not understand exactly. They worked at improving his cyclosporine levels over several days and he improved enough to be sent home on the 7th. 

His docs sent Walker home with a new more aggressive treatment routine and made sure to keep a closer watch on all his stats as he reports them daily/weekly. It was definitely a set back for his lung recovery as he had reduced capacity and stamina. And about 2 weeks later, around the 19th, he started feeling sick again and decided to drive himself up to Mayo on the 22nd early in the am again to the ER. 

They immediately scheduled a bronch, a biopsy of his lungs, and bumped him ahead of a few others due to the severity of his situation. After they admitted him, they decided  to start him on an Apherisis platelet program which would remove the plasma from his blood and force his blood to produce new plasma. The purpose of this procedure is to get his blood to develop anti-bodies to the donor tissue which is under attack or rejection. 

So, we are on day 7 of the Mayo inpatient treatment plan and the docs are pleased with his improvement. Walker can now sit without oxygen but needs it to walk. His lung X-rays are starting to show improvement and he is feeling good overall. He hopes that he will be heading home maybe Monday or Tuesday next. 

Please pray with us that his body heals and stops rejecting his donor organs, lungs and kidney. Lord, we ask that the Mayo treatment plan will succeed at healing Walkers body so that he can return home.

Thank you for your prayers 

The McKnights