Living-related lobar transplant

In case you don't know what happens in this type of lung transplant, I'll explain it here, or you can go here for diagrams and a more medical explanation.

Everyone has 3 parts or lobes to their right lung and 2 lobes on the left. When a person receives a lobar transplant, both of their lungs are removed and replaced with lobes from 2 different donors. In my case, it was my mom and my uncle. They removed both of my lungs, and replaced them with my uncle's right lower lobe, and my mom's left lower lobe. Now, my uncle has only 2 lobes on his right side, and my mom has only 1 lobe on her left.

The surgeons turned the lobes sideways in order for them to fit into my chest cavity. So, I have only 2 lobes.. one on the right side and one on the left side. At first, they looked small on the chest xray, but it didn't take them long to expand (think of blowing up a balloon) and fill the space where my old lungs were. They don't grow, like a liver does, they just expand.

Because I received only lobes, I will never have a lung capacity like someone who received full lungs does, but I have 100% (or close to it) oxygen saturation.

The reason I had to receive lobes from a relative is because I developed anti-human antibodies when I was pregnant with Casey. Everyone has a small amount of these antibodies in their blood, but I had so many that it made me incompatible with 96% of the general population. Finding that 4% would have taken a long time, and at the time, I didn't have that long to live, so they started testing family members and friends too (just in case they might be a match), to see if I was compatible with them. My mom's brother Joel was a match, and my sister Renee was a match. After doing some testing on my sister, they found out she had mild asthma and couldn't be a donor. They didn't test my mom right away because she is 3" shorter than me. They prefer your donor to be at least the same height so that their lobe will be of adequate size. When I got so sick that they knew it wouldn't be long before I died, they decided to go ahead and test my mom. She was not only a match, but her lungs were large for her size (just like her kidney, which is huge.. haha).

My friends Lori and Katey both had lobar transplants too. If you would like to read my lung transplant story (I'll warn you, it's very long), you can go here.