We’ve been having so many wonderful
God moments at Green Tree, I thought it
might be interesting to find out more from
one of our sisters who experienced one. I
sat down with Karen Wolfe recently to
discuss her remarkable experience with her
lung transplant. These are the results. The
questions are mine, the responses are
Karen’s and more often than not are
paraphrases because of the interviewer’s
limited recording skills.
Q: What was the name of your disease?
R: Interstitial Lung Disease.
Q: When was it first diagnosed?
R: In 2015 when I had my knee replaced.
Everything crashed during the surgery and
my vital signs including my oxygen were
dangerously low. I believe the anesthesia
might have been one of the triggers.
Q: What were the symptoms?
R: Shortness of breath, always tired and it
progressed quickly.
Q: As it progressed what options did the
doctors give you?
R: Transplant, short and simple. When the
doctor said that it took my breath away
(editor’s note: no pun intended). I was
startled and it took me awhile to absorb what
he was saying.
Q: How did you get involved with the
Temple Lung Center?
R: My local pulmonary doctor referred me
to Dr. Criner who is head of the Temple
program and he’s been in charge of my
treatment ever since.
Q: You ended up in Temple University
Hospital for a long time (approx. three
months). How were you able to handle that?
R: Well, I didn’t count days. I had my
routines. I had my computer, my phones.
The nurses were great – one would bring me
a cup of tea before breakfast on her own.
The people at Temple generally were
wonderful and I talked to God a lot.
Q: You had substantial prayer support from
your family, friends and your church – could
you feel that?
R: Oh yes! I had unbelievable prayer
support and I could feel it every day. One
nurse prayed for me and her daughter even
prayed for me at a retreat she was attending.
Tom, one of the respiratory therapists would
pray with me and there were others –
including some prayer chains where people
didn’t know me.
This is the end of the first part of the
interview. You’ll want to read next month’s
Greeter for the second and final installment
as Karen nears the time of her critical
surgery.
Pastor Rod