Tammy Burton: Part 3
About six weeks ago, Tammy Burton received a double lung transplant at Methodist Hospital. After the doctors released her from the hospital, Tammy entered an intensive rehabilitation program needed by all lung transplant patients. “It’s warm-up, it’s physical therapy, it’s cycling…. Tammy said. “I graduated [from
the program] on March 10 and I can’t believe how good I feel.”
Tammy Burton: Part 2
Over the past few months, we’ve been following Tammy Burton’s journey to receive a much-needed lung transplant. A few weeks ago, her surgeon Dr. Chadrick Denlinger invited cameras into the operating room to get a clear view of what that surgery entails. “In the OR you can see there are at least ten people there. These operations could never have happened without the anesthesiologists, anesthesiologists, surgical residents, surgeons, circulatory nurses, scrub nurses, doctors fluids, etc. There’s a huge team out there, working to help these patients get through these high-risk surgeries.”
Tammy Burton: Part 1
Doctors diagnosed Tammy Burton with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2021. Since then, her disease has progressed to the point where she needs a lung transplant. “Once I knew [transplant team] I knew at that moment that IU Health was the right place,” said Tammy, who has undergone pre-implantation preparation and is now on the transplant list.
“The pre-transplant process is a huge commitment for patients and their families,” said Dr. Chadrick Denlinger, director of the IU Health lung transplant program. “There’s a lot of things that go through the review process. There’s a lot of appointments, there’s a lot of tests… but once they actually get to that big day when they get listed it’s a problem. big.”
