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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Wine shop owner receives double lung transplant
Jessica Paringer, the co-owner of Cuvee Wine Bar & Cellar in Bellbrook, received a double-lung transplant Friday, Feb. 13, and is recovering at the Cleveland Clinic.
The surgery went well, although Paringer will remain in the Intensive Care Unit for a few more days, and will be hospitalized for two weeks after leaving the ICU, her husband, Chris Cavender, said Monday, Feb. 16.
Paringer, 36, suffers from cystic fibrosis, an inherited, chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the U.S. and which often causes death in the patients’ 20s or 30s.
The disease had taken an increasing toll on Paringer in recent months. She had been approved for a lung transplant, but on Friday, Feb. 6, she suffered a serious setback and nearly died, Cavender said. She was flown by a care-flight medical helicopter from Dayton to the Cleveland Clinic. After she was stabilized, doctors told her that a pair of lungs had become available, and the donor lungs were determined to be a good match.
The surgery began at 4 a.m. Feb. 13 and lasted nine hours, Cavender said. Doctors are pleased with Paringer’s recovery so far, although she endured a “bump in the road” on Tuesday and had to have the ventilator tube re-inserted as doctors attempt to fine-tune her medications, he said.
Drugs used to prevent rejection of transplanted lungs can leave patients susceptible to infections and can have other serious side-effects, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
A lung transplant is a relatively uncommon treatment for the disease. In 2006 and 2007, fewer than 200 double-lung transplants were performed on CF patients each year nationwide, according to Barbara Rothstein, associate executive director of the Dayton office of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Greater Cincinnati Chapter. Nationwide, many more patients are approved for the procedure than there are available donor organs, the foundation’s web site says.
Several friends and Cuvee employees are pitching in to help run the wine shop in Cavender’s and Paringer’s absence, and Cindy Hill, the founding owner of Cindy’s Wine Shop that became Cuvee, has returned to oversee the wine shop’s operation during Paringer’s recovery.
Even after her release from the hospital, Paringer won’t be coming back to Dayton right away. She must stay within a hour-or-less drive from the Cleveland Clinic for a few weeks in case there are complications, Cavender said.
Sometime later this week, a bank account is expected to be set up locally in Paringer’s name to help defray costs associated with the surgery, particularly the lodging while she must remain close to the Cleveland hospital.
We’ll bring you more information about that when it’s available.
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