President judge returning to bench after transplant surgery
Leading and managing Common Pleas Court judges and magisterial district judges, plus keeping track of myriad details that make up a caseload, is part of a president judge’s day.
But when Washington County President Judge Katherine B. Emery returns to Courtroom No. 1 today, she’ll not only be thinking of her duties, she’ll be thinking of her donor.
“I try to give her family thanks in my mind every day,” Emery said in an interview in advance of her scheduled return to hear legal arguments today in a civil case.
The president judge was the recipient of a lung transplant Nov. 11 at Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, as a result of a disease known as pulmonary fibrosis.
Few people are familiar with it, the judge said, so here’s a quick explanation from the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation:
“Pulmonary” means lung and “fibrosis” means scar tissue. Over time, scar tissue can destroy the normal lung and make it hard for oxygen to get into the blood. Low oxygen levels and the stiff scar tissue itself can cause a person to feel short of breath.
Emery, 62, said the cause of her condition is unknown, nor is it something that others in her family have contracted.
Life expectancy after diagnosis is two to five years, and Emery said, “I was at the two-year mark.”
UPMC Hospital in Pittsburgh suggested that she expand her options by being on more than one transplant list. She was on a transplant list for 15 months.
“I didn’t make it widely known before that I was on a transplant list,” Emery said. “With (supplemental) oxygen, I was leading a fairly normal life.”
But she found herself needing more oxygen, and at higher concentrations. “It was limiting me,” she said. When an oxygen concentrator is no longer adequate, a person with breathing problems requires an oxygen tank.
As her condition worsened, she moved up on the transplant list.
Blood type, size and the availability of a right or left lung are among the factors that came into play. (Lungs differ due to their number of lobes and their position in relation to the heart.)
The judge, who is 4 feet, 8 inches tall, wondered if her small size might be a factor in finding a matching donor.
When the call came, she made a quick trip to Philadelphia.
“Temple tends to do one-lung (transplants) so they can help two people,” she said. Many lung transplants require two lungs, but for pulmonary fibrosis patients, a single lung transplant is the path to recovery.
Surgeons at Temple University Hospital, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, performed lung transplants in 131 adults between July 2017 and June 2018, according to the registry’s website.
From the hospital, Emery moved to what she called “step-down” care, and she arrived home Dec. 22 to enjoy the holiday season with her husband, Judge Gary Gilman, and their son, George.
The judge was able to tend to some court-related tasks while at home, but during her absence, Judge John DiSalle, who is next in seniority, handled various administrative matters, and Judge Michael Lucas convened court on some Saturdays this year to create additional time in his already busy schedule.
Emery has spina bifida, but she was otherwise blessed with good health.
“My parents never even talked about it,” she said of the birth defect. But she now finds herself being “hyper-vigilant,” and for good reason. Even a slight fever can signal a serious infection.
Emery, no longer tethered to oxygen devices, plans to return to work on a regular part-time basis next Monday. Although she doesn’t expect to wear a protective mask while she’s on the bench, when she’s in close quarters, such as in a conference room, she’ll don one.
A lung is the only organ that has constant contact with the environment outside of one’s body, making it especially vulnerable.
Emery is continuing with pulmonary rehabilitation. She experienced a setback, not with her lung, but with an eye that had a detached retina.
Dollie Parascenzo of Canonsburg, who ran into the judge at a local coffee shop, told the jurist, “Well, you look great! You’ll be in my prayers.”
While winter’s cold is a sharp inconvenience to a person with normally functioning lungs, to someone with diminished respiratory capacity, it’s especially brutal.
So when the temperature rose last week to a balmy 77 degrees, Emery reveled in it.
“It felt very exhilarating just to breathe,” she said.