Lynn woman ready for double lung transplant

LYNN – Donna Boudreau just wants to feel normal again.Doctors told the Lynn woman in 1999 that she had scleroderma – which the Scleroderma Foundation website defines as a chronic connective tissue disease and autoimmune disorder – and it has caused so much damage to her lungs it makes it difficult for her to breathe and is threatening her life.Boudreau has undergone an often painful, exhausting and expensive array of surgeries, treatments – including chemotherapy – and other procedures, she said this week.But now in order to survive, Boudreau must undergo an eight- to 10-hour double-lung transplant at a Pennsylvania hospital that she hopes will both lengthen her life and return her quality of life.Asked if she was nervous about undergoing such a major operation – which is estimated to cost $650,000 – Boudreau said during an interview in her living room earlier this week that it was a risk she was gladly taking.”Anything is better than the way I’m living now,” Boudreau said.And her sister-in-law, Jan Boudreau, emphasized the fact it was an easy decision to make given the alternative.”They told her if she didn’t do this she might as well start picking out her (cemetery) plot,” Jan Boudreau said earlier this week as she sat next to Donna Boudreau and Donna’s mother, Janice Boudreau.Doctors diagnosed Donna Boudreau with scleroderma in 1999.”It was totally out of the blue. I had never even heard of scleroderma,” she said.She had also never been seriously ill before the diagnosis.”I had the common cold, but nothing more than that,” she said.The disease has made it almost impossible for her to do even the simplest things without using oxygen tanks.”I’m on my tanks whenever I leave the house,” she said.A tray full of medications she already takes – before she’ll have to start taking the anti-rejection pills and other medications that are expected to cost about $5,000 a month after the surgery – sits on a coffee table in the living room.”Doing the simplest thing was becoming a chore, whether it was making the bed or doing the dishes, never mind walking up the stairs,” she said.The English High School 1975 graduate has already undergone countless medical procedures, including a lung biopsy and two years of chemotherapy.”You sit there for two hours just waiting for the medicine to drip down. You’re exhausted by the time you’re done, even though you’re just watching TV,” she said.The medications she’s taken throughout her ordeal have also caused reactions, Boudreau said, including a substantial weight gain that happened when her doctors put her on a steroid medication.She has been losing weight, but she still needs to lose 10 more pounds before doctors at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian will begin what Boudreau says is a relatively short search to find a comparable donor for the surgery.She has already visited the facility – and she noted that the insurance company told her she had to choose between a Pittsburgh hospital or one in Houston – numerous times since she learned two years ago she needed a double-lung transplant to survive.”I’ve been down there for more than a year. I was down there for a week (at one time) and they tested me from head to toe,” the 54 year old said.Boudreau calmly talked about the upcoming surgery as she sat in her living room.But she’s tired of feeling horrible and is more than ready for the surgery.”I just want to get it over with. If I could do it tomorrow, I would,” she said.Boudreau explained that doctors expect the surgery to take about eight to 10 hours – or four to five hours for each lung – and said they will start prepping her for surgery at the same time they check to see if the donor lungs are comparable for her.”Once they get the word that it’s a go, they’ll start taking out my lungs,” she said.In addition to all the medical challenges she faces, Boudreau also is faced with paying for the part of the surgery that her insurance won’t cover.So even if they cover 80 percent, t