liver4life.com

Saturday evening, one year ago, began the rest of my life. It was Friday afternoon, November 21, 2008 at about 5:30 p.m. that I received a call from CPMC (California Pacific Medical Center). After such a long wait I was totally taken by surprise, when I heard the words: “Get to the hospital, we have a liver for you!” They told me not to eat anything and get there ASAP! I sat in shock for about five minutes and then started making phone calls to find a ride to San Francisco.

Within about 10 minutes I tracked down my girlfriend Roz and then located my sister, Diane (an RN). I had already packed a bag for this special occasion, so it was only a matter of finding a ride in a hurry! Roz was there within about a half hour, and we were on our way to a new experience and a new life.

During the ride down, Roz looked over at me and asked if I was nervous. My reply was easy and instant: “NO, I am excited! Anything will be better than the existence that I have had for the last 4 years.”

Within an hour and fifteen minutes of the call, we were at the hospital and I was checking in. Fortunately, the liver I was about to receive was just across the San Francisco Bay, where a couple of doctors from the transplant team were harvesting it from the donor to deliver fresh to CPMC. The speed with which the organ goes from the donor to the recipient is critical. This turned out to be one of the luckiest days of my life.

Once I was in the room, Roz began receiving phone calls from friends and family. Word travels fast in Petaluma! I had made two phone calls and within two hours, much of the community knew my status.

First, all of the pre-op activities began, consisting of test after test. Then the waiting began. I wanted to get started, the staff meticulously checked me and the donor’s liver to make sure everything was a go. There have been people in my situation sent home, just because one little thing wasn’t perfect! CPMC is very thorough in making sure that everything is one hundred percent perfect, or they just don’t chance it.

The wait in the room was a long one. My sister Diane and Roz were troopers, waiting all night long until I went into surgery, which wasn’t until almost six in the morning. They were both dozing off and there was no way that I could sleep. Finally, at about 4:00 a.m., the doctor came in to inform me of any and all risks involved. I asked him one question: “If it was your wife laying here in my condition, what would you advise her to do?” His immediate response was to say, “Go for it,” to which I said, “Then, let’s do this!”

From there we went to meet with the anesthesia team. They explained what was going to happen from start to finish. Afterwards, it was more waiting.

Finally they came and got me right before 6:00 AM. I remember getting a shot to relax me and then talking to the staff in the OR. Suddenly, it was lights out for THIS guy! I learned later that there were about 20 people involved in the OR during my transplant. I do know that there are two surgeons that I owe my life to.

Next stop was the recovery room. I remember hearing noise and fussing around my bed. When I woke up, my head was clear and there was a new fresh feeling I had. My first response was to pull the covers back to make sure this wasn’t just a dream! The incision proved that it wasn’t. In fact, I kept checking about every twenty to thirty minutes, just to make sure. My first words were, “How long have I been out?” I was told it was about ten hours. The surgery took longer because they also repaired a hernia in my stomach at the same time. They had to cut through a lot of old scar tissue to repair this injury. Actually, recovery from the hernia repair was more painful than the transplant was.
Next, it was off to ICU for a couple of days. By the third day I was getting up, using the bathroom, doing exercises, and walking the hallways. By the fifth day I was eating just about a normal diet. That was a good thing because it was Thanksgiving and I got to have a turkey dinner.

What timing! I was eating Thanksgiving dinner all alone, but it was the most thankful and grateful day of my life! This Thanksgiving will be the one year anniversary of my transplant, and again, I am extremely thankful that I am lucky enough to be here to enjoy it. It feels like a major milestone.

Stay tuned for the next blog on what happened during the course of the year.

A whole new sense of life awaited me as I woke up in the Recovery Room on November 22, 2008. I kept checking my incision every half hour or so to make sure I wasn’t dreaming all of this. My mind was more clear than it had been for years. Of course, I was uncomfortable, but I had just had my body practically cut in half.  Then I was moved to ICU; I don’t remember if it was one day or two days.

I was kind of punchy the first couple of days, mainly due to all the medications I was taking. I was really hungry and very thirsty. I was on a low sodium diet and restricted fluid intake. Those ice chips were a welcome treat! Finally I was moved to a regular room. By the 3^rd or 4^th day after surgery, I was using the bathroom myself, shaving and showering. I was walking up and down the halls and doing exercises that the Physical Therapy Department recommended.

Thursday, the 27th of November, was Thanksgiving Day. I no longer had many diet restrictions. Some friends brought me a huge spread, including some turkey, thinking I probably wouldn’t be allowed to eat it. Boy, were they wrong! Even though I was eating alone, this was the best Thanksgiving I ever had! It was the most meaningful, too, as I really had something to be thankful and grateful for.

I remember the nurses telling the doctors that I didn’t need to be there anymore. I must have gotten on their nerves, because I felt so good I kept asking them when I could go home. So, by Friday, the 28^th, six days after the surgery was completed, I was on my way home. I will write about my post-hospital adjustment in my next blog.

Larry and Brian T., Father's Day 2009

Father’s Day was the second Sunday in a row that my son Brian (personal trainer/drill instructor) came to my house to make sure that I didn’t sit around and waste a beautiful day. Last Sunday was tennis and yesterday was a hike through the Tule Elk Reserve along the Point Reyes Seashore.

We were about a mile into the hike and I told Brian that I probably wouldn’t have been able to do this last year. He strongly agreed, reminding me that not only was I in the hospital last year at this time, I had been in the hospital for the last 3 or 4 Father’s Days! When I stopped to think about it, I realized that as I start feeling so much better, I block the old bad times out of my head, focus only on the present and think about the good times that lie ahead.

After the scenic hike, we traveled up the coastline, stopped and picked up some oysters, took them home, and barbecued them. What a treat!

After Brian left I reflected back on some of the past Father’s Days and they weren’t pleasant, to say the least. I will always remember this particular Father’s Day! It was the best one that I have ever had!

I truly hope that those awaiting their transplants will soon be able to experience some of the incredible things that I have since my transplant. I certainly don’t take life for granted anymore and appreciate every single day of my extended life.

Larry

This blog is intended to chronicle my experience with liver disease and the transplant process. It won’t necessarily proceed in chronological order, but since this site just went up, and my transplant occurred almost seven months ago, I want to backtrack to certain points and go forward to give readers the opportunity to follow my experience.

On November 21, 2008 at around 5:45 pm, I was reading the newspaper and watching the news on TV, when I received the most unforgettable phone call. It was the transplant coordinator from California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), who told me they had a donor offer for me and to get to the hospital ASAP!

I started calling everyone who had been involved in my care at home: My significant other, Roz, who was doing her Friday afternoon errands; my sister, Diane, who thought I was pulling one of my practical jokes and almost didn’t come. Yet within an hour and a half I was signed in and waiting in the lobby of CPMC. Still in shock I called everyone that I thought should know.

Finally I was put into a room. That’s when the real waiting starts. Nurses came in and out of the room performing tests and making sure that I was comfortable. I kept asking one nurse, “Where is the doctor?” Finally she said she would call him. I replied, “Gee, you must know him pretty well to call him in the middle of the night and wake him up. She said, “No problem, I married him two weeks ago.”

At around 4:00AM the surgeon came in to talk with me. He told me everything about this liver that I needed to know. At the time he was talking to me, a doctor from his transplant team was across the Bay harvesting the liver that I was about to receive. Each transplant patient has to give consent to accept the organ they are offered based on the information given at the time. I asked the surgeon if he would give that liver to his wife if she was in need of one? He assured me that he would. That was all I needed to hear! I said, “Let’s go for it!”

The next step was to meet with the anesthesia team. These guys were as cool as a pit crew in the Daytona 500: Smooth, precise, and fast. I felt totally comfortable with them! They started rolling me into the OR and I was happy with not one worry about this not being successful.

Sometime later, I heard voices next to me. I opened my eyes and there were nurses adjusting things all around me. The first thing I did when I woke up was look under the covers to see if there was an incision, and there was! I still had to check about every 20 or 30 minutes to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming all of this. I had awakened to a brand new life.

The nurses asked me how I was doing and I remember telling them that I felt better than I had for over 4 years! Roz and Diane (who had been waiting for over 10 hours) were both there with pretty tired smiles on their faces! My son, his wife, and my ex-wife came shortly after, but by then I was peacefully sleeping.

Welcome to the liver4life website. We are receiving more hits everyday that this site is online. We are moving as fast as possible as to make this information as accurate as we can. My name is Larry and I am a transplant recipient. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be able to create this site in the hope that someone will get some good information out of it and maybe not have to go through what I went through. Awareness is very important factor in liver disease. Knowing  that you are at risk is key to being able to do something about it ahead of time. Otherwise you go on a transplant list (if you are compliant enough) and wait for what seems like an eternity for that call.

Once the site is further along, there will be announcements regarding support group meetings, donor meetings, and when the chat rooms will start. Also, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please send them to info@liver4life.com.

There will be personal stories from me and from the great support group of family and friends that helped me through this horrific nightmare. This is why if you think you might have liver disease, find out all the answers that you can, NOW. I was very lucky to have great doctors and a tremendous support group (I cannot stress support enough). Get your family or friends involved ASAP, because if you do receive a transplant they eventually become involved anyway. It’s better to get them up to speed as soon as you know something isn’t right.

I will post blogs as we go along. The more questions that I receive, the more I will address them.

Thank you for your time,

Larry