Or How We Made It Through a Liver Transplant
On another page, I mentioned my brother's transplant. It starts off with my brother being admitted to the hospital ~ not feeling well. He was told he had a problem with his liver, and no more drinking. Now at this same time ~ they were laying people off where I was working. My brother went back to his original doctor, and demanded some straight answers. Each day I could see him getting sicker. If you read my other page about my brother, you know he has one heck of a sense of humor ~ and he never lost that. One day he decided he had to have a vegetable and fruit garden! Now we aren't talking acres here ... just a normal size backyard! After 18 months of worrying and praying ~ his beeper went off ~ a donor liver had been found!
On this page, I want to get into more detail of how this all came about.
If this is a subject you would rather not read about ... you won't hurt my feelings by leaving now! I hope you continue to read though ... and maybe learn something.
So he stopped!
Then he got a hernia, and needed surgery.
After the surgery, he started to swell up .. retaining fluids. He reminded me of the Pillsbury Dough Boy .. it was that bad. He was also having trouble concentrating, and was acting strangely. Add to this ~ the fact ~ that he was feeling lousey.
He tried to go on Workman's Comp ~ and they demanded he see their doctor.
It was then he found out that his liver was really destroyed, and the general anesthetic during his hernia operation .. was the final straw.
Found out later ~ he should have been given a local instead. His liver was shot .. without a transplant ~ he would die.
I went in to the supervisor, and asked to be laid off next! My brother needed someone home, and his wife needed to work and keep things going financially.
My supervisor started laughing ~ said I was the only one that WANTED to be laid off! I was also the only one that had a send-off party!
He was put on the national list of people needing transplants, and then the wait started.
You have to be in "perfect" health to receive an organ.
I drove him to doctors for every kind of test known to mankind!
He finally started to see a liver doctor at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco ~ that is where the transplant would take place ~ if it happened at all.
He was on medication to try and keep the ammonia levels down, but I could see him getting weaker.
Having a million painful tests ~ and he would get in my car with some wisecrack.
I think he was trying to keep my spirits up ~ as much as I was trying to keep his going.
So off we went to the local nursery! He had corn, oranges, garlic, string beans, apples, and I forget what else! He was a planting fool, but it gave him an interest. So I had weird plants hanging out of my Camaro ~ from the nursery to home!
He was visiting his wife's sister .. two hours away!
He called me, and I was at the hospital before him! Camaros are speedy little cars!
He had more tests, and it was finally a go ~ we just had to wait for the organ to arrive.
His wife and I went home to take care of a few things, and then went back to the hospital together. In case you didn't know ~ his wife was my best friend all through High School!
They got my brother ready for surgery ~ we each gave him a big kiss ~ and waited.
We spent the night sleeping in chairs. The surgeon finally came in, and said everything went fine .. we could see him for a second in ICU. We both peeked in, and then went home to change clothes. Drank some more coffee, and went back to the hospital.
Except for being in alot of pain ~ he was doing good.
Life was good ~ the future bright.
Then the problems started.
He sprung a leak! Fluid started pouring from his incision. His wife called the transplant unit at UC, and was told not to worry. Perfectly normal. Doctors know what is normal ... right?
Not this time.
That leak was the beginning of a nightmare.
I'll try to remember most of what happened from August until darn near March!
He was back and forth to the hospital continually.
They couldn't find out what was happening.
There were times I took him to UC .. when I almost ended up carrying him into the doctor's office.
He got so sick.
Transplant patients are put on drugs to suppress the immune system, and liver people are also given drugs to prevent heptitis. For some reason, a few of the meds my brother was on .. weren't working. They ended up putting a shunt in his arm.
While I was racing around with my brother ... my hubby has a heart attack, and ended up having a quad by-pass!
Now I'm commuting between two hospitals!
A weaker mind would snap!
Back to my brother .. he was given another blood test, and all his liver functions were screwing up. He was really getting bad.
Was in the hospital every other week.
At one point, they were draining several liters of fluid from him.
Finally ~ he was so bad ~ they did surgery.
After months of trying to discover what the problem was ... they found it.
He had a small hole in one of the bilinary tubes .. when pressure built up .. it would leak!
So all the meds he was taking .. were also leaking out!
They finally jabbed him full of drainage tubes .. to allow the leak to heal without any pressure.
After awhile this worked, and he was on the road to a full recovery.
I figured most people would have to run to a dictionary to find out what I was trying to say!
I was also getting tired of looking up all the words for proper spelling!
The main thing I was trying to get across was the emotional time this was for all of us.
Needing a transplant has got to be one of the most stressful situations ~ for everyone involved.
You pray for a donor, but at the same time ~ you know that means someone has died.
Your heart goes out to the donor family.
So ~ there are all these mixed feelings.
Someone died ~ and gave your loved one another chance at life.
I'm including some links on this page.
I don't do that very often, but I'd like you to get some information about Organ Transplants.
I've been listed as a donor for years.
Before my brother ever got sick.
If I can help someone live, I can't think of anything better.
I have found out though ~ even if you are listed as a donor, your family has the last say.
So let them know how you feel, and pray they respect your wishes.
Transplant Center
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