Livered to Tell the Tale: Surgery Update

We're nearly a week-post surgery day, so I figured I was due for an update. 

Last Wednesday, both Dad and I had a few appointments to double-check that everything was still a go. And everything was! The whole week leading up to the surgery, there were a lot of nerves. A lot of waiting. But back at the clinic on Wednesday, there was a sense of comfort and calm. Everyone was so friendly, so good at making us feel good about what was going to happen. It really made a big difference. I was very grateful for that. 

I don't want to brag or anything, but while my Dad will be walking out of the hospital with a new liver, I got a fancy Mayo Transplant Center jacket! Don't be too jealous. :)

Wednesday evening, a good family friend came over with prayer shawls from her church and held a small prayer service with us. Then we celebrated our last night at Texas Roadhouse. Don't tell Jacob. The waitress asked if we were out celebrating anything and we all kind of just gave each other this look... haha I guess you could say we're celebrating the next phase of our journey! 

Thursday morning, I got my report time of 5:30am. Dad was scheduled to report at 6am. Early morning, and I'm not entirely sure how we all slept the night before. But we were ready to get it started and get it done. 

What they don't tell you about reporting for surgery is that I may have needed to get there at 5:30am, but I wasn't rolled to the operating room until closer to 8am. That's a lot more waiting... Of course there were some things to prepare for, but not that much. Luckily Dad and I were right down the hall from each other, so everyone got to pop in both rooms to see us off. I even got to stop by Dad's room as I headed out. 

Dr. Taner, the surgeon who operated on me, was the one that came and wheeled me into the OR. I was shocked by that, but also really appreciated it. It made me feel like my surgery does matter to him. He made a joke on the way to the OR and say, "I hope you're paying attention to all the twists and turns so you can get us back out of here."

Now, throughout this entire process, there have been many times when I've had thoughts along the lines on of "oh yeah... I saw on Grey's Anatomy..." If you're not familiar with the show, in the very first episode, Meredith, the main character, gets lost in the hospital trying to take her patient to a CT scan or something. It took all my willpower in that instance not to make a comment about Grey's Anatomy to my surgeon. HA! 

Once in the OR, everyone was again super friendly and nice. They all made me feel very comfortable. And that's about all I remember of that. 

I don't remember much about waking up either, but time just flew by. :) But in all seriousness, I'm sure it was a long day of waiting for everyone in the waiting room. From what I've been told, everything about the surgeries went well. 

One thing I was told (at some point) was that there was a bit of surprise when they opened me up. They were already aware I had some unique anatomy surrounding my liver. (you can read about that here) But when they went to remove part of my liver, they realized I had three vessels as well! So my liver needed a little bit of extra work on it to make sure it could get connected to my Dad. Nothing bad, just unexpected. So that did add a bit of time to my dad's surgery as well. 

That first night, both Dad and I spent in the ICU. This is a normal part of the process just to keep an extra eye on everything. Since my surgery was much less complicated, I was moved out of the ICU first and to a normal room on the transplant floor. But Dad was not far behind me. 

Leaving the ICU also meant that I got a new pillow for my pillow collection. A Mayo liver pillow! Seriously, the swag you get when you donate a liver?! Totally worth it. 😉 In my next post, I'll write more about those days in the hospital and what's recovery has looked like so far. 

Again, here is the link to the CaringBridge page.

Thank you all again for your continued prayers and support throughout this process. We are very grateful to be on this side of the journey. And of course, will continue to welcome all your prayers and well wishes. 

Thank you.