08/31/2025
Sorry, I’ve been quiet for a little while here while I was trying to adjust to my new medication regimen. But… here’s the whole story of what went down 4 weeks ago!!!
I “got the call” on August 1st, NWM letting me know I had a liver offer on the table and that I was the primary recipient. Very exciting, but I didn’t want to jinx anything, so I didn’t pack, didn’t tell anyone, and went on with my day while they ran all of the tests they needed to on my liver. On my agenda that day was lunch with Greg Hart. We met at a local restaurant, but being that I was in the prep window for an upcoming colonoscopy, I could only eat mashed potatoes, lol!
Naturally, I did tell Greg that I got the call, but wouldn’t know for sure till later that day/evening. I spent the rest of the day focused on anything BUT the liver offer. Finally about 7:45 or so, I got the confirmation call and was told to arrive to the ER at 2 am for a 9 am transplant surgery. I packed soooo darn fast!!! Good thing I had already made my lists up!
Things get a little blurry from here for me. I did let my family know this was happening, and called an uber, who was a Tesla driver, and was so excited to be part of making my transplant happen! Really nice guy! Got me to the hospital in under an hour!
Then, it was registration for direct admit and getting up to my room on 14E, and getting all of the pre op stuff done. It all seemed to go by really fast, and before I knew it, I was in pre-op. And then rolling into the OR. I remember giving everyone there my “timeout” speech and telling them that I had complete trust in their knowledge and skill, but I wanted everyone in that OR to give me nothing less than their “A game”!
A short time later, they said they were going to slide me onto the table. I have no memory beyond that, but I think it’s safe to assume they did exactly that! The surgery took about 8 hours, and then they moved me—sedated—to transplant ICU. I have no memory of that until I shook off the sedation on August 4, my mom’s birthday. I was shocked to realize I had basically lost 2 whole days! But I was still kicking!!!
This is super long, so I’ll add more tomorrow in a separate post!
