What a hell of a month!
Well a little precursor to the last month. Starting in Oct of 2012 I begin to have stomach issues and felt very lethargic. I went to my primary care doctor who gave me some anti-cramping and anti-acid meds. Well I was still having problems in January of this year and went back to him complaining of the same problems. He ran a few more tests and decided that I should see a specialist. There was a lot of BS that happened in those months which I really don’t want to get into. But before I could see the specialist my wife noticed my eyes getting yellow, so off to the hospital we went, this was the end of Feb 2013. After a bunch of test and a few days in the hospital, I was diagnosed with a couple of genetic blood disorders. These were caught too late I was told that I needed a liver transplant. Let’s just say that I was pretty tore up about it and the thoughts of what could happen next were difficult to think about. Especially with an 11 year old daughter that is wondering what is wrong with dad.
So fast forward to 6-11-13 after numerous test and procedures while I was in the hospital for stomach related problems I get a call from the my transplant coordinator saying that I finally was on the list and the call could come anytime between then and who knows when. I have the rarest blood type and I’m a big guy which both was working against me.
On 6-15-13 at 4:30 I was walking into Best Buy to get a new home phone since ours wouldn't ring sometimes and I really wanted to be able to get “The Call”. Well my cell phone rings and I hang up on the person as I’m trying to get it out of my pocket. Right after that my wife’s cell phone rings and she is talking to the person on the other end and sounds like something is going on. She hands the phone to me and it’s my transplant coordinator and she says “what are you doing tomorrow?” I go I have now idea and she goes “how would you like a new liver?” I say sure being caught off guard since I was only on the list for 5 days. So after doing a few things I head to the hospital that night and check in at 8:00pm for surgery the next morning. Even after all that there was still a chance I wouldn’t receive the liver and I would find out around 3:00am. I didn’t get much sleep till about 3:30am when I hadn’t received word on the liver, I finally fell a sleep only to be woken at 6:00am by 2 nurses dressed in surgical gear. At that time it was a go and I was going to get a new liver on Father’s Day. I was rolled into the operating room around 7:30 and woke up in recovery around 1:00 with a new liver. I was pretty happy because they said it would be a good chance I would end up in the ICU and I was headed to my room in a couple of hours. So then the days in the hospital started with a few hiccups along the way but all went pretty well and I was released 11 days later. I was hoping to get out on the 23rd since that was my birthday but I got to spend it in the hospital oh well I had a new liver and hopefully now I can celebrate a bunch more birthdays. So after getting out of the hospital it has been numerous checkups and tests. But after all that and a month later almost to the minute I’m doing great with the blood work numbers mostly in the normal range and my strength coming back. A few more weeks of restrictions and then it will be a life time of meds and checkups but I’m looking forward to a life time now.
I would like to thank all those on this board for making my hospital stay a little easier since the hospital firewall banned most of the good sites. Hell even to my true form I made a gun deal while laying in my hospital bed. Hopefully with the help of a friend I will get go put a few down range with it on Thursday.
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I kid... but seriously, glad to hear a success story amid all these bad news things flying around. Glad everything seems fine now, and happy belated birthday- here's to many many many more!
