~My Liver Transplant~
~My Liver Transplant~
My name is Denise and I am 39 years old. In 1991 I was diagnosed as having Hepatitis C and cirrhosis (hardening) of the liver. I was a non-responder to alpha-interfureon injections that I took for 6 months. This was no picnic! . These injections caused flu-like symptoms. So the night of the shot I had chills, fever and a headache that was like no other! The next day was like a hangover.My local doctor just wanted to check bloodwork every 6 months but I wanted answers. July of 1993, I had my 1st visit with Dr. Margaret Bridges. She had already received reports of my bloodwork and biopsies and at our first meeting she told me I would someday need a liver transplant. I was floored but she made it sound like an everyday thing. She invited me to a meeting of "The Lucky Livers", a support group for transplant patients. It took a while for me to digest the information and attend a meeting but once I did I was really glad I did. It's a small group and most of the patients are post transplant. There were a few people who like me, were one day going to need a transplant. In December of 1994, Dr. Bridges referred me to the transplant team at St.Lukes Hospital in Houston. I was evaluated and placed on the list in March of 1995. The next year was spent waiting. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) list is nationwide. Livers are matched up by bloodtype and size. Organs are allocated by region. If a liver is available in the Houston area, the list is checked for a match here. If no one matches, it is offered regionally and if no match is there, it goes national. During the time I was waiting, Mickey Mantle was placed on the list in Dallas. We had the same bloodtype but he was much sicker than me. He got his liver and died while I was waiting. Meanwhile, my family and I waited for the call. My friends picked dates of when they thought it would happen. Most of those days came and went.
March 16, 1996 at about 4:00 in the afternoon, I got a call from the transplant coordinator. Linda DeWitt. A matching liver was available! Some tests needed to be done to be sure it was healthy enough for transplantation and they would call back in 2 hours. That was the longest 2 hours in my life!! The call back came and it was a go! We took my 2 children, Logan (7) and Teri (5 1/2) to our friends house and said goodbye. They were pretty excited to be sleeping over and really didn't seem concerned. They knew I was going to the hospital but I don't really think they understood the extent of the situation. The operation was to be around midnight. During this time I couldn't help think about my Donor. Somewhere there was a family who just lost a loved one.It was a major decision for them to make but it was going to save my life. We got to the hospital and they started taking blood, x-rays, blood pressure,and everything else they could check. My mother, stepfather, and freinds, Mary and Bert came up to my room. I had to take a special shower and an IV was started. Then the nurse came in and told us surgery was postponed until 6:00AM. "Now try and get some sleep!" Believe it or not, I did. They took me down to surgery the next morning and the next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. I was on a ventilator and had quite a few tubes but the liver was working well and doing it's thing. I stayed in recovery about 24 hours and was then sent back to the transplant floor. I was feeling well and up and walking right away. It was amazing. The surgeon, Dr. Patrick Wood, told me that there was a problem with the hepatic artery. It was clogged. This supplies about 20% of the blood to the liver but they felt that there would be enough blood from the other sources. I went home 13 days after the transplant. The doctor said there was a possibility of a 2nd transplant if collateral circulation didn't occur. I felt great so I wasn't concerned. The amount of medication I was on was unbelievable. Steroids made my face as round as the moon and I grew hair in places I didn't think I could. I had bloodwork done every other day, then once a week and finally, monthly. By September I was well enough to take a trip with my family to Disney World! The spring of the next year brought a few problems that had the doctors stumped. I thought the hepatitis was becoming active. I was wrong. What we found out was that the liver was having problems. I continued to get sicker and in November I was placed back on the list. I spent more time in the hospital then at home. January 2, 1998 I checked back into St. Lukes and knew I wouldn't go home without a new liver. On the 12th, a new liver became available. After 11 hours of surgery,they had removed the old one and replaced it with the healthy liver. Recovery was much harder this time and I didn't leave the hospital until Feb. 2. It is now May of 1998 and I feel super. I'm on less anti-rejection meds then I was before the 2nd liver. This time I received a letter from the parents of the young girl who donated her organs. She was 17 years old and it meant a lot to me to hear from them. I have since written back and look forward to hearing from them again. Organ Donation is a something we should all consider. Please visit my page about organ donation or email me if you need more information. "Don't take your organs to heaven, heaven knows we need them here!"
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