Post-transplant update

Hello,

Thank you all for your kind wishes on the "new member my dad's story" thread. I thought I would start a new thread now that we are post-transplant.

Immediately after transplant yesterday, as I said, it was very bleak. We were prepared for the worst. Then the 6pm and 9pm updates were slightly more positive. It looked like the liver was kicking in. I went in to see Dad, and nearly passed out. It was rough. But since things were slowly improving, they opted to not bring him back to the OR last night.

My aunt rushed in from Chicago last night and stayed here all night. She agreed that he looked horrible last night, but then this morning she said his color was very good! He even woke up. The 9am update was even more positive than last night's and the surgeon said they were going in this am to take out the packing and properly close. She expected no complications and that the surgery would be routine.

The surgery went fine and there was no bleeding so the packing did its job. He's now off all pressers and the surgeon said he's still critical, but is right where they want him and doing fabulous!

Today's plan is to let him rest since he did have a surgery today. They are even talking about extubating him tomorrow, but that's probably not likely. He doesn't have the stomach feeding tube in yet, so they are thinking about putting that in. His kidneys haven't kicked in yet, but the kidney docs said they aren't surprised and are still thinking his kidneys will kick in in a few weeks so they are fine using dialysis right now.

So that's the update for now!

Dajalyn,

Such a good positive progress report. It is a miracle they can do this at all I think. I'm sure it was a shock when you saw him yesterday but I'm glad you did. And glad he looked better this morning. Sometimes these cases go to the very bring, and then they come back just fine.

Hoping for a positive out come and all this excitement being behind you all soon.

I'd like to hear that he is sitting up enjoying his applesauce soon!

Hugs,

Carol

Dajalyn,

Glad things are looking a little better!!!! My husband had his transplant on 7/15, he too lost buckets of blood and his surgery took 16 hours. But on a good note, he is doing better and we are talking about rehab finally. He had to go in for a second surgery, when they took out the femoral line, it bled into his thigh and made a huge hematoma.

As everyone else has said, those first few days to the first week are so hard!!! But the nice thing with this forum is that most everyone has dealt with the issues at one point or another. I am very thankful that I found this place when I did.

Glad to see you here!

Daja

Smiling? Well , miracles happen! That was a gift today. Many here never get 3 smiles in the same day.

I have a good feeling about this.

Let us hear from you later.

CArol.

GRATE? Busted by the homonym checker.

Connie, you just made my day, probably Ziffle's as well.

Blerg. Doing good again today, things moving forward. Except they had to put vent tube back in :( We're all pretty bummed. Especially dad.

There are going to be stops and starts on this journey. I'm 3 years out and am now feeling fine, but there were several setbacks along the way. Remember, a liver transplant is as intense and complicated a surgery as there is.

I just have to wonder...is it all worth it? If recovering from transplant takes 6 mos to a year, or longer, what is life like during that time period? What sort of life will he lead, and when? To have to go through all of this...

I asked my partner this morning if it was worth it.

He laughed.

And said some choice words that loosly translated for the HW family friendly audience were:

Heck, yes, he would even do it AGAIN if the Hep C got bad before the rest of him fell apart!!!!!!!

And this from a man who was dead set against transplant when he was still drinking.

Sobriety has worked wonders at our house...

He has had a fairly smooth post transplant period, but just after it was rough for a while...but a different rough than before transplant.  He needed a lot of looking after, we spent half his life at a doctors office or lab....but the days since then have been good. 

A year after transplant he has had a shoulder surgery because he is feeling well enough to play golf but for a torn rotator cuff he's had fixed!!!!

Hang in there.  It will get better.

Carol

 

Without a transplant, I'd have died 3 years ago. Every day, even the bad ones, are better than the alternative. These days, I work, play, and do everything I did prior to ESLD. Transplants work, it isn't an immediate recovery.

Jajalyn, so sorry that he has an infection. Yes, it is scary, but I'm sure they will give him massive antibiotics by IV and he will be okay in a couple of days.

I was doing very well post-transplant and they had me walking the halls the day after surgery, with PT and a tech pulling 2 IV poles filled with bags of meds. I was behind them on a walker. Quite a sight.

Thanks for keeping us updated and please continue to do so.

Hugs,
Connie

Docs think dad had a rxn to platelets yesterday since his blood #s are better today. They took him off bp meds. They were going in this eve to put in the chest tube to drain lung fluid.

The doc wants to put a trach tube in in the next few days since it appears dad is not likely to get off the vent in the very near future. I guess it appears to be his only option. They tried to tell me the benefits of it etc. They end up having to do this in around 5% of their patients, but the percentage is higher in those who were as sick as my dad.

The suckiest part of today is that when I walked in, dad was not right at all. I freaked out. He was thrashing about and completely out of it. He didn't recognize me at all, nor could he respond to simple questions. I demanded to see the docs. The nurse had said that afternoon they switched him from versed to seroquil, which was an antipsychotic but used as an anti anxiety drug on their vent patients. They try to give versed breaks since its so heavily processed in the liver. It appeared like a bad drug rxn to me. They didn't seem to buy that. They felt its more likely a combo of his infection, with bacteria in his blood stream, and his existing encephalopathy. I didn't buy that part since he was completely lucid the day before. His mental status was better pre-transplant. Then they said well if it is a drug rxn, that's another reason to get him on the trach so they can stop anti anxiety meds, such as this new one.

I was so upset, I had another "spell" so the docs sat me down, gave me water, patted my shoulder and left. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that they are human and aren't perfect, but this was as upsetting as the other times I had my spells (when I saw the stomach tube pump out blood and when we saw him immediately post-transplant).