Hi All.
Thought I would provide a brief update and I apologize in advance if I do not fully flesh everything out at this point as I am still trying to process what has happened in this last week.
As background, my liver died, I have O- blood and I needed a liver transplant. I was told that I would likely not get a timely "traditional" Western cadaveric donor so I began a search 14 months ago for a living match. I was sick enough to be on the wait list but not sick enough to jump the queue. I was expected to plateau where I was and pass through that very narrow window of operability very quickly; too quickly to get a deceased donor.
However, I just happened to go in for an unscheduled blood test for my heptologist and she saw that I was in the window where I was currently healthy enough to survive the operation but would likely die within 24-48 hours without it. Without telling me, she contacted the transplant team and they moved me up the priority list and located an appropriate deceased donor.
So at 10 a.m. last Friday the team called me and said I needed to be in "first call prep" by later that afternoon. As I was enrolled in a clinical trial using Hep C donors, I assumed that a nice juicy Hep C liver was waiting for me. But when I awoke the next day it was with a fully healthy, non-Hep-C liver. The one benefit of a cadaveric donor is that they use 100% of the organ, not 50% or whatever so the organ is all good. And 2 hours of scans today seems to confirm that my bile duct, hepatic artery, all the important stuff looks good.
They have warned that if I continue to be my normal jerk off self around here they may send me home on Saturday. I feel good.
I am so happy. And sad for my donor and their family. Personally overjoyed. But wish that those who were on the list longer than me could have gone first. I did not expect this part.
How has covid effected this process? I and the donor cleared in a 2 hour test time or something like that. Transplants kept going as fast as they could but there was an increased morbidity for wait listers like me as people were not out getting in motorcycle accidents but having strokes and things at home instead so the organs were unavailable. Plus, just like in prison, grub exchanges are big entertainment but we cant do that right now. Everything I touch is brand new and incinerated once I am done with it.
You are looking good Hubpeeps. Ill be back after a brief napping interlude! Thank you to all of you and especially those who have PMed me,
It is all VERY appreciated.