Re: My Appointment With Hepatologist Today

[Guest guest]

Penny, your post really touched my heart honey.. my daughter was born in 1983 too and so I know how young that person was,, so your liver is just about 'new'.. Im glad you got to see the info tho too, I think its important to know who your donor was, I dont understand why they keep this kind of info so secretive,, as you said, you feel that they are part of your family now and IM sure that they would love to know how well you are doing with their most generous gift!

hugs Penny,

jax

Subject: My Appointment With Hepatologist TodayTo: Hepatitis_C_Central Date: Monday, December 22, 2008, 8:13 PM

I saw my hepatologist today, and he was pleased and a bit surprised how well my treatment has been going for me with hardly any side effects. I will be needing shots to keep my hemoglobin up soon. They don't want it going lower than 12, and it is at 13 now. My white blood cell count has risen a bit. He said I probably will be doing the treatment for 52 weeks now so I will have a better chance of staying undetectable. In two weeks, my riba will increase to 3 pills in the morning, and 2 at night. He said that will be my highest dose.There was a lady in the waiting room who asked me what I had. I told her a liver, and it will be a year in 15 days, and she said she got a liver too. She asked me how it went for me, and I told her it went quite well without any complications. That upset her because she is 6 weeks post transplant, and is having problems. She is weak and in a wheel chair, and has to

wear a mask in public. After her transplant, part of the liver didn't work...I'm thinking it was the bile ducts, but not sure. Anyway, they had to go back in and fix that, and then she got fluid in her lungs, had to spend a whole weekend on a trach, and she is just upset about how things haven't been going so well for her. Her husband told her not to compare her surgery with other people's like mine. I told her to keep her spirits up and things will get better. It just takes some people longer than others. I felt bad that she was having such problems, and I was blessed to have things go well. I hope she feels better soon. I may see her again at my next appointment in three months because a lot of the same people seem to be there when I am there.I got a nice, emotional surprise, but also sad too today. My coordinator gave me my file and I had to wait for the receptionist to come back to make my

next appointment, and while I was waiting, I opened up my file to glance through it as I waited, which I have done before. It opened up to a page I never saw before, and I have always wondered about. It had my donor's info on it...actually, my donor's birthday, so I know how old my donor was, and how old my new liver is. They would never tell me anything before except that the liver is young and healthy. My donor's birthday was on January 4, 1983. This is very sad to me because the tests were done on her on January 5, 2008, which is the same night I got the call that a match was found. This means that she passed away on or near her birthday, and that is so sad to me. She was 25 years old on January 4, 2008. My transplant was on January 6, 2008. She was a Capricorn like me. My birthday is 9 days after hers, on the 13th. Now that I know when her birthday was, I have three days I will consider very

special as my own birthdays... her birthday, my transplant date, and my own birthday. I plan to say special prayers for her and her family on her birthday. I feel so much closer to her now knowing when her birthday was. I hope I hear from her family one day since I consider them as part of my family since part of her is a part of me.