Re: *athan*

[Guest guest]

Barb Henshaw wrote:

>

> Was the pain you experienced, about what you had expected?

>

Actually it was much less than I expected. At first I assumed the reason

I couldn't feel any pain was because of the anesthesia, but even after

that was completely worn off there wasn't much pain, at least not from

the incision. I did have some back... I think that was because my

abdominal muscles couldn't do the work of supporting me, and because I

was sitting in one position most of the time. I did take some pain

pills, anywhere from 1 to 3 per day while I was in the hospital

(actually there were some days when I didn't take any) but that was more

for the back pain. The pain pills also helped me to relax my stomach

muscles when they started to get tight and pull on the incision, which

was uncomfortable, but not exactly painful.

Actually that " tightness " in the incision was probably the most

uncomfortable thing, and the thing that limited my activity the most. If

I tried to do much of anything, my stomach muscles would tighten up and

I'd have to rest for a while so they'd relax. It felt sort of like I had

a tight belt around my stomach.

I'm sure that some people have more pain post transplant than I did, but

the doctors didn't seem to think that it was all that uncommon for liver

transplant patients not to have much pain. They said it was at least

partly due to the high doses of anti-inflammatory drugs.

>

> Was being on and the removal of - the ventilator, as uncomfortable as

> some people say?

>

I'm sure it would have been, but fortunately they were able to remove it

just a little while after I came out of the anesthesia. The only thing I

remember about it is that I couldn't talk when my wife and my brother

came in to visit me after the surgery, and I had to communicate with

hand gestures. I also remember them taking the breathing tube and the NG

tube out, but I was mostly asleep at the time, and it didn't bother me

at all.

>

> Were there are surprises?

>

Probably the most surprising thing to me was how easily everything went.

I was prepared to have an completely awful time, and really it was not

bad at all.

I guess one thing that surprised me was how much energy I had after the

surgery. After I had my GI bleed a few years ago, I was just exhausted

and when visitors came in it wore me out for them to stay too long.

After the transplant I was wishing I had more company... I found out

afterward that my family was not staying for as long as they might have

because they were afraid they were wearing me out. I wish they had just

asked me if I was tired and needed to rest! In many ways having family

I'm close to in the room made it easier. They could deal with things

like handing me things that were out of reach, helping me in and out of

bed, pushing the nurse call button etc. Then I didn't have to try to do

those things myself (or call the poor nurse to help me every five minutes!)

> Was there something you wish you’d had been forewarned about?

>

I think that with what I learned here, I was pretty forewarned most of

the difficulties I might face. Fortunately though, most of the things

that people warned me about didn't actually happen to me! The whole time

I was waiting for something bad to happen, but it didn't really. There

was one minor rejection episode, and I had to have an emergency

ultrasound and biopsy to make sure that the blood flow etc. into and out

of the new liver were good, and to confirm the rejection. That ended up

making me stay in the hospital an extra couple days, while they adjusted

meds and made sure the rejection was under control, but other than that

and some minor side effects from the meds (shaky hands, insomnia for the

first week) there haven't been any real problems.

Before the transplant I told my brother that I was planning to have a

quick, uncomplicated recovery. At the same time I prepared myself to

endure a very hard time. I think that having a positive attitude and

aiming for a great outcome can have an impact on how recovery goes. At

the same time it's good to be prepared for complications because in all

likelihood there will be some. My recovery has been almost as

uncomplicated as possible so far, but I'm still only a month post

transplant and I'm still on high doses of immune suppression, so I could

still have complications.

> Anything else you think we should know about?

>

Well, maybe I should go ahead and post what I've got so far of my write

up of my transplant story. I promised it just after I got out of the

hospital, and I've gotten so busy with everything else now that it's not

quite as done as I'd like it I guess I'll read through it real quick to

fix the worst problems and then post it.

I think I talk about this in my tx story, but even though I have really

good veins, some of the meds they gave through the IV really burned my

veins. If this is a problem, don't suffer through it... they should be

able to adjust it to a lower rate (and maybe maybe add a saline drip to

dilute the medicine) and it will be less of a problem. Some of my veins

are still hard and painful from the IVs.

I think the IVs and the catheter were the things that actually bothered

me most at the time... my surgeon was Dr. Foley, and it was tempting to

ask him if he was leaving the catheter in for so long because it was

named after him, but I controlled myself!

Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!

athan

[Guest guest]

even though I have really good veins, some of the meds they gave through the IV really burned my veins.>>> athan, Did you have a neck line or were the IV's in your arm? Could a person request the neck line going into the surgery to make it easier coming out like for lab work and to have drugs administered? I am so thankful you are doing so well post - tx. Do you have your tile done yet? And did you have a friend till your garden? My tomatoes are already tennis ball size and have cucumbers set on. I can hardly wait til they can be picked and eaten! Blessings, Barby - KS UC - 1965, ileostomy - 1972, BCIR (continent pouch) 1994, PSC - 1995, arthritis 2007married 27 years , 5 sons, 2 daughters in law, 1 granddaughter born 6/06 and 2 golden retrievers

[Guest guest]

Barby wrote:

> Did you have a neck line or were the IV's in your arm?

Well, that's sort of a peculiar thing. I did have a line in my neck

when I came out of surgery, but for some reason they decided that they

should replace it with a smaller one the next day. I guess they thought

it wouldn't be as uncomfortable for me. Unfortunately, when they put

the smaller one in, one of the lines went down the wrong vein, and ended

up in my arm! So they were able to use that for blood draws etc. but

not for running stuff in. After a few days it wouldn't work any more

even for drawing blood so they took it out. If it had been working that

probably would have made it less painful.

> Could a person request the neck line going into the surgery to make

> it easier coming out like for lab work and to have drugs administered?

I think it's pretty standard to put in a central line for the transplant

surgery, as well as four or five others in various appendages! I had

two lines in my left arm, and the marks from three in my right, and

before I left the hospital I had another one in my right arm!

> I am so thankful you are doing so well post - tx. Do you have

> your tile done yet?

Haven't started the tile, but have gotten the rest of the stuff I need

(mortar, grout etc.) We'll see if I manage to get to it next week!

> And did you have a friend till your garden? My tomatoes are

> already tennis ball size and have cucumbers set on. I can hardly wait

> til they can be picked and eaten!

Well, hmmmm. The garden is tilled, and I refuse to comment on how it

got that way! ;-)

We did get tomatoes in before the transplant, and we do have some coming

on. I'm not sure if they're quite tennis ball size yet, but they are

getting close!

athan

ps. I was very careful, and didn't strain myself while the garden was

being tilled by an unnamed person!

[Guest guest]

Loved the pics and your wit in replying without incriminating yourself about the tilling of garden. Thanks for sharing all you have with us.

Dee