Where to begin???

Goal (August 19, 2012): Create a daily blog about me and mom's adventures in the land of liver transplants, chronicling every up and down, amassing legions of fans and spreading the word about the benefits of organ donation and the struggles and triumphs of a family undertaking one hell of a journey.

Reality (August 20-present): Be too drugged up to be able to work a keyboard while in the hospital and too busy taking care of a mom suffering from endless complications and difficulties to even think about writing about it. 

And so here we are 1 month and 4 days after the big slice and dice and I'm finally finding the time and the energy to write about the journey thus far. There is so much to write about that I could probably fill 10 pages but I won't. I initially thought about doing a few posts chronicling things week by week but truthfully, my time in hospital is foggy at best and the time since then has all melted into one long, somewhat sleepless blur. So over the next few days (take that time span with a grain of salt) I will present you not with the graduate seminar 400 level course, but will instead wet your appetite with the easier to digest 100 level survey course in "Zeiler studies" and live donor transplants.  

Today's chapter: "Jello,bathroom breaks and high fashion: pre-op preparations"

Our journey actually started at midnight on August 18th. After an epic "break all of mom's dietary restrictions" free-for-all family dinner of pizza, lasagne and Dairy Queen ice cream cake, my pre-op 48 hours of fasting began. We were admitting mom to the hospital the afternoon before our operation so that the doctors could prep her and I was set to be admitted at 5:30am the following morning. In order to make sure that my insides were are empty as possible I wasn't allowed to eat anything except Jello, apple juice, gatorade and water until midnight on the 19th and then nothing at all after that. Lesson #1 of liquid diets, what goes in must come out and clearly my poor little bladder was in revolt. Consequently the day before the operation consisted of me hitting every gas station and public washroom in Vancouver in between Jello binges. 

Lesson learned: Jello is not filling.
Lesson learned: Jello makes you pee....a lot

On the night of the 19th after tucking mom into her hospital bed, we stayed at a hotel around the corner from the hospital with the intention of getting a decent night's sleep and not having to get up at 3am to get the hospital in time. Unfortunately my sister's penchant for snoring like a chainsaw gone wild coupled with a heavy dose of nerves with more than a smattering of anxiety meant that I didn't really sleep at all (although Desiree clearly had a lovely rest). 
The next morning I was greeted by a 4:30am wake up call from dad and hopped into the shower for what was going to be my last for the next 10 days. Then we were off to the hospital to check in and hopefully not "check out" (metaphorically of course).

When getting ready for a big operation like having your liver sliced in two and your gall bladder ceremoniously tossed in the garbage pail it's important to dress for the occasion. In my case, I was provided with a gorgeous Haute Couture outfit sampling the latest in "surgery chic"                            

         
     After gowning, shower capping and blue bootie-ing up, they brought my mom down to say bye before the operation (she wasn't going in until they had already removed my liver) and off I went to the operating room. It's hard to explain what it feels like to be wheeled down the hallways wondering if a) I would make it through this and b) if I would wake up to find out that my mom hadn't. Those worries coupled with the fact that I was terrified of getting an epidural and the state that I'd be in when I woke up made it a journey I don't care to remember (along with a lot of what I experienced over the following few weeks). The last thing I remember before the "lights went out" was having my epidural put in. Unfortunately, an epidural needs to be inserted into the spine while the patient is still awake in order for them to check that it is working properly. Considering how terrified I was of having a tube shoved into my spine, the doctors were kind enough to sedate me. They said it would feel like I'd "had a couple glasses of wine"...I don't know what kind of wine these fancy doctors drink but shit, that was some potent vino for sure. I actually don't really remember having it inserted, I just remember the nurse holding me still while I leaned over on the bed. After that, blank until I woke up 13 hours later and phase 2 of the wild ride fired up - but I'll leave that for the next post. 

Stay Tuned :)
J