5 Years.

5 years seems so short sometimes.  Tiny babies grow to age 5 right before your eyes.  My dog is 11, and that happened out of no where! Has it really been 2 years since I’ve been out of the country?  My parent’s house is 19 years old? I can’t even believe Scott and I have been married for almost 6 months (what?!) Everything feels like it just happened.

But this week, time has stood still; it has felt like something so long, something so very substantial.

Monday was my 5 year anniversary of receiving my new liver.  I think back to what the past five years have held, and they have been full of so much.  I recently heard from someone that their mother had the disease I had (PSC) and it turned into cancer, which eventually took her life.  That’s the road I was on.  I was so close, and I barely even knew it.  I will be thankful for my donor every single moment of every single day because he quite literally saved my life.  I don’t know him, or really anything much about him, but I feel for his family who lost a son.  Perhaps a brother, a grandson, and a nephew. A friend, a classmate.  It is hard to celebrate knowing you’re doing it while another family is still grieving, and will grieve beyond the length of time.

But we do celebrate, even though sometimes bittersweet, we were able to celebrate on Monday night.  My husband surprised me with a big cookie cake that said “Happy Transplant-versary” on it, and we enjoyed dinner together and celebrated the life of a guy who was just turning a few years old the night I got “the call” for my transplant.  We were out for a birthday dinner to celebrate his sweet life, and I had no idea that it would be the last place I’d go, the last thing I’d do, until my phone would wake me up just past midnight on August 31 with the message that my organ was en route to the Cleveland Clinic and to get there as soon as possible.  I jumped into the shower, found some comfy clothes, and loaded last minute-items into my bag, knowing I’d be in the hospital for awhile.  Confident, but unsure of exactly what to expect, my parents drove me to waiting gifted surgeons, doctors, and nurses.

In a matter of hours, I went through something that changed my life completely.  A liver was a good thing, yes, but we would have a waiting period to see how well my body adjusted to it.  There was also the recovery period that the nurses told me would take about a year.  (I never did believe them until 5 months later when I tried to resume my bachelors degree in nursing.  I quickly believed them and put my life back on hold.)  My immune system would be affected forever.  I would start a new medication for life.  I would have lots of return appointments, CT scans, and lab work.  I don’t know if I’d be up for recovery again, and it did add a good amount of wear to my body, but as crazy as it sounds, it’s been worth it.

The hardest time in my life was worth seeing my sister graduate with her MBA.  It was worth being by my dad’s side after a bad accident landed him in the ICU.  It was worth me meeting Scott, my now-husband. It was worth going to Ireland with my college’s nursing school, and it was worth going to Switzerland and revisiting France with my college’s public health program.  It was worth all of the new people I’ve met.  It was worth being with Haylie as she’s grown.  It was worth being immunocompromised and getting sick more often than usual.  It was worth getting to plan my wedding with my super gifted mom.  It was worth it to be welcomed into Scott’s wonderful family.  It was worth it to get to live in my own house.  And it was worth finally being able to complete my baccalaureate degree after 9 years of fighting against my body.

Each day, I’m cautious about not catching any illnesses, and I need to get my sleep quota, and I still have psoriatic arthritis and get allergy shots and go to several doctors…  That’s fine though.  It may sound like a lot to you, but I’m used to it.  This has been my life for 23 years as I was diagnosed as a small girl. But I’m thankful that the Lord has allowed me to accept this as my life and that I’ve been able to make the best of it.  None of these days were guaranteed to me, so I can only see each new day as a gift.  Because if it wasn’t for my new liver, my days would have been limited.  They still are to an extent – I won’t live to be 1000.  But I went from a hopeless diagnosis to a lifetime of love and memories and gratitude.  That’s more than all right with me.

I like to think of my donor looking down on me and being proud of the experiences I’ve had.  He knows how thankful I am. I also like to think of my liver-sibling who received 1/3 of my liver as a tiny infant, and I hope and pray the child is a happy, healthy 5 year old today.  Our transplant was really so miraculous.  It’s a heavy gift that weighs on your soul yet lifts you up, somehow, at the same time.  Worth it.

And here’s to many more 5 years!!

It’s been 18 months since that day… and I just wanted to thank all of you for standing by me.  My sister and I just had a really fun weekend, and I wanted to share with you just how healthy I look, 18 months post-transplant.  For those who may be reading and are contemplating a transplant or see it looming in the horizon, you will be okay.  Things will be hard and some days a challenge, but the battle will make each moment of life just that much more sweet.

I love you all,
Amanda

Here it is…

Today is a very special day. 

It’s my 1-year Transplant Anniversary.

12% of us who receive new livers don’t make it to this day, and that in itself is so sobering to me.  I’ve been given a gift and my body has nurtured it to live within.

After what I’ve been through this year, the polarity of the ups and downs, the critical moments I’ve been though, I’m so thankful to have come out alive.  I pray though I’ve been tried through fire, I’ve come forth like gold.

The memories are so strong today.  Waiting for my organ, the surgery and recovery, trying to merge my new and old lives… Often I don’t like my mind to go to these thoughts, but they are a part of my soul.

Today,  I remember sitting at the kitchen table on a summer night, during the waiting period, reading every word in my transplant binder. I can close my eyes and feel each cool saline flush running into my jugular line, the taste of it behind my throat. Then I remember trying to read the lunch menu only to find the words vibrating beyond recognition all because of the high-dose of steroids I was on.  I remember spending two days at the Clinic in an exhilarating whirlwind of exhaustive testing – all to gain UNOS’ approval.   Then there’s the sick feeling I get when I remember leaving my parents and best friend for the last time, not knowing whether or not I would ever see them again.  I cringe to remember a week propped up on pillows, thoughtfully arranged to take away as much pain as possible.  I remember going into a fake diabetes cycle while I was hospitalized after my transplant.  I had to get my blood sugars drawn and usually had to get insulin afterwards.  I was miserable.  I remember great nurses I had during my 3 hospital stays on the transplant unit, like Chrissy, Natasha, and Kat… and a few who are nameless in my memories, but all as much special.  One word: chemo.  I hate reliving Dr. Peter pulling out my drains like snakes coming out of my abdomen.  I can’t even keep up with the ups and downs of my blood counts! The Epstein-Barr virus was a disaster.  I so love Michelle at LabCare.  I can’t stand remembering the pain that no pain pump could control.  I remember going home – so glad to be home but too extremely uncomfortable to be happy about it.

Sigh.

This year, I realized I was stronger than I thought.  I learned God had the final say and everything before that was in His control.  I really, truly suffered – mentally, physically, and emotionally. I watched my family all but break.  I met new friends.  I learned so much.  I pushed myself.  People sacrificed for me.  I grew.  Yes, somehow I grew.

My transplant was a miracle in many ways.  It is first and foremost a beautiful, selfless gift to me from a complete stranger.  I am humble.  I am without words.  I am forever indebted to the family of my donor, whomever, wherever they may be.  On my day of gratitude and celebration, I know they are mourning the one-year anniversary of their son’s accident and death.  That makes this day so bittersweet.  There’s a little dark cloud in my sky that won’t ever go away.  It’s extra dark today.  If only I could know his first name, even if only for my mind’s sake.

It’s so hard to “get” … 

Someone had to die so I could live.

On another note, I’m thankful for this year although I feel a little “at capacity” right now.  I pray God keeps His hand on my life and on my health, and I’m eager to see what comes from here.

Lastly, I owe a thousand “thank yous” to people literally around the world who have shared in this journey.  If you played any part at all – big or small – in my miracle during the past year, please take a thank you for yourself.  I pray I can give back what has been given to me.

So much love,
Amanda

6 months

6 months.

Are you kidding me?

I was laying in bed last night when it hit me – I passed by my 6 month transplant anniversary (3.1.11) without even noticing.  I’ve been feeling that good.

I’m floating through school, maintaining an amazing social life, volunteering, spending time with my kiddos, being a mommy to Haylie, and so much more.  My DVR is so backlogged and my homework doesn’t get done as often as it should – I’m just so busy diving headfirst into everything with this new life I’ve been given.  I’ve never been able to keep up a pace even remotely close to this.  My mom keeps telling me to slow down, but I can’t.  Everyone is trying to get used to my new life, booking my days full and going, going, going.  It’s amazing to all of us.

I’m so grateful.  I will never forget how life was before, how different it was from today.  It’s a huge part of who and where I am now, and I want to make sure I never lose that.  I think remembering only magnifies the gratitude in my heart.

With that said, I haven’t updated you all in a while and I want to ask you to hold me close to your heart and in your prayers right now:  The surgery and the time before are beginning to come back to me a lot lately.  I told a close friend that the memories are really starting to haunt me.  I’m trying to process them and heal, to give them to the Lord and to move on.  While my life may be going great right now, the intense fear of my story is beginning to hold me back.  I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after my childhood illness, and I went through exposure therapy to move past it.  I think that experience has made me fear the potential that any memories like these can have, and I pray God gives me peace before it gets out of control.  

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 16.33

So six months, wow.

We are so blessed. 

2 months

It’s been two months since my liver transplant, and I can’t believe where I’ve been during these past 8 weeks.  I can’t believe what I’ve been through, the support I’ve been shown, and how wonderful God is to stand by His children.  I can’t believe I made it through what I have, and when I think of what I still have to endure to get through this, I’m comforted knowing the worst part just has to be over by now.

Rewind… August 31st, 2010, the middle of the night.

What a difference a phone call can make.

Or what a difference eight hours can make… when you’re in a deep sedation, lying on a cold, metal table with your abdomen sliced open in three directions, doctors working all around you to remove a diseased, dying liver and its hardened vessels to replace it with a healthy donor’s organ and properly functioning vessels.  You know it’s probably not the same kind of eight hours for your family and friends waiting nearby, and you feel guilty for making them go through that kind of waiting, you know, the kind where you don’t know if your loved one is going to wake up or not, wondering what condition she’ll be in if she does wake up, wondering what the road ahead will truly be like…

What an amazingly short, yet life-changing journey it is to be living one evening, at a fun birthday party, in fact, not even dreaming you’d be awakened by a phone call in a few hours… fast forward to the very next time you are awakened… this time, with a new organ inside your body, a list of strong, foreign medications now running through your system, 50 staples going in every direction across your abdomen, a breathing tube frustrating you, and a thousand lines, tubes, and drains running into and out of you in every direction.

You wonder how it’s possible to gain 20 pounds of fluid when you were, well, 20 pounds lighter the last time you remember existing.  It’s everywhere, and it seems the center of gravity is in your middle, which is so swollen that it appears to be anything below your neck and above your legs, also perceived as tree trunks.  That’s what a difference a few hours can make.

Slowly… the pain pump is taken away.  The meds are weaned to normal levels.  Labs, vitals, and blood sugars are measured around the clock.  Certain systems don’t work.  Certain systems are affected negatively by the new medications.  Sleep is a gift, and getting in and out of bed is the most painful realization.  Getting comfortable in bed is a rare treat, and even at that, the nurse brings you pain medications.  Breathing is a chore, and walking is a feat.  You can’t shower or brush your hair, and you can’t bend, twist, or reach.  Your arms are the only strength you have, and without them you wouldn’t be able to get out of bed on your own or adjust your body on your mound of pillows.   You deem it nearly impossible it is to exist without any structured abdominal muscles, and you wish you were past this part already.

You soon wonder why you packed 4 or 5 bags about a month ago.  Did you seriously think this would be easy, and the week-long hospital stay would be long, boring, and almost unnecessary?  One bag for all the time (even ICU!), another for when you get to a real floor, one for when you’re bored and want things to do, and one for your clothes.  Because you hope to be wearing real clothes after a few days.  Right.  You will later laugh because you were very content to be in a hospital gown – not even your designer gowns but the hospital’s gowns(!) because your incision was so messy and the clothes didn’t fit your new swollen body anyways.  Then, towards the end of the week, you remember the cute bathrobes you packed and wear them instead of double-gowning, and that works for the rest of the time.  But really…. 5 books to read and cards to play and your MacBook Pro?!  You barely even used your iPad!  Coloring books and the huge box of crayons for boredom? Sleep won that choice.

Anyways, each day, you lose a little more fluid, while at the same time, each day, you’re surprised to find a new area that’s swollen to unbelievable levels.  You feel like a stranger to your body.  You refer to yourself as a whale, and you quite honestly are.  But one day, you step on the big hospital scale and realize you’ve lost 10 pounds!   The next, another 10!  The doctors say to be patient because, while you’re starting to have more defined body segments than just “a middle,” it will take a couple of months to lose all of your abdominal swelling.  And it does.

Every morning at 4am, they come in for labs.  Your nurse gets them from your central line, and once your central line comes out, the phlebotomist comes in, pokes your arm, and draws vials of blood to be tested for everything from electrolytes to liver panels and metabolic panels to simple, yet all-telling, complete blood counts.  When you leave the hospital, you will go to the out-patient lab twice a week for labs because of how important a few numbers are to rejecting or not rejecting your organ, and it won’t be until 1.5 months that you start going weekly.

When you finally get to go home from the hospital, you’ll be surprised how uncomfortable the ride is.  You’ll be afraid of bumps, turns, sudden stops, and seatbelts, and you’ll be surprised that bumps aren’t nearly as bad as turns.  When you get to your house, you’ll be surprised that yes, you can climb steps, and also at how much your dogs missed you. 

You’ll also be surprised to see you can’t get into bed, and you will go into a panic.  The day and the drive have exhausted you, and you need a bed!  When your dad removes your foam mattress topper (6” extra height) and you slowly log roll yourself onto your mattress, you will have no where to lay since your incision runs so deep into your right side.  You order special pillows and still sleep so uncomfortably.  After a few nights, you give up and sleep on the couch or in a big comfy chair.  You quickly find sleeping propped up on something is the only way you can actually get some sleep.  And naps are a necessity to a healing body … same thing goes.  Couch or chair.  You think this will never end, but after a month you get to sleep in your own bed again, and it feels so good to be “home.”

You visit the transplant clinic every week, then after maybe 1.5 months, every 2 weeks.  By week 6, the doctors let you come back in a month.  How exciting!

You’ll make two unfortunate trips to the emergency room before those first tough months are over – one for a leaking drain site, another for an infected and split-open incision.  They will both be difficult visits, one because of the discomfort and mess, another for the pain it entailed.  You hope that’s the last time you have to go to the ER for a very long time.  Being a transplant patient is even more complicated than being a liver patient.  ER doctors are even more scared of your history than before!

With the open incision, you decide it’s time to lay on the protein.  You have your mom pick up protein powder, and you make milk shakes (milk + protein in a shaker bottle!) that you reluctantly down at least once a day. You are determined your incision will heal.  Plus, you’re hoping the protein will be good for your body – Due to the new meds and your body’s adjusting, you don’t have much of an appetite and have been losing weight constantly since you came home from the hospital.  Now, at 2 months, you’ve lost a total of the high end of 20-some pounds since before the surgery took place.  Nothing fits, and you have every size Gap jean imaginable, not to mention at the present time, you’re ready to go buy a size 0.  Any smaller, then what happens?  You don’t want to even think about it.

You get a home nurse for about 3 weeks to measure the open incision and make sure it’s healing well.  You hope it closes by your 2nd month anniversary because it’s just a nuisance.  Wet to dry dressings, twice a day.  A routine you could live without.  And sure enough, the day before your 2nd month anniversary (yesterday), you wake up to find it completely intact.  You thank God even though you know your abdominal skin will now bear a huge scar, and you won’t have the feeling and sensation you once had.  Your scar and the surrounding area is numb to the touch, yet it somehow still throbs in a couple of places.  But at least it’s finally closed!

You enjoy the first 5-6 weeks laying low at home and enjoying visitors, and when you regain your driving privileges at 6 or 6.5 weeks, you’ll make lunch dates to catch up with your friends.  You quickly learn where your limits lie and remember you’re still not fully healed.  You sleep 10-12 hours a night, and anything less makes for a difficult day.  You call your nurse coordinator daily for a few weeks and then are amazed you can go a whole week without a new question or concern.  She’s happy for you and probably relieved you’re not as needy anymore!

You’re keenly aware of where you’ve been and are scared you’ll ever have to go back there again. You’re grateful for your faith, family, and friends, and know they’re a large reason you got through this.  The other reason is, you’re a fighter; you always have been and probably always will be.  And you know it.  And you know strength doesn’t come without a price.

While you’re not where you were on August 31st, you’re far from where you were September 1st, and that’s in itself a miracle and a blessing and everything good and wonderful.

So here’s to another 2 months of life, another 2 months of healing, and hoping these first several months will go by fast so you can feel better than ever.  Here’s to hoping you will have a profound story to write on that note you plan to send your donor’s family, a story of a life drastically changed by a selfless gift, a story of an existence improved beyond measure with the gift of one organ, an amazing transplant team at an record-breaking, award-winning hospital, and the patience of a few months’ time.

Thank you to everyone who’s been anywhere on this journey with me for the past 2 months.  Whether by a phone call, a blog comment, a visit, a card, a gift, a text message or a prayer… I will never forget the role you played in my life, how you helped me get through each day of a very hard time. 

I’m so grateful for these past 8 weeks and everything that’s led me to this place.  I can’t wait to see what’s next.  I’m full of gratitude, hope, and excitement.  I’m eager to see past recovery and discover the better version of everything with this brand new life I’ve been given.  I’ll keep you posted – I have a feeling good things are ahead…

So much love,
Amanda