5:00am - arrived at the hospital - and the waiting began.
First of all, today is an exciting day for us; but a sorrowful day for the donor's family. Organ donation is a selfless act - a gift that can only be minutely repaid by living a good life and passing on the gift of life to others - that is our plan. We are prayful and grateful. Ron's donor (and family) will be forever in our hearts.
It is 5:38pm and Ron has been in surgery since 5:11pm. We received our first update at 5:25 - the surgery is going well. The surgery takes approximately 5-7 hours and if all goes as planned (again, that's our plan), we'll see him sometime between 11:00-12:00pm. He'll be in ICU for a couple of days, then placed on the transplant floor for several more days.
Okay, now that I have all the practical things down............I have to say: I feel brave and vunerable and scared and relieved and fortunate and loved and overwhelmed and prayful and sick to my stomach and time is standing still. I feel like everything is going to be okay - I always have since the beginning.
So today is liver day - Ron's official '2nd' birthday! Say a prayer please.
Hey moonpie! It's Emma from HW. This is wonderful news. Great picture---I love the thumbs up! I have been saying prayers for both you and Ron today. Keeping you both in positive thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDeleteHi MP,
ReplyDeleteI'm really pleased that your dreams have come true. As someone who received a transplant a year and a half ago, there's more to the entire experience than replacing a faulty body part. Ron is likely to have psychological issues. Make sure he is in touch with a shrink, or social worker. I felt as if I should have had more emotion about receiving a new liver. I didn't and spoke to a social worker in the transplant clinic. She explained that most transplant patients felt as I had. I immediately cheered up and have have been so, ever since. When the air clears, email me (I'm on HW)and I'd be happy to speak to you. Surgeons don't tend to address many things. Their main thing is taking care of Ron's "plumbing," not the other quality of life issues that accompany a transplant. Stay with it! I love hearing about other folks that have gone through what I did and came out on the other side. Be well! **David**
Thank you Emma and David! We're hanging in there. Ron hasn't really been 'with it' long enough to talk about his feelings. He was so excited the day of his transplant - right now he's so tired and grumpy (steroids, they tell me). We do have a therapist and I do plan to talk to the social worker about what feelings might crop up. Thank you David for the heads up!
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