Fast forward to day 8 post-transplant: I’m home and on the mend. Did I mention I was bloated, bruised and constipated beyond my wildest dreams? Apparently 6 days of IV Dilaudid will do that to a person. Best Drug EVAR by the way – interesting fact: I knew my new liver was working the first time I experienced pain post-surgery. Normally, IV administered pain medications would circulate in my system for days and I felt NO pain (if I could remain conscious to even register this fact); so when I found myself alert, hurting and hangry, I knew “Grace” was working. She’s pretty amazing that way – check her out in all her glory:
Here’s a picture of my “native” liver (that’s what it’s called in the transplant world). Even though she failed, she served me well for 52 years, hanging in there valiantly until her last day. It’s incomprehensible some days to think that the liver I was born with is dead and gone. It makes me sad in a way I can’t explain.
But back to the story…I’m home now and on Tramadol for pain, which is wildly ineffective compared to Dilaudid. Everything hurt, my medicine made me feel ill – I hated the way the pills smelled and the funky aftertaste they left on my breath as all 44 of them swirled through my veins each day. Fun fact: these pills even change the way your poo smells. TMI, I know. The high doses of Prograf and Cellcept made my hands shake like a Parkinson’s patient. I later discovered the tremor is a side effect of the drug’s toxicity on the body. Charming.
My daily activities consisted of using the hospital issued “incentive spirometer” for deep breathing exercises and walking around to avoid blood clots while “standing up straight” – which was the hardest thing in the world at the time. I literally felt like my guts were going to spill out onto the floor each time I did anything other than lay motionless (which was all I wanted to do) I just wanted to sleep and lay perfectly still. My mother, bless her heart, wouldn’t allow this. And I’m so thankful for that. She spent three weeks preparing meals, cleaning house, forcing me to rehab, reminding me to take my pills and limit my physical exertion. Recovery is a full time job.
Can we talk a moment about standing up straight? When you have 51 staples across your belly and hundreds of sutures below that going in every direction, it feels like you’ve been sewn shut in a bowing position. It took at least 9 months for the surface tenderness and tight, unpleasant “bound” feeling beneath my skin to subside. Due to the nature of my transplant, I had a segment of my small intestine removed to create a “duct” for my liver to drain bile into my in my bowel, so even my intestines had sutures. When I say I hurt all the way down to my core, I mean it.
10 DAYS POST TRANSPLANT 
21 DAYS POST TRANSPLANT
But true to form, I got my silver lining: The first 90 days post-transplant, I burned calories like a mad woman. I ate so much food! Every day I consumed 3 High Protein Ensure shakes (350 calories each) and 3 full meals plus snacks. I was taking in close to 4,100 calories per day and LOSING weight. In my twenties, that was my ultimate fantasy (can I get an amen all my Hungry Ladies?); however, losing 27 lbs in less than a month is a bit extreme. All of my clothes, including my underwear, hung off of me. I got down to my dream weight of 121 lbs, but lost my booty in the process. For the first time in my life, I had no junk in the trunk. And this after worrying all my life if my butt was too big.
There is more to the story, so stay tuned for episode 3! As always thank you for walking this journey with me.
All Hail the Queen!