What to do for someone who has a liver transplant

What to do for someone who has had liver transplant:

An interview with someone who’s been through it…

Brief synopsis of the difficult life event that you experienced:

In August 1997, I had a liver transplant followed by three weeks in the hospital and then three weeks of a difficult recovery that included learning to breathe, walk, and stand/sit up straight again.

Your Story/The Circumstances:

I had a liver disease for many years that was starting to cause some problems, so when the call came that a liver had come available, I decided to have the liver transplant.

Age at the time: 36

What were some things that others did for you that helped the MOST:

My three best friends came to the hospital the first weekend after I was out of ICU and visited with me, did some minor care, and stood in until my mother-in-law arrived. It was nice having people around (aside from my husband), who took care of my needs promptly.

What were the WORST things that others DID or SAID:

I was fortunate not to experience anything like that. Most people were in awe that I had had a liver transplant. I received get well cards from friends of friends who I didn’t even know!

What do you WISH someone would have done for you:

Having people drop off meals for my family would have really helped because my husband was back at work. Yes, my mother-in-law and then my parents were there but they were taking care of me full-time. It would have been nice to have some meals for my family, caregivers and children. We also could have used rides to the train to get downtown after my parents returned home.

Do you have any gift ideas or care package items that would have been helpful/useful during this time?

One of the best gifts I received was a pair of fuzzy pink slippers and maybe some nice body lotion. Stacks of magazines to read were fun—I was up often late at night and would just read and read those, along with catalogs.

Heating pad was needed, and I think just nice feminine items would be great—to make you feel human and special again. Good lotion, a comfy pillow, maybe a reading pillow.

Any other suggestions for readers:

One friend would drive over and walk me up and down my street after my family left. I really needed someone to do that, I could not do it alone, and I didn’t want to do it…so that was very helpful in my rehab.

Visitors were nice when I was allowed to have them at the hospital. They would bring chocolate or flowers and visit for about a half an hour.

Can you give us some emotional insight to what someone in this situation is feeling/going through:

You feel like a complete train wreck. Everything hurts. You are full of water weight. You can’t sleep for very long at a time. It’s hard to breathe, hard to stand up straight, and your rib cage area (which has been broken) feels like a ton of bricks. And you are taking medications constantly that make you fat, hairy, angry, tired, etc. Meanwhile, you are poked daily, then three times weekly, then weekly for a year for blood tests to monitor the situation, so there’s home health care, then running to a local hospital for blood tests—lots of activity for quite awhile.

After about a month and a half, I didn’t hear much from anyone but my best friends—but that’s to be expected. People really do have short memories.

BluFairy would like to thank our contributor who wished to remain anonymous.