Hello, all!
Lealonnie and her husband are traveling to AZ today, to begin their journey at Mayo.
Her husband will be receiving a liver transplant.
She has given me permission to begin a thread here.
Please pray for their safe travel, and for all to go well.
She’ll pop in as she’s able, and give us updates.
Admins, would you please move this to discussions? I can’t seem to figure out how to do that.
I am not going to feel guilty for being an organ recipient....not at all. That is not the purpose of being here and going thru this process. And, the recipients have to prep and fast and be tested and ready to go if the transplant is a go, and they have to accept the organ, so sometimes we can't be told at the last minute. And, life support cannot be used AFTER a person dies, either, bc their organs begin to die as soon as they do. That's why there's a 30 minute window to harvest organs.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't be in need of a new liver and this patient wouldn't have died of a cardiac issue. And sometimes organ recipients wind up dying waiting for a donor, so thats so sad for THEIR family. So much for perfect world scenarios, huh?
Colleen, thanks for keeping everyone updated here, I appreciate it.
Telling the recipient family anytime earlier than when the organ harvesting process was 100 percent sure to go forward just seems…kinda cruel to everyone.
The prioritized recipients should be donors, preferably longtime ones. There are only about 10k donors available for 110k people, and if you didn’t sign up to do this when your organs could actually help others, you can be the 9 out of 10 not considered now.
It's an awful process, isn't it? Hope you have lots of tips and wrinkles to help keep your minds off the waiting. What happens now?
CM....we wait. Yesterday was a dry run. Another donor will come along and we will try again.
Thank you weary, sp, alva....for your support. Today is a better day and we are relaxing and moving forward.
I assume we share the same interest in making more organs available. If it gets out that respected institutions are actually telling recipients that there’s a donor available before he has died officially, that could make more donors or donor families less apt to follow through. All the recipient needs to know is that there might be a liver available and not the backstory while the donor is technically alive and with their own Medical privacy intact. And that’s the only way you can get even the paltry 10k supply of donors and their families to make the commitment.
I'm sure yesterday gave you both an opportunity to get used to the strong emotions that go along with this harrowing process. Via con Dios ♥️ ❤️ 💙 💕
Instead let's ALL be respectful of them and only send them words of encouragement and your prayers. They really need both right now.
4:15 PM: DH got a call at 4 PM to come to the Mayo hospital immediately; there is another liver for him from another DCD donor who's here. We are on our way and totally unprepared for this. Surgery will be at 6 pm local time IF this liver is viable; this MAY be another dry run though, who knows?
Praying this is it...
The surgery can take anywhere from 6-15 hours; Chuck has a pacemaker and has had triple bypass which complicates things, so they have to take extra precautions which can extend the time. I'll be texted every 2 hours and then the surgeon will phone me when it's over. Probably sometime in the middle of the night. I'm back at the hotel (5 minutes away) with the dog and we're hunkering down (at the suggestion of the Mayo staff). They also suggested I wait here until he's extubated and free of the wires and hook-ups that will have me upset to see. I can call the ICU in the morning to get an update on his condition, and if he's been extubated yet, etc.
God give me strength; I'm not sure I realized how hard this would be, being in another state, away from home and friends/family, etc.
Thanks for your support everyone, I appreciate it.
Support is here. 👩👨👩🦳️👵👱♂️🧓👱♀️👩🦰️
Prayers for you, as it is difficult to be waiting, standing by. Prayers for your trust in god's plan.
There is no guilt if you need to doze off in-between the updates by the doctor.
I haven’t waited through a transplant, only a 6 hour aorta repair. I can only imagine your angst right now. We're all here for you, honey. ((((((Hugs))))))) to you and Chuck.
2:00 am: Surgery is over and Chuck did well! Will wait till 8am to call the ICU to check his status before heading over, as suggested by the surgeon. They have to watch for bleeding now from the new liver which is a potential problem. Next 12-24 hours are crucial.
I'll keep you updated
It’s happened so fast!
Praying for you guys!!
ps: The speech is a cya. They have to give worse case scenario just to make sure expectations are kept real. I hate that part of any surgery.
Feeling very relieved right now and grateful to the donor, his/her family, and everyone who's been so supportive here. THANK YOU.
I'm on my way over to the Mayo hospital now.
I'll keep you all updated. We have a long road ahead of us, with potential complications and lots of ups & downs/ medications/doctors appointments and at least 4-6 weeks minimum here in North Scottsdale (without complications), so in many ways, the journey has just begun.