Pre-Transplant Testing Day 3

Wednesday morning finally arrived and I was excited because according to my schedule, it seemed like a pretty easy day.  In fact, all of my tests would be over in just a few hours and we'd be back on the road to Jackson by lunchtime!  

Nonie sent me this picture as a good morning greeting.  Best way to start my day!

My first appointment was an EKG of my heart.  This was by far the easiest appointment of the entire week.  I just laid on a table with a few monitors attached to my chest which read my baseline heart rate.  It took maybe 10 minutes, tops!  Super easy and painless!

I have no idea what any of this means, but this is what my EKG looked like

Next, I had an echocardiogram, which was also related to my heart, but a little more involved and a lot more time consuming.  It was nothing more than an ultrasound of my heart and again it was very easy.  It took about an hour and was completely painless, other than a little bit of pressure from the tech pushing on my sternum with a cold wand.  But still, no big deal at all.

My final (or so I thought) appointment was with the surgeon and this was the one I had been waiting for all week long!  I was anxious to meet him and get a better idea of what the actual surgery itself would involve.  I felt like all of the loose ends would be tied up and all of my final questions would be answered in this last appointment.

The surgeon came in and immediately I got a weird feeling about him.  He was very business-like and came across slightly rude in my opinion.  He asked me a bunch of questions about my past medical history but didn't give me much time to ask any questions of my own.  Within a few minutes, he was telling me to lay down on the table so that he could take a look at my belly and do an exam of my liver.  Immediately, he noticed a small freckle on my stomach that he didn't like the looks of.  Suddenly, he was no longer concerned with my liver and was temporarily distracted by this spot on my belly.  Before I had time to even realize what was happening, he had called in two residents and they were draping my belly with blue cloth, rubbing me down with iodine and getting ready to numb me up and perform surgery right there on the exam table!!!  It's not that I didn't trust him to do this, (after all, he removes vital organs on a daily basis!) but it's just not how I expected the appointment to go.  Plus, I'm kind of a wimp and I really have to psyche myself up for this kind of stuff.  I wasn't mentally prepared to be hacked on that day so I was freaking out to say the least.  I felt like I was going to pass out several times as I felt them inject me with anesthesia and then as soon as I knew they were cutting, I REALLY felt like I was gonna lose it!  Matthew watched the whole thing, while my Mom sat in the corner with her head turned.  The resident stitched me up and the surgeon left the room, saying he would be back shortly.

Waiting with great anticipation to talk to the surgeon

Once I regained my composure, I waited anxiously for the surgeon to return.  I figured the hard part was over and now he would come in and answer all of my questions and give me some closure to the past three days and some hope for what was to come.  Some advice, words of wisdom....something.  Again, maybe my expectations were too high, but the surgeon himself, of all people, I assumed would be my greatest resource in this whole process.   I expected graphs, charts, drawings and scribbles, a time of questions and answers.  I felt like I should walk away feeling confident and having a good understanding of every aspect of this life changing event.  

He walked back in, told me they would send my biopsy off for testing and then he started telling me it was nice to meet me and essentially ending the appointment.  I looked at my Mom and Matthew with total confusion and I could tell they were shocked as well.  That was IT??  My Mom spoke up and expressed some confusion, to which the surgeon responded with quite an attitude.  I spoke up and explained that we just had hopes of having more of our questions answered and possibly a more detailed description of the surgery itself.  He said "You've already heard all you need to know this week and I'm not about to sit here and teach you how to do this surgery".  Wow, not the response I was expecting.  By that point I was almost in tears, simply because I was exhausted, overwhelmed and disappointed in how my most anticipated appointment of the whole week was ending.  I said "ok" and just resolved to let it go.  

I was so ready to get out of that hospital and couldn't wait to get on the road to Jackson and just put all of this behind me.  But it wasn't over yet.  Just as he was walking out, the surgeon told me that I needed a chest x-ray and updated lab work, all to be done that day before I left Vanderbilt.  I wanted to CRY.  I just wanted to go HOME!  He also reminded me that I would need clearance from my dentist and an updated pap smear from my OB/GYN.  Yes, my testing was far from over!!

I went downstairs and had my chest x-ray with no problem.  Quick, simple and painless.  Next, blood work.  What normally takes about 10 minutes turned into almost TWO HOURS!!  As I was waiting for my turn in the lab, I noticed that my  name was misspelled on the lab orders.  When they finally called me back, I mentioned it to the tech and she seemed very concerned over it.  LONG story short, there was a huge mix up in Vanderbilt's system because somewhere along the way my name began being misspelled, so half of my tests from the prior two days were under "Ashley Hughes" and the rest were under "Ashleigh Hughes".  At this point, I DID start to cry!  I sat in the lab waiting for them to straighten it out for almost two solid hours.  I just wanted to GO HOME!!  What should have taken a few minutes turned into an all-afternoon ordeal.  So much for getting back on the road to Jackson at a decent time.  Finally, they decided to just go ahead and draw my blood and then work out the details later.  I really didn't like the idea of leaving Vanderbilt without all of this straightened out, but I was just so over it by this point that I almost didn't care.  But, in the back of my mind I was worried about what would happen if they didn't get it all sorted out.  The selection committee would think I hadn't completed all of my necessary testing and could possibly deny me from being listed.  They drew 22 tubes of blood from me and then I was finally on my way out of there.  

We were all exhausted, starving and frazzled by this point.  As we waited for our car to be brought from valet parking, it started to snow.  Now, we had a slippery, cold drive ahead of us.  We didn't even get out of Nashville until 3:00, when we should have been out long before noon.  I slept the entire way home, only waking up when we stopped for an early dinner at Logan's.  

We made it home safely, just in time to greet Kyndall as she woke up from her nap on the couch

I have never been so glad to be back in my own home in my life.  I went straight to the couch, grabbed my favorite blanket and curled up into a ball. I did not move until it was time to put Kyndall to bed that night.  

In case you were wondering, I did call back and check on the issues with my name and I was assured that it was all straightened out.  I really hope that's the truth, since the selection committee will be meeting this Wednesday to review my case.  All I have left to do is get clearance from my dentist, which I am doing on Tuesday morning.  I don't anticipate any problems there--I'm a dental hygienist, after all!  I had my pap on Valentine's Day (woo-hoo) and as long as that comes back tomorrow with normal results, I will be cleared for that.  I was able to wiggle my way out of a mammogram, simply because of my age.  Thank GOODNESS!  I definitely was not looking forward to THAT!  

As I said, the committee will meet this Wednesday afternoon and hopefully I will receive a call by the end of the week to let me know if I've officially been listed.  If for some reason they do not feel I can be listed, they will defer me until further testing can be done regarding whatever the problem was.  But, I really don't feel like that's going to happen.  Once I am listed, they said I will wait (on average) 3 to 6 months for my donor.  I'm hoping and praying it's more like 3, because there is a certain little baby who will be making his or her appearance in just about 6 months and my goal is to be there, in person with my brand new liver on that day!!  Not only that, I certainly don't want my Mom to be stuck up here taking care of me when she should be by my sister's side as she welcomes her first child into the world.  Just pray with me that God would work out the timing in His perfect way, whatever that may be.  He knows the desires of my heart and He's already got the perfect liver out there for me somewhere, which will come at just the right time.

I owe a BIG thank you to my Mom, Matthew and my Mother-in-Law for all of their help this past week.  Mom and Matthew were as tired and overwhelmed as I was, but they definitely handled it better than I did.  My Mother-in-Law did a great job of holding down the fort and taking great care of Kyndall while we were away.  Even though I missed her, I knew that Kyndall was having a great time with her Nonie in my absence.  I really don't know what people do who don't have the kind of amazing support from family and friends that I do.  This is definitely a team effort and it absolutely could NOT be done alone.  

I also could not walk through this process without all of the support, love and prayers from all of YOU!  Some of you I do not even know personally, and others are close friends and family.  Either way, I have definitely felt the love and I covet your prayers.  Thank you for being my cheerleaders as you watch me walk this journey.  Keep the prayers coming, as this is only the beginning!!!

And now, we wait..............