We had a visit from the Transplant coordinator today. She provided lots of information on the surgery, recovery, follow-up appointments, etc. It IS overwhelming but I am really thankful it is happening so fast.
Cathy took all the notes so I'll summarize as much as possible. Assuming Tom is approved for a transplant, he may, due to current health issues, need to remain hospitalized while waiting for a liver. It is possible that he could be well enough to go home and wait. Once a liver is available, they do lots of tests on it and ask lots of questions about the health of the donor and then pull together all of their resources. She said that a lot of times, a liver will become available and the recipient will have surgery the following day. That means we would have time to get here if we're at home. The surgery is normally 6 to 8 hours. She told us about the incision, drainage, etc. I won't go into all of that.
After surgery, Tom would remain hospitalized for 7-10 days and then move to a "townhouse" on campus for 2 - 3 weeks. After that, Tom would come back to the clinic about once a month and as he improves, those appointments would spread out.
Each Monday, the transplant team here meets and decides if the candidates are going to be considered for a transplant. The coordinator thought we would know about Tom on Monday.
Most of UAB's organs come from in-house, but he would also be on a national registry. Tom will be assigned a MELD score which is based on his lab results. So as he improves, the MELD score will probably go down. The higher the MELD score, the higher he is on the list.
The psychiatric team came in today also and asked a bunch of questions. Tom has several tests that he needs to take over the next few days as part of the evaluation process. He will also have stress tests on his heart and breathing tests on his lungs. They will do EKG's, ultrasounds, and stuff like that as well.
Tomorrow at noon is a class for transplant patients and family members so I hope to be able to attend it.
Everyone that has come in to meet with us today has said Tom needs to eat, breathe (in the incentive spirometer), and move.
We also met with the person who will probably be Tom's surgeon, Dr. Gray. We are very impressed.
Tom is sitting in a chair for a while - he doesn't look happy.
Still lots to deal with. Please keep praying that the staff will accept Tom.
Cathy and I are missing our homes, jobs and friends but we know it is very important for us to be here.
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