jeanne5009, I hope you will have an informative and a positive appointment this week. I will be thinking about you. Is his/her office one of those cold ones? Take a good warm sweater with you, just in case! - that is my knowledge contribution for today:-)

After we drove to Mayo, we had appointment the next day.
Because of my disease (Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis) PSC, my bile duct was removed at transplant along with my liver. I have no bile duct. So the surgeon created a new "bile"duct that connected my liver to my intestine. Somehow, this new duct found a small gap in the folds of my intestine and when it got pinched shut, some of the bacteria from the intestine got pushed into my liver to my blood stream. This does not usually happen.
My transplant surgeon preformed the repair surgery (hernia) and the incision was glued shut - no stitches/staples. She made the new incision on a portion of the transplant incision. So my "Mercedes" scar is intact:-) I was discharged in 1 or 2 days, and returned home. My recovery was immediate, and I only had to be careful of the incision until it healed. I probably had antibiotics to finish from the infection, though.

That all happened in mid May (2010) and I was able to do my annual Smokey Mountain hiking vacation with my husband in June.
In all,I spent 1-2 days in local hospital, 4-5 in transplant care in Louisville, i day home, 1-2 day travel, 3-4 days Rochester.

- This episode was frightening, and it made us (me and husband) realize the importance of prompt action when something is not 'right'.
I think it is why I always try to encourage patients in transplant to communicate with their transplant team, or their doctor.