On April 20, 2022 I had a full liver transplant.
All of this journey happened really fast. October 1, 2021 I felt like my gut was being used as a punching bag and I had every symptom of gall bladder or liver disease except jaundice; October 15 a possible gall bladder issue was suspected; October 22 I was told my liver enzymes were "way off the chart" high; October 26 I was told it might be bile duct cancer. November 2 a cancer surgeon said it was possibly inoperable and I had 2 months to possibly 2 years to live so my only recourse was to take chemo and radiation until my body couldn'take it any more and that I was too old for Mayo liver transplant. November 12 the diagnosis was definitely inoperable bile duct cancer. Fortunately when I called Mayo to see if they would consider me, the nurse practioner who did my liver enzyme test had already asked Mayo to consider me as a candidate and I had a Mayo number "identity". December 17 to December 31 May tested and interviewed me almost everyday. January 6, 2022 Mayo said I was on the transplant list but inactive until (January
through February) radiation and chemo 36 rounds, (March) a laporotomy to see if the cancer had spread. On Friday night April 17, 2022 Mayo called to tell me I was now active on the transplant list at a MELD score of 26. Sunday 48 hours later I got a call from the donor procurement team that a brain dead patient and potential liver donor was going off life support Monday and I should be ready to get to Mayo hospital late Monday. Tuesday the 20th at 2:20 a.m. my cousin got a text from the surgeon "old liver out, new liver in".
Later I saw photos of the old liver which was totally unrecognizable as a liver and looked like I didn't have even 2 months to live.
There are so many who wait for years for their transplant. I don't know why I was so blessed to have such a fast journey and I am ever so grateful to all those who helped along the way and gave me a new life.
So as I adjust to the challenges, changes and "new me" I look forward to a future I had imagined - providing free teacher workshops (I taught well over 9,000 teachers to use creative challenges to teach core subjects), continue working on my new art series "Arizona skies" and tremors permitting - dance. And who knows with this new life a future that though I hadn't imagined, I love!