@darring1 the ways in which I was sick waiting for my transplant at first included hepatic encephalopathy. This doesn’t happen to everyone. When this occurred to me I would become confused and belligerent which is the opposite of my normal self. I’d wake up this way and family would call 911 and I’d be admitted to the hospital for several days. After a while it stopped but looking back I had some low level confusion with trouble concentrating. I also had recurrent fevers of unknown origin which landed me in the hospital a few times when fevers were high and persistent. They could never find an infection source- a hematologist thought it was some internal process of hematolozation. Something like that. I was often very tired, I was very jaundiced, and often EXTREMELY itchy which is common. I also had very shaky hands from end stage liver disease. I had good days and bad days- I did get breaks from the worst symptoms and sometimes tons of energy. Didn’t develop ascities as many do but I had edema all over my body (anascara) and my legs and feet were horribly swollen. I took a lot of medications that contributed to symptoms- the worst one being lactulose which helps keep ammonia low (when it’s high it caused hepatic encephalopathy)- it does this by making you empty your bowels significantly- because of my episodes I was given a high dose which led to at least 5-6 bowel movements each day. Gross and inconvenient. I was not able to drive and I didn’t work for months. (I am a social worker). About a month before my transplant I had a consult with a nephrologist who told me that post transplant I wouldn’t be yellow or puffy or sick and I absolutely didn’t believe him. I couldn’t remember normal.