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3 weeks post liver transplant: when will I feel better?
Transplants | Last Active: Jun 16, 2023 | Replies (106)Comment receiving replies
@rosemarya
Hi Rosemary,
My name is Elaine and today is my 30 Year Anniversary of having my Liver Transplant❤️🙏🏻❤️God blessed me with a new liver on May 29th, 1993 at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. I am very happy to be alive and you will be too once you get through a few more months and decide you aren't a freak and you are actually going to live. You may look & feel different now but things will go back to mostly normal or a “New Normal” sometime soon !! You’ve been thru major life altering surgery and the more you work at being better, the better you’ll start to get😊
Liver Transplants hadn’t been around for too long when I had mine and people didn’t know what to say or do when they found out I’d had a Liver Transplant. It was so nice once I started going to the Transplant Clinic because I was able to sit and talk to other Post Liver Transplant Patients. It helped immensely to see how they were doing and ask questions to someone who new first hand. It was also nice to see they had and were recovering like the doctors said. One person told me that I would not feel normal until after One Year. I wondered if that could be true, but he was close. I wasn’t yellow any longer and I had lost a lot of the puffiness, but I still had chipmunk cheeks 😉 It took me a while to accept the new me! However, I was alive and I was able to be with my children, husband and family and they helped me find the new me 😉 Once I started to do my daily walk around the neighborhood, I started talking to people and reconnecting with old friends and making new friends. They were all amazed at how well I was doing and wanted to know more about who gave me the liver etc.
Replies to "@rosemarya Hi Rosemary, My name is Elaine and today is my 30 Year Anniversary of having..."
Hello Elaine, my name is Vivian and I have my 25th liver transplant anniversary coming up in a month. Indeed it is a privilege to have received the Gift of Life and our post transplant longevity is proof that we are good stewards to this Gift. It is a wild and scary ride at the beginning but eventually we need to remember to live our best life within the parameters of post transplant life but not allowing the transplant to become who we are. We are more than the transplant. It is nice to "meet" another long timer and to hopefully give newer transplant recipients the assurance that this is not a sprint, this is a "go steady and smell the roses" adventure with many more years ahead. It truly gets easier until you don't even think about it.
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@ehs6855 Good Morning, Elaine and Happy Belated Liver Transplant Birthday! Congratulations on 30 years of life to enjoy with your family and loved ones. I can definitely see that you are a living example what is meant by the term, "Gift of Life".
I think that you intended this response to someone else. I had my liver/kidney transplant 14 years ago at Mayo Clinic in Rochester after a transfer from UofKY due to complications. However your message is a vital one for anyone who is undergoing a liver transplant. You are an inspiration for me and I look forward to my own 30th anniversary someday. Thank-you for sharing
I especially like what you said, "...Once I started to do my daily walk around the neighborhood, I started talking to people and reconnecting with old friends and making new friends. They were all amazed at how well I was doing and wanted to know more about who gave me the liver etc." That is similar to what I experienced. And one of my greatest honor was when people told me (and still do) that they decided to register as an organ donor because of what they witnessed through my Miracle of organ transplant.
Elaine, What are some changes that you have seen in the transplant process since your transplant 30 years ago?