What to Expect after a Liver Transplant
This is an email to a Best Friend who is waiting on their liver transplant. I thought you might like to read about what to expect after a liver transplant. As always, pardon any errors. I’m 3 months post and still a lil goofy.
Hay Bestie, Get ready for the time of your life. Let me warn you that most of it will be spent resting. Walking is a hoot, but the more you move, the faster you gain strength. Time your walks right after a pain med. There will be less audible groans and you’ll be strutting your stuff much smoother.
Ask friends and family to help keep your room peaceful, but upbeat. You need a quiet and positive environment. Our caregivers help create that healing atmosphere. They also help meet our every need at first. I find it hard to ask for anything. My family and friends knew that and kind of hovered around. They were gentle and kind, but forceful when I got all busy.
The mix of meds bring on a type of diabetes. You can expect some sugar highs and lows, but they control it with insulin. You will have your finger pricked a lot! Hopefully, that will even out over the first week. I kept a close watch on it and used ginger chews for nausea instead of ginger ale. Refined sugar is not our friend post transplant or any time.
It may seem snobbish, but I didn’t eat hospital food. I stuck with protein bars. I don’t know how to eat anything but my liver loving diet. My sis brought me a hold-the-salt steak from Cattleman’s in OKC on day 3 with my doctor’s permission. It had been years, and I savored every morsel of a bacon wrapped filet, butterflied and cooked to a perfection – medium well done. Other than that, it was all vegetable protein for me.
The first 24 hours were miraculous. I couldn’t believe it had gone so smooth! The next thing I knew I was climbing over the rails in my zeal to get moving. Honestly, I felt so AMAZING the moment I opened my eyes. Now I know why athletes love steroids. Wow. I was one happy girl with oodles and gobs of energy. It felt kind of like I was vibrating. You may get the jitters. (I still do) and you won’t feel quite like yourself. I am hoping that will continue to ease over time.
If you’ve had a lot of trouble with ascites, varices, hepatic encephalopathy, or been hospitalized, you may not feel so hot. I have felt so bad over the last year, and while I instantly felt better, there are still little problems I have to deal with. You may feel less energetic and achy. You may also be intubated or kept in ICU longer. This is NOT A RACE. Your body will dictate your timetable so roll with it.
About the pain. Nothing prepares you for that. Promise me you will use those pillows and the drugs! Waller around and work with the bed to get comfy. I moved my pillow (made by my friend Teresa) from side to side. I also kept my head and knee thingy up and slept for a few hours at a time that way. They will bring meds – Take Them. I took pain pills regularly for the first few weeks. I used .25 Xanax also. It helped sooth the back spasms and took me to dreamland quicker.
If you are like me, your back may hurt worse than your incision. Honestly, they cut the diaphragm to get my liver out. You may feel like you have a girdle tightened across your incision. It’s inner stitches… Getting a full breathe takes concentration. Use your pillow and take drugs when you do your deep breathing. Hurts like hell, but keeps your lungs clear. I promise.
That first shower will leave you groaning with pleasure. Your hair will feel crispy till you lather it up. It bounces back! (pun intended) Ask someone bring your fave lotion from home. Nothing on your tummy at first. After all the staples all came out I used vitamin E oil only.
This is one of those “girl friend needs to know thangs” – A good sports bra is wonderful. Ask your doctor when you can put it on. It def helps your back. An underwire may be uncomfortable for a while, but it gets better.
Posture is a struggle. You want to stand up straight, but that invisible “girdle” I mentioned pulls you forward. Go ahead and slump for a while. You will slowly work your way to sitting up straight. I’m still struggling with standing up straight while walking.
Let your family take pics. Mine did. I’m glad to have them to look back on. Yes, My eyes were hollow and dark, and I looked like a scarecrow hobbling down the hall of the hospital, but I was Happy to be Alive.
Love Love Love. Rest. Rest. Rest. You will no longer be sick. You will be recovering from surgery. Give yourself all the time in the world to just be.
Love yourself unconditionally no matter what you do or how you feel. Do a little. Do some more. Do nothing. No diff. Just rest and think about your future.
I hope this helps ease some of your fears,
xoxo Karen:)
For back pain and other post transplant blogs click here!
11 thoughts on “What to Expect after a Liver Transplant”
Dear Karen,
Thank you for all your loving inspiration. You’ve helped me in my path to grow in awareness in many areas of where you are healed and healing.
Sweet loving blessings,
Susan Zamani
Hi there. Very good article. I am sorry you had endured a lot of pain from the sounds of your article, I guess i was extremely lucky and had minimal pain. I took the pain meds mostly just to help me sleep because of my surroundings, noise, lights, room neighbors etc…and I especially related to the showering part. I had those ports in my neck for dialysis for a time and they would not let me take a shower because of fear of infection reasons. Did it ever feel great when I finally could. Keep it up you will be doing cartwheels in no time.
All the best
Bob
Hello Bob! Congratulations on your transplant. I am very glad to hear that you did well. We are all different so will all have a different story. I appreciate you sharing your experience. There are others on here who are looking as they are thinking of transplant or about to go through it. I think that we all need to share so we can help others to get through the experience. Karen had her transplant in April, she is improving all the time. I know she will be happy to see your message, much luck to you. Please keep in touch. Dee
for me it wasn’t that bad. after surgery I felt better than before surgery.I just wish I would have started working out more, earlierI feel like I’m behind in my progress almost 15 months post transplant.clean and sober biker/ veteran and father grandfather And husband god bless my donor.
Hey there, really glad to hear from you. Also glad to hear you did not have any problems. I think, for Karen, she was trying to be too active after her transplant. The medications made her very speedy and not feel the pain at first. She did slow down later but at first she was feeling so good she did not want to rest. As she said in her last post, she doesn’t like to ask for help so was trying to do everything herself, it finally hit her and she realized she needed to rest and take the pain medication. She is doing much better now. Her surgery was the 13th of April. She had a wonderful support group and I think that helped. Thanks so much for writing in and sharing. Dee
Hello my Dearest Bestie! You are such a good writer. I almost imagine what you were feeling as you recovered. The way you word your experience makes me think of you trying to stand up straight but the pulling from the stitches won’t let you. I know the pain after surgery and one must stay on top of it by taking the pain meds or it takes twice as long for the meds to work. I hope you are doing well. Living your life. God Bless your Donor and family for giving you the gift of life. Be well my friend
Love
Dorene
Dee Ernst recently posted…What to Expect after a Liver Transplant
Hey hunyo, I am thinking of you. I remember how amazed I was to hear from you on day 2 or 3. I thought I was texting your daughter and you replied. Woah! Speedy Karen! I guess it was the steroids. I also don’t know how to ask for help. You had some real angels looking after you! You are blessed and you are a blessing to all who know you! Much love, Dorene
Hey Karen-
Congratulations on the transplant! I had noticed you hadn’t posted on YouTube lately so I Googled you and found this page. I’ve prayed for you every night as I pray for my Brian. I’m so happy for you. You truly deserve this. I’ll continue to pray for your full recovery.
Love ya!
Timothy Alexander
Timothy,
What a loving heart you have. I felt so warm reading it. I need to get a youtube going. Sometimes I remember them and go look and laugh at my attempts. I’m so glad that I did them though. My family gets the biggest kick out of it. I’m praying for you all too. We all deserve to live a full life. Love and prayers for you and Brian. xo Karen:)
Thank you Karen for the blog. You are truely a kind and encouraging soul!! I love u sis and I pray u continue to prosper in love and health and spiritual blessings. You help so many people and I know it requires a lot of your time to read, reply and post all the information you share and for that I’m forever greatful.
Can you tell me what I should pack in my bag awaiting the transplant call? I’m going to try to work in that over the weekend because as of Tuesday I am told to have a bag packed and ready to go at any given time. I pray you have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!!!!
Hello there! I bet you are so excited! Since it is Labor day Karen may not be around. I would take whatever you would take for any other operation.
I would make sure to take chap stick as your lips will be dry, toothbrush, toothpaste, maybe a scarf for your hair, some comfy pj’s if they allow that. My hair was a mess after surgery and I wished I had brought something to cover it up with 🙂
I am praying to you, I hope your transplant comes soon and you will wake up groggy. Karen doesn’t remember that she came on Twitter only hours after the surgery. A big thing, you need to rest after surgery. The cortisone might give you energy, ignore it. Karen’s friends made her a nest in her bed with music, books etc, anything to get her to rest. The prednisone tricks you in to thinking you are ok, then you pay for all the running around. Bless you sweetie! Dee
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