LIVER TRANSPLANT ASSESSMENT

And so I entered Birmingham hospitals Liver Transplant Assessment programme where prospective patients are assessed for their suitability for transplant. This involved attending the hospital on 19^th November 2012 to undergo a variety of tests including chest x-ray, echocardiogram, ECG and blood tests. Then we met with a transplant co-ordinator who gave us information about the rest of the assessment and answered any questions we had. At the end of the day the co-ordinator confirmed the consultants would review today’s results and decide if they considered me a suitable candidate, in which case further assessments would be required. 

Well we passed phase one and were recalled for 2 more days of tests and assessments on Dec 4 & 5^th.

It was made clear to us during these assessments that even if accepted, this was no ‘guarantee’ of actually receiving a transplant. There is always a shortage of donor livers; hence we might be waiting for possibly up to 3,6,12 months or maybe longer for a transplant. It was not unknown for some patients to die while on the list.

Dec 5^th was a Wednesday, and at the end of the day’s proceedings we were told the consultants met every Friday to review all the assessed patients and decide whether or not they were to go on the waiting list. Either way we would be called on Friday afternoon. So Vivien and I went home that Wednesday evening on tenterhooks awaiting Friday’s judgement, which came at about 4 o’clock. The co-ordinator said we had made it onto the list and she sounded genuinely thrilled for us. She also re-iterated it would be our responsibility from today to always have an overnight bag packed ready and waiting for the phone call to get to the hospital urgently were they to find a compatible liver, bearing in mind the hospital was over 2 hours away. She did warn us there might be some false alarms, because it was entirely possible a liver from another part of the country initially deemed suitable for me, might turn out not to be so under scrutiny on arrival at the hospital. 

But some hope is better than no hope, the tumour was small (but growing), and there was always surgery or radio/chemotherapy in the interim if a compatible liver proved difficult to find, although I do have a common blood type which increased my chances significantly. After that call our emotions were running high, it felt like we had come to the end of a very difficult 22 months, only now to be standing on the threshold of a different uncertainty and still staring into a future that held no guarantees. Weird feeling!