One year! So thankful and blessed beyond words!

Wow! I cannot believe a year has come and gone since my journey began! God is so good! It has been a wild and amazing ride to say the least.

I had my year check-up and liver biopsy done right after Christmas. I received the results this week and my new liver is doing great! That news brings a sigh of relief that things are still going really well, and some anxiety has been lifted off of me. It's not something I worry about day to day because I know I am being monitored. However, there is that little part of your brain that worries, as I know everyone can relate to :) Spending the Holidays at home was such a gift! It is one that I will never take for granted.

So, here is my one year anniversary monologue (so to speak), so bare with me :)

I am blessed beyond words, not only to be alive and doing well, but to have a family that loves, supports, and encourages me more than I can express. YOU ARE MY ROCK! My Mom and Dad are both amazing parents! I can't thank them enough for the unconditional love and support they give me! My sweet Mom, who never left me (except a few times I had to kick her out of the hospital), has done so much for me this year that I cannot even explain how grateful I am for her. I am in awe of her strength and thankful we both made it out alive after all of the unexpected bonding time we have had over the past year :) My Dad, who's always there making sure things are being taken care of and for dealing with the mess of stuff that had to be moved and dealt with in Nashville when I became sick. I know that wasn't fun:) My sisters, Whitney and Natalie, I truly do not know what I would do without them! They helped me stay sane on this roller coaster... Constantly helping me, taking good care of me, doing things for me that none of us dreamed we would ever have to do, and making me laugh even when I was at my worst regardless of circumstances. I know our parents are so proud that even in our adult years, we still do a great job of acting inappropriately, which has made the hospital/clinic staff laugh more than I can count! And I can't leave out my wonderful brother-in-laws, Dan and Eric! They put up with me and did more than I could have ever asked for, considering I flipped their lives upside down :)

My friends, where do I begin, you are wonderful! Each and every one of you have steadfastly stood by me and supported me. I am so blessed to have you in my life! Care packages, phone calls, text message, emails, facebook messages, cards, visits in and out of the hospital, taking care of me along the way, PRAYERS... I could go on and on... I don't think I could possibly put into words how you brightened so many days for me and made me feel loved. THANK YOU! You are all so special to me! And for the people that have supported and prayed for me near and far. You all have a special place in my heart.

Last but not least, to my doctors and nurses at Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. You are truly amazing and have been given awesome gift. Dr. Eason and Dr. Campos, thank you for saving my life! To all the nurses, you took such good care of me and I am so grateful!

Now that I feel like I have written an acceptance speech for some award, I will stop :) Sorry, I got a little carried away, but trust me I could go on...

Please sign up to be an organ donor, if you have not already. I have been amazed at how many people have told me that they registered this year. It is one simple thing that will make you a hero no matter where life takes you. Here is a link to help you register: http://donatelife.net/register-now/

Please continue to pray for my organ donor's family. I know God is watching over them.

"Give thanks to the God of Heaven, for His steadfast love endures forever." ~Psalm 136:26

8 Days and Counting!

Where to begin...  There are so many great things to celebrate lately!  Spending Thanksgiving at home with my family; being able to eat at Thanksgiving this year; ending another semester of grad school (one more to go!); enjoying Holiday festivities outside of the hospital... so basically not being in the hospital! I was also able to celebrate another Birthday!!  Which is wonderful in so many ways because not only am I here to celebrate, I was not in the hospital this year not knowing what was happening with my health and life.  I was able to see my sisters, niece and nephew for the day and then celebrate that night at dinner with my awesome Nashvegas friends!  All in all, a great weekend of celebrating.  And while a year older in my 30's always made me cringe in the past, I will take each and every year that I age, and embrace it gracefully (I hope), and be thankful for the person and doctors who saved my life. 

I cannot believe how quickly I am approaching the one year anniversary of my transplant.  As December 26th approaches, I don't know what to anticipate feeling.  I am so lucky to be alive!  I will have my one year checkup on the 27th and a liver biopsy on the 28th (standard procedure) to make sure Bertha is doing well! 

Please join me in remembering and praying for the family that had to say goodbye to their loved one.  While I get to celebrate being home for Christmas, they will be feeling the loss of someone special.  I know God will be there with them to hopefully bring them some peace this Christmas.  I will remember them and be thankful that I am able to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, while being surrounded by family and friends.

A merry heart does good like a medecine; but a broken spirit dries to the bones.
~Proverbs 17:22

**There was also another life-saving liver transplant this December.  Dear family friends of mine, Mac and Sherry Thomson, who have been so good to me on my journey, received good news that Mr. Mac was getting a new liver.  He received the awesome news on his daughter, Blair's, birthday!   Please pray for Mack and the Thomson family, on this new path, for God to give them strength, encouragement, peace and patience as Mac continues to recover from his transplant.  As we are all told by the medical team, "it is a marathon, not a sprint" on this road of recovery. 

Merry Christmas! 

10 months and counting!!!

It has now been 10 months since my transplant!  Once again, time has swiftly marched along.  I found out last week that my bilirubin is now down to a 0.4, which is amazing.  I have gotten nothing but good reports lately, so I am thrilled! 

I did just overcome a mental block, so to speak.  I had put it off and put it off (with the best intentions), but I finally bit the bullet and wrote to my donor’s family.  It was one of the hardest, complicated, emotional and worrisome things I have ever done.  How do you tell them thank you enough or make sure words convey how truly grateful you are or help them understand that you don’t take it for granted?  How do you express your excitement for living, while knowing they are still mourning their loved one?  How do you express the love you feel for these people that you have never met?  And I could go on…  (hence the emotions mentioned above).  It just feels like words aren’t enough.  My hope is that I was able to convey to them how truly grateful and humbled I am, and hope that they can find some kind of peace with their decision for organ donation. 

I also discovered a neat company called RockScar Love at www.RockScarLove.com.  A woman who had a liver transplant in 1993 started the company a year ago to give back to the transplant community.  She offers merchandise with fun slogans that bring awareness to organ donation, and “helping individuals with physical, mental and emotional scars to embrace the lessons they represent.”   If you know someone who has been through some sort of trauma, whether it is transplant involved or something different, it is well worth checking out! 

It is wild to think that this whole journey began a year ago, roughly three weeks from now.  November 20^th…  My gallbladder went first and who knew what was coming next!!

~ Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.             

  Peter F. Drucker
 

Time Flies!!!

Wow, it has officially been 6 months since my transplant day!! Technically it was June 26th :) I think many would agree this has been quite a journey and such a blessing in disguise. However, this also marks 6 months that a family and friends lost a loved one. So, while it is marked with great celebration that things are going so well since my transplant, I always think of the other family that has suffered great loss and I will forever be grateful to them and my donor for saving my life. Words truly cannot express how humble I feel every time I think of them. Please continue to pray for them that they may receive healing and peace.

Revelation 21:4: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.


Quick update: Bertha is doing great!! Nothing super new to report... Medication still is being tweaked and I have definitely figured out the culprit of my joint stiffness and pain. When my anti-rejection medicine reaches a high level in my system I am really affected. So, if you see me hobbling around, moving or grabbing my knees a lot and maybe looking a bit awkward just go with it and laugh with me. Now you know what is wrong:) I have found that I do this and don't even realize it, so I am sure some people have gotten a good laugh :) I go back to the doctor mid-July, so hopefully everything will go well!

On another note: Please continue to pray for Aimee and Trey on their new journey in the transplant world. They had to open Aimee for a second time to remedy some internal bleeding. She is continuing to recover, but this has made the road a lot more difficult. But the great news is that her new liver is strong and doing great!  

Please Pray!!

As I have walked through this journey, I have met some great people along the way who have helped me so much.  I was lucky and so thankful to have my "goto" friends Lisa and Paul Rice help me and my family through the transplant process and help me understand what things were like and be a comfort that everything was going to be alright.  Lisa kept me and my mother sane when we were questioning what was going on many times. Although each person having liver problems has different issues, it is so helpful and calming to have someone who has been through it too.  I will forever be grateful!! 

In turn, I have been able to return the favor.  I was connected with someone who has been waiting for a liver.  She has been going through the same things I went through in a little different way.  But, I have had the opportunity to meet her and her husband and help them know that she is ok and that what she is going through is normal when it involves liver failure.  She is around my age and is such a sweet person.  My heart went out to her and her husband because it has been a hard and rocky road for them.

The GREAT news is that she just got the call that they FOUND a match for her and she will be having her liver transplant today!!!  PLEASE PRAY for Aimee and Trey that God will grant them strength, peace, He will hold them in His hands, and that the surgeouns and medical staff take the best care of her.  God is good!!

Isaiah 41:10:  Fear not, for I am with you;  be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

What can I say about the month of May...

Things have been in full swing since my last post!  I have been bouncing back and forth from Jackson to Nashville, which has been great!  I feel I have regained a little of my "old life" back and have been able to combine it with the new.  It has been very exciting to be able to be in Nashville more and more!  And to be able to see and spend time with so many friends as time has passed is awesome!     

I had a great weekend at the beach with my Auburn girls at the beginning of May!  We were fortunate enough to be able to make a weekend celebrating so many transitions in our lives and appreciate how close we all still are in our post-college years.  There is nothing sweeter than remembering the crazier times, talking about where life has taken us, and laughing until you cry, as if no time had passed.  A little TLC at the beach never hurts!

I have started school again.  I am ALMOST done with my Master's degree!!  Or at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel :)  It has been fun to see all of my school friends and professors, while always making new friends in my classes.  One thing I appreciate more than I did before is the age range of the people I am in school with and hearing every one's stories.  I sound quirky by saying this, but I think I appreciate people's "life" stories more than I used to.  And you get a lot of them in my program of Marriage and Family Therapy :) 

And as I write now, I am sitting in the Pensacola, FL airport leaving a family vacation that was so fun, albeit a little shorter on my end because of school :)  Going to the beach twice in a month is the way to live!!  We had a great time, and I appreciate every opportunity I get to spend with my family.  We all needed this time after a rough winter!  It is always entertaining to watch and play with my niece and nephew...  You never know what surprise is going to arise with them!  Unfortunately we were down one brother-in-law, but maybe next time it will be ALL of us!   As my Dad put it in such a special family prayer, we are incredibly BLESSED! 

So, with all that said, Bertha is still going strong!!  I cannot believe it has been 5 months since my liver transplant and how so much has changed so fast.  I remember at one point thinking it would take forever to get to this point, and yet I feel like it was just a week ago I was laying in the hospital waiting for surgery.  I am grateful and so happy to be over a few hurdles back into a more normal life.  I only have to get blood work done every other week.  My veins are finally remembering that being stuck with a needle can hurt :)  I am off of one medication, which has helped with some side effects I have been having.  Fingers crossed I get to drop one more medication at 6 months, as well.  All in all things are good!!  Life is good!!  God is good!!

The month of May has truly been inspiring!  A line from one of many favorite songs I heard recently reminded me how I want to live my life :) 
"I'm gonna muster every confidence I have and cannonball into the water!"
 ~ Teddy Geiger

Little lessons learned on this journey!

I learned little lessons every day about hospital life and how to endure and try to make it more pleasant or at least easier to endure.

1) Always be nice to your nurses, even if they aren't the most pleasant to you, you are in a lot of pain and really feel like telling them to do some place not so nice, or they are looking at you with a very long needle wondering "where are they going to stick me now" :)  Kindness can get you a lot of places in the hospital.  Especially the midnight and 4am ice chip runs the nurses would make for me because that could be the only thing that sounded good to me many days.  Ice chips are the one thing that got me through my hospital stays and the only thing I miss about the hospital.  I love Sonic's ice, but it isn't nearly as good as the hospital ice chips.   

** In all honesty, I have a true and humble respect for nurses!!  I could NOT do what they do!  I adored every nurse I had during my transplant period, minus one creepy male nurse:)** 

2) You will love the hospital if you like Ensure, Mighty Milk, and Boost!!  I was basically force fed and threatened with it by my doctors, nurses, and some family members :)  Needless to say, I was not so pleasant when it came to trying to consume those.  I never finished one, and I am fairly sure I dumped some down the sink so I wouldn't have to finish them.  I will forever be haunted by those drinks.

3) I never would have seen the launch of Oprah's TV network OWN.  After a month in the hospital, anything different on television is a blessing!  I am fairly sure it was in the middle of the night, when I was always awake, but who am I kidding...  You never get rest in a hospital :)

4) Never think you will get rest in a hospital!  You can become so backwards that you do not remember whether it is day or night, what time it is, or even sometimes, how long you have been in one pair of PJ's. Yes, I  know that is disgusting, but some days it was true for me :)  I generally regulated with my 5am wake up call to have blood drawn!  What a way to start the day/end the night when you never really slept to begin with.

"Sleep, riches, and health to be truly enjoyed must be interrupted."  ~Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, Flower, Fruit, and Thorn

** More to come, of course in no particular order.  I apologize in advance for my story telling skills.  I can be challenged in this area, but they can still be funny :) **