July 30, 2024 - Mom Arrives in Seattle
Today, my mom arrived in Seattle. At this point, I was so overwhelmed with everything they were doing to me. All the questions, all the pokes, all the tests and I had no idea what any of it meant! My mind was gone, I couldn’t think rationally, I couldn’t focus and I definitely couldn’t make decisions for myself. My mom arrived at just the right time because shit was about to get real, real fast!
I had officially been in Seattle for 24 hours and had already gone through a series of tests to determine my exact diagnosis, the severity and the treatment plan moving forward. Initial diagnosis was as follows (some chronic conditions I’ve had for years, like endometriosis):
Acute liver failure. Acute hepatitis. Elagolix (the medication I was taking for endometriosis) not listed to cause hepatotoxicity but may be idiosyncratic.
Anemia of CKD vs chronic disease, possible GI blood loss.
Hyponatremia
Acute Kidney Injury
Endometriosis
Nephrology Consult
No changes from yesterday with some improvement and will continue to monitor.
Strict input output monitor.
Fluid restriction order placed for 1.5L
Hepatology Consult
MELD 35 (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease)
Predictor of 90-day survival ranging from 6-40+ (the larger the number the less chance to survive)
No changes from yesterday with minor improvement in MELD score.
What did all this mean? It meant that I was still dying and that I would not survive without a liver transplant!! But simply needing a liver transplant and actually getting one wasn’t a guarantee. My medical team immediately started presenting all the data and all the information so I could make an informed decision about going through the transplant process. Again, thank God for my mom because I couldn’t think straight, I couldn’t read, I was just completely in shock! Before I left Spokane, I got the impression I was getting better and at one point thought I no longer needed to go to Seattle, but now here I am being evaluated for a liver transplant 😳
They gave us some time over the next couple days to read through all the information, discuss it and come to a decision but in the meantime they wanted to get started on all the necessary testing (more on this in tomorrows story). As you may recall, my stress test was cancelled yesterday due to needing a blood transfusion but has since been rescheduled for tomorrow in which I will need to be transported to Swedish Cherry Hill to complete. Orders were in to be NPO at midnight for the first of many tests to follow.
I was finally moved from IMCU to room 915. I had no idea where my mom was staying, I don’t think she even knew at this point, but all that mattered was that she was in Seattle with me. Little did I know that she had already inquired with hospital staff about resources for places to stay long term if staying in area for liver, requested social work and a palliative care consult around concerns of being in the hospital sick for "indefinite" amount of time. Thank God for her many years of working in the medical field!! But more importantly, thank God that she was there for me!
When I think about it now, I honestly don’t know how she did it all! How she uprooted her life for the second time in a month’s time to be strong for someone other than herself! Her move to Spokane after the loss of her husband was supposed to be a fresh start, a new beginning rooted from tragedy but here she was faced with another tragedy! She left it all behind again to be by my side through every step of my journey. Her dog BoBo stayed in Spokane with Tim and she was now living out of a suitcase, in a hotel, in a strange place!
