Thursday 24 March 2016

24th March

So it's the 24th March. Today marks one year since I received the phone call from the Royal Free Hospital to let me know that I was being placed on the transplant list.

It was mid afternoon at the office when the phone rang. I knew immediately what it was and yet nothing could prepare me for the emotions that swept over me. Having waited an extra 2 weeks after my assessment, I was on tenter hooks wondering whether or not they would be listing me or not. When the Transplant Co-Ordinator gave me the news, there was nothing I could do to stop the tears of relief. I was then standing in the area of the office where the lifts are, in a kind of no-man's land, tears streaming down my face with no idea how I was going to be able to get back to work. My HR manager saw me and I was able to tell her the news. She sent me outside to cool down and have a chance to breathe.

So there it was, the decision had been made. All I had to do was wait for the phone to ring!

This past 12 months has been a torrent of emotions. Waiting for a phone to ring has never been so hard. Receiving a false alarm call in which hopes were lifted and then crashed leaving myself and my family left by a hospital bed in London being told to make our way home. Coming home from that first call was truly heartbreaking but at the same time it was a reminder that I was being thought about for transplant at each opportunity meaning that any day now could be the next call. Just 6 weeks later, that second call came. I didn't believe that the surgery would go ahead. Even when I was prepped for surgery and had been given a dose of temazepam to calm the nerves, I still believed that I was going to be sent home. I couldn't believe it when, just 8 hours after the call, I was outside the theatre waiting for the staff changeover so I could go in for the transplant that, by that point, was so very needed.

Here I am, 12 months after that listing phone call, well on the road to recovery and planning the rest of my life!

If anyone has any suggestions for exciting things to do or places to see in my healthy future, please feel free to message me or leave a comment!

Keep Smiling and Happy Easter :) 


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