Hospital orientation day - 5 days and counting!

Well things continue to get more real!  Today I had my orientation at Henry Ford Hospital to prepare me for the big day on Monday (and of course get more blood drawn).  First I met with my surgeon Dr. Abouljoud, who went over everything with me in regards to what I can expect.  He also showed me a super cool 3-D image they had made of my liver.  They sent my scans to Germany and they produce a 3-D image of my liver, complete with different colors to mark all the different veins and what not.  This way when he gets in there, there are no surprises.  He already has his road map and knows where to cut!  It was great to connect with him again because the last time I saw him was the day I was tested to see if I was a match, and that was a whirlwind!  I also met with my transplant coordinator, Nemie, who has been completely awesome during this entire process.  She went over my pre-op ... fun stuff routine (let's just leave it at that lol!) and also gave me a tour of the hospital.  Being a person who likes details, today made me feel much better.  I know what to expect and the different areas of the hospital I'll be in.  Here is a picture of me, Dr. Abouljoud and Nemie.

 

 

I also got to meet with a pharmacist and nutritionist.  The nutritionist walked in and said, "well I've looked at your chart and talked with Dr. Abouljoud and this is going to be a very short meeting!"  It's so reassuring to hear from all of the Dr.s that my health is awesome and so is my routine.  In fact, all of the Dr.s I've met with have said they wish they could clone me because I'm so healthy and happy :)  They told me to not change any of my habits post surgery .... well except for one  ... and it's a HUGE one!  I have to wait to drink Shakeology again until my liver regenerates  (app. 2 months) talk about the bummer of the century!!!  I have been drinking it everyday, sometimes twice per day, for 3 years now!  It's such a HUGE part of my healthy routine and it's going to be SO  hard to go without it for that long.  People have asked me, "well yeah but I thought Shakeology was supposed to be so good for you!"  That's the thing ... it IS so incredibly good for you!  However, it's a super dense and concentrate dose of nutrition that is completely all natural.  So it's made up of herbs, vitamins, super foods, etc.  There are some potent herbs that you should not have post surgery because they can thin your blood or cause clotting.  Also, since I will only have half a liver, that is a lot of herbs and vitamins to process which could over tax my already taxed organ.  Going without Shakeology could actually be more challenging for me then the actual surgery lol!

 

Marching onward to the big day on the 26th .... please send me lots of love and positivity :)