This blog has taken a while!
My memory of this day is very very ropey, the brain is a weird thing! But I've been filled in about what happened and it's come back to me slowly!
I'm not going to go into detail about what date I got my transplant as I am very emotional about the donor and their family and it's not something I'm ready to think about or have people thinking that I have their donated organ.
But a couple of weeks ago, Ciaran woke up as normal and left for work around 8am and I went back to sleep as I always do! At about 10am I had a phone call from a private number, I sort of rolled off the bed and thought 'ugh I'm going to have to answer this' and thank god I did! Now the details aren't great, for example I thought I spoke to Laura but apparently it was Helen that was my coordinator, but I spoke to someone on the phone haha. They asked how I was and said they potentially had a heart for me and could I get to the hospital, I said yes of course and called my mum! Obviously it went to voicemail and she texted me and said 'I'm at pilates is it urgent?' And I said 'yes need to get to the hospital!'
So my mum was at the house within maybe 10 minutes and I quickly scrambled clothes together, I've had an overnight bag packed for a while but I'd been down to London for This Morning and hadn't unpacked so none of my clothes were clean and there was stuff everywhere! So I grabbed clean clothes and shoved them in bags, and then I do not remember the car journey at all. I remember just feeling really calm, I didn't feel like it was actually happening. I thought we'd just be coming home disappointed as they can call off the transplant right up until they put you to sleep.
So we got to the hospital and there was 4 cars waiting before us to get into the small carpark for the transplant unit and I made my mum get out and ask them if we could go first and the woman at the front said 'well I do hope you're telling the truth because we're here for an operation too' haha! Some people. But it was all very relaxed. In the car on the way there I called Ciaran and he was at the hospital when we got there as he works near by and I called my sisters work and my dad and Emily. They only had a bed on the mens ward so that's where I waited and I had numerous tests, ECG, bloods, etc but my memory of all this is very blurry. Then we waited for about 5 hours I'm told and the coordinator kept popping in saying things like 'external checks were good, we're checking the heart internally now'. And then I remember getting changed into a gown and paper knickers! And I wasn't allowed to eat so I was starving by this point and everyone went to get food!
I remember my mum being annoyed that she'd come from pilates and had no makeup on, and I was annoyed because I hadn't washed my hair in days! I also had fake tan on my arms which wasn't ideal when it came to all the stickers!
Then after waiting ages I was taken down to the aneathetist so I gave my dad and Emily a hug and Victoria, my mum and Ciaran came down with me. They were all allowed in the room which was nice and the anethetist just worked around them. I had lines put in and was given an oxygen mask, but even then I was waiting for the coordinator to say no it's not going ahead! But she went 'yeah carry on' and then I don't remember anything else until I woke up in ICU about 7 days later! I'm going to ask Ciaran to write my blog for what happened while I was in ICU because I was in a coma but then when I woke up I was sedated which was horrible, I thought I was in a coma still because I was fully aware of what was going on but I couldn't speak or move and I thought I was dead. I also hallucinated really badly for 6 days, not fun! So my memory of what happened is very different to what actually happened!
But a quick note about what happens during the op, I was asleep and was put on bypass, so they clamp your main arteries and then your blood passes through a machine to keep you alive. This all happens before the donor heart arrives at the hospital! I asked the coordinator for a photo of my heart so she emailed a photo of it to Ciaran while he was outside theatre knowing full well the new heart wasn't there yet which he said was really unsettling!
After surgery the right hand side of my heart became enlarged, they think its because my chest cavity was large, apparently its common in people with restrictive cardiomyopathy. So they put a balloon pump up through my groin and into the heart to help it pump but this was barely needed and it was taken out. After surgery I was on all sorts of drugs, adrenaline, dopamine, dialysis, oxygen, ventilator, I had drains coming out all over the show. It's not nice to think that my family saw me like that but I was out of it so it's not like I cared at the time! But I was quickly taken off a lot of things.
So the next post will be from Ciaran about what happened in the days after I came out of theatre! But I have been conscious for about 7 days now and I feel good!
Thank You to everyone for your cards, gifts, messages, well wishes, I've never felt so loved and cared for! And I'm so grateful for all my family that were at the hospital the whole time I was asleep and for their constant love and support. And I am beyond grateful for the family of my donor for making the difficult decision to donate their organs and save my life, for all the surgeons, doctors and nurses for taking such good care of me!
My memory of this day is very very ropey, the brain is a weird thing! But I've been filled in about what happened and it's come back to me slowly!
I'm not going to go into detail about what date I got my transplant as I am very emotional about the donor and their family and it's not something I'm ready to think about or have people thinking that I have their donated organ.
But a couple of weeks ago, Ciaran woke up as normal and left for work around 8am and I went back to sleep as I always do! At about 10am I had a phone call from a private number, I sort of rolled off the bed and thought 'ugh I'm going to have to answer this' and thank god I did! Now the details aren't great, for example I thought I spoke to Laura but apparently it was Helen that was my coordinator, but I spoke to someone on the phone haha. They asked how I was and said they potentially had a heart for me and could I get to the hospital, I said yes of course and called my mum! Obviously it went to voicemail and she texted me and said 'I'm at pilates is it urgent?' And I said 'yes need to get to the hospital!'
So my mum was at the house within maybe 10 minutes and I quickly scrambled clothes together, I've had an overnight bag packed for a while but I'd been down to London for This Morning and hadn't unpacked so none of my clothes were clean and there was stuff everywhere! So I grabbed clean clothes and shoved them in bags, and then I do not remember the car journey at all. I remember just feeling really calm, I didn't feel like it was actually happening. I thought we'd just be coming home disappointed as they can call off the transplant right up until they put you to sleep.
So we got to the hospital and there was 4 cars waiting before us to get into the small carpark for the transplant unit and I made my mum get out and ask them if we could go first and the woman at the front said 'well I do hope you're telling the truth because we're here for an operation too' haha! Some people. But it was all very relaxed. In the car on the way there I called Ciaran and he was at the hospital when we got there as he works near by and I called my sisters work and my dad and Emily. They only had a bed on the mens ward so that's where I waited and I had numerous tests, ECG, bloods, etc but my memory of all this is very blurry. Then we waited for about 5 hours I'm told and the coordinator kept popping in saying things like 'external checks were good, we're checking the heart internally now'. And then I remember getting changed into a gown and paper knickers! And I wasn't allowed to eat so I was starving by this point and everyone went to get food!
I remember being taken down to Xray because the lady that took me was really impatient with the receptionist, she kept saying 'she's here for transplant, she needs to go in now' and I felt really awkward!
I remember my mum being annoyed that she'd come from pilates and had no makeup on, and I was annoyed because I hadn't washed my hair in days! I also had fake tan on my arms which wasn't ideal when it came to all the stickers!
Then after waiting ages I was taken down to the aneathetist so I gave my dad and Emily a hug and Victoria, my mum and Ciaran came down with me. They were all allowed in the room which was nice and the anethetist just worked around them. I had lines put in and was given an oxygen mask, but even then I was waiting for the coordinator to say no it's not going ahead! But she went 'yeah carry on' and then I don't remember anything else until I woke up in ICU about 7 days later! I'm going to ask Ciaran to write my blog for what happened while I was in ICU because I was in a coma but then when I woke up I was sedated which was horrible, I thought I was in a coma still because I was fully aware of what was going on but I couldn't speak or move and I thought I was dead. I also hallucinated really badly for 6 days, not fun! So my memory of what happened is very different to what actually happened!
But a quick note about what happens during the op, I was asleep and was put on bypass, so they clamp your main arteries and then your blood passes through a machine to keep you alive. This all happens before the donor heart arrives at the hospital! I asked the coordinator for a photo of my heart so she emailed a photo of it to Ciaran while he was outside theatre knowing full well the new heart wasn't there yet which he said was really unsettling!
After surgery the right hand side of my heart became enlarged, they think its because my chest cavity was large, apparently its common in people with restrictive cardiomyopathy. So they put a balloon pump up through my groin and into the heart to help it pump but this was barely needed and it was taken out. After surgery I was on all sorts of drugs, adrenaline, dopamine, dialysis, oxygen, ventilator, I had drains coming out all over the show. It's not nice to think that my family saw me like that but I was out of it so it's not like I cared at the time! But I was quickly taken off a lot of things.
So the next post will be from Ciaran about what happened in the days after I came out of theatre! But I have been conscious for about 7 days now and I feel good!
Thank You to everyone for your cards, gifts, messages, well wishes, I've never felt so loved and cared for! And I'm so grateful for all my family that were at the hospital the whole time I was asleep and for their constant love and support. And I am beyond grateful for the family of my donor for making the difficult decision to donate their organs and save my life, for all the surgeons, doctors and nurses for taking such good care of me!
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