Mr. Liver's 15th Anniversary

15 years ago today my dad got a new liver ~ sadly this also means that another family lost their loved one on this day in order for this to happen. I remember it like it was yesterday ~ I was a senior in high school and my brother was in college in between quarters and had literally just driven into the driveway in a fully packed GIGANTIC U-Haul. He had come home in a U-Haul because he was changing campuses, but couldn't get into his new apartment until the new quarter started ~ so here we were out in the driveway unloading the GIGANTIC U-Haul when we got the call. Dad was actually in the hospital, and had been for about a week, getting IV antibiotics for an infection ~ at the time he was # 1 on the transplant list, but they had taken him off of the list while he was in there ~ a real emotional blow to all of us. Luckily he was being discharged the next day and when they got the call that they had a match, they decided that this was probably a pretty good time to give him that liver ~ I guess they figured any germs he could have possibly had were dead! When mom called, Bryan and I stopped what we were doing, loaded up, and headed off to the hospital. On the way there we had to go by my dad's plant to pick up some paperwork, and after that we were off to the hospital once again ~ now of course I was speeding and got pulled over on the way in the big city of Pasa-get-down-dena ~ the cop asked why I was speeding, and when I told him that my dad was about to have a liver transplant he looked at me like I was crazy! He informed me that he was sure the liver would still be there when I got there if I were to be driving the speed limit ~ apparently he thinks they just let the harvested organs sit around in coolers for an unlimited amount of time. Whatever! So he let me off with a warning and off we went again! When they were preparing to wheel him off for the surgery it was a real emotional roller coaster ~ we didn't know if we were ever going to see him again ~ to make matters worse the week before all of this he had gone completely deaf over night and so the only way we could communicate with him was to write notes. It was an incredibly long surgery ~ over 14 hours ~ during which he tried to die on the table on them a couple of times! Being that he is a stubborn old bird though, he pulled through and hasn't looked back ~ the liver is the best part of him at this point in time! I remember my first trip into the ICU to see him ~ mom had tried to prepare me for how bad he was going to look because of all of the tubes and things coming out of him. When we walked in all I could say was he looked FANTASTIC! Despite all of the tubes and wires he looked phenomenal! He was actually white again instead of yellow! His new lived had started doing its job as soon as it got in there ~ normally they will reject their new organ in the first week, dad never rejected his. He was home not many days after the transplant and was like a whole new person. If it weren't for the generosity of the family who donated their loved ones organs my dad wouldn't be here today. He would have never seen me graduate from high school or college, or walked me down the aisle, and he would have never had the opportunity to meet his 4 grandchildren. We have never met the family who gave my dad the gift of life, they wished to remain anonymous, but I would still so love to meet them and be able to thank them in person for the 15 additional years they have given us. My dad is an "old timer" in the transplant world ~ I thank god for every additional day I have with him, and pray for many more to come. I love you daddy!