Odd question for post transplant peeps! - British Liver Trust

British Liver Trust

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Odd question for post transplant peeps!

Wass71 profile image
19 Replies

Hi, just wondering if anyone one got to see their removed liver after they woke up from surgery. Did anyone ask if the surgeon could photograph it for them.

I'd like to see the thing that's been causing all my troubles!! Did anyone else or is it just me?

Thank

XWassX

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Wass71 profile image
Wass71
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19 Replies

Hi

I'm not on transplant list but it's an interesting question, now you've brought the subject up I think I would but it would still create a lot of thought.

How's you tonight?

I've not been good plus I was also sick last night but I'm ok now. Love and hugs Lynne xxxx

Wass71 profile image
Wass71 in reply to

Oh no poor you Lynne. I don't usually look at my phone at night, as I don't think it helps my nighttime sleep problems. But I've got this bloody toothache on top of the usual pains so feeling v sorry for myself.

I'm going to try and sleep now. Hope you get some. X

in reply toWass71

Are you going to phone the dentist in the morning? I really feel for you, toothache is horrible. I hate going to the dentist and to think when I was 16 I wanted to become a dental nurse 😅 xxxx

ThreeSmiles profile image
ThreeSmiles

Wassy - I have often thought about that too (well not too often though 😑). I would have liked to have been told if it was as bad as they thought, or worse or whether they could confirm the cause or well ....well, anything at all really. But I didn’t ask because at that actual time there were too many other things to worry about I suppose!

Dear Wass I hope you are asleep now. I totally get your wish to see your liver. I regretted not asking to see a tumor taken from me! But I’d had a year to say goodbye to it! I never thought of it as an evil invader but just as some of my own cells gone awry that sadly had to be cut out and die to save my life. That helped me a lot. My dad has his leg amputated at very short notice and he often reflected on what happened to it for a long while afterward. Even though parts of our body fail, for most of our lives they didn’t fail but helped to make us who we are. It sounds natural and fitting to me that we should care what happens to them. I hope it helps your recovery that you have thought about this and thank you for mentioning the subject. I hope you will soon be at that place of saying goodbye and thank you to your liver. Much love to you xx

No I did not Wass, but I wish I had. Very good question. Although the surgeon did come to see me and said they were pleased it happened when it did as I had two tumours and a third was growing.

They said it was just the right time. Like you I wish I could have seen it. Maybe?

I am still quite squeamish about eating liver and onions. LOL

(feels a bit cannibalistic). LOL.

One of my friends, came to see me after my transplant and handed me an onion. He said you cannot have liver without onions! Made me smile...

Jaycee

in reply to

Was that a kind smile for a friend who meant well? Respect to you if so JC. I can’t smile at liver jokes and I never could eat any 😰

in reply to

Yes my friend it was, my attempt at a little humour. No offence meant. I hope none taken. Xx Jaycee

in reply to

Absolutely not, no offence taken!😘

in reply to

btw, just had a cup of coffee to spark me up and thought of this reply to your onion friend "That's just offal!" :-)

Wass71 profile image
Wass71 in reply to

Ha ha, you're very funny Filli, very early to be so quick witted!!

I've been veggie for 30 years, but I have memories of liver and onions at school. I don't think I ever ate it, the smell was bad enough!!

in reply toWass71

It makes me squirm, the thought of eating it. I wouldn't eat cabbage at school either. I had to take a letter from home to be excused from eating it. It looked like pale pond slime! Of course, we all now know veg only needs be boiled for one week, not two, before it's floated in butter....

Eurotrash profile image
Eurotrash

Hey!

I used to work as a body donation coordinator for a medical school in a UK university.

I've seen my fair share of cirrhotic livers and they are not pleasant to look at. Like, at all.

However, I would like to see it if I were ever in that situation. Not for shock value but to understand better what happened. Actually, I even asked the dentist to keep a tooth I had taken out once because it caused me so much pain,I needed to just have a proper look.

Wass71 profile image
Wass71 in reply toEurotrash

Yep, that's just what I think. I'd like to see it, really as Filli said it's the thing that's kept me alive, it's what my mum made, what I was born with, it feels wrong to not acknowledge it. Besides as I have PBC it's not even my livers fault, it's been doing its best to carry on even under attack. X

in reply toWass71

I'm pleased you mentioned that. Our PBC livers are under attack from our autoimmunity which is hiding in plain sight in our blood streams. It's a no-blame game.

in reply toEurotrash

I recall something I should never have forgotten. I have had the experience of attending the Post Mortem of a 40yr old alcoholic many years ago. That Liver was not a pretty sight, well above average in size & weight for the individual, is all I'll say.

At the time I was a social drinker but thoughts of what alcohol did or does was but a brief memory that was all to quickly filed away and forgotten.

One Never Knows, Does One? 🤔

alfredthegreat profile image
alfredthegreat

Hi Elisa,

I didn't see mine either but the surgeon came to me a few days after the transplant and gave me a detailed description of it all.

From the description I'm not so sure that I'd have wanted to see it! and I'm not normally squeamish :-( :-(

Kristian profile image
Kristian

Hahahaha, I read this and laughed. I did ask that exact question, "can I see what it looked like?, Did you take a picture?", lol.

Unfortunately they said they didn't usually do that anymore 🙁.

I think they are missing out on a trick there. It could be an NHS fund raiser. Just like when you go to the fair and can purchase a picture took of you screaming on the big dipper, NHS could do the same for a picture of our explanted liver 🤣🤣🤣🤣.

Wass71 profile image
Wass71 in reply toKristian

Love this idea, you could pay extra for action shots like the moment of removal, on a trolley, in a bucket!!!! All in a cheese cardboard frame with,

: "I've been to (Insert hospital name) and experienced the big liver remover" x x

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