Oh my! First Phone Call about a Potential Liver
Last month, we learned that my daughter's MELD score (a way of measuring how badly someone needs a new liver) had been increased from 25 to 30. We'd been told years ago, when her score was zero, that people generally start being offered a new liver when they hit 30 or above.
Due to her new, higher score, we were told that we need to keep the liver transplant coordinator aware of any trips we take several hours away. We could still go away (within reason) but if we were farther away, they'd call us earlier in the selection process so we'd have time to return home.
On Saturday, we got home from a trip that we'd informed them about (7 hours away). This morning, the liver transplant coordinator called to say that they've been offered a liver. She explained that they plan to offer it to another patient, but if that patient doesn't work out for some reason, Elizabeth is next in line. She wanted to make sure that we were currently local, and that we plan to stay local today.
Wow. We've never gotten a call like that before. Perhaps she wouldn't have called us today if she hadn't wanted to double check that we were home. But still...we got a phone call about a potential liver!
I told my daughter. She said, "Scary." I agreed. Then she asked, "Can we run away?" I told her we couldn't and gave her a kiss on the head.
(BTW, I could only kiss the top of her head because she was sitting down. My fourteen-year-old daughter towers over me.)
Due to her new, higher score, we were told that we need to keep the liver transplant coordinator aware of any trips we take several hours away. We could still go away (within reason) but if we were farther away, they'd call us earlier in the selection process so we'd have time to return home.
On Saturday, we got home from a trip that we'd informed them about (7 hours away). This morning, the liver transplant coordinator called to say that they've been offered a liver. She explained that they plan to offer it to another patient, but if that patient doesn't work out for some reason, Elizabeth is next in line. She wanted to make sure that we were currently local, and that we plan to stay local today.
Wow. We've never gotten a call like that before. Perhaps she wouldn't have called us today if she hadn't wanted to double check that we were home. But still...we got a phone call about a potential liver!
I told my daughter. She said, "Scary." I agreed. Then she asked, "Can we run away?" I told her we couldn't and gave her a kiss on the head.
(BTW, I could only kiss the top of her head because she was sitting down. My fourteen-year-old daughter towers over me.)