Liver Quest

Liver Quest I’m Lisa—wife, mom, grandmother. I love cooking, crafting, reading, and the outdoors. Battling non-alcoholic cirrhosis.

I need a liver transplant and am seeking a living donor. For more info about the Living Donor Program, visit https://shorturl.at/ghmn8

Officially 5months post today. Thinking a lot about the family of my donor over the holidays. I know how hard it is to g...
01/02/2026

Officially 5months post today. Thinking a lot about the family of my donor over the holidays. I know how hard it is to go through “happy season” with a hole in your heart in place of a loved one. I pray for the family every day. It’s an odd feeling—knowing that you’ve begun a new journey only because another person came to the end of their journey. A strange blend of gratitude and guilt in equal measure.

My journey has been progressing well in the last few months. My energy and stamina have increased greatly while my body heals. Have also regained a lot more mobility—it’s nice to be able to go for walks again! Still some hurdles to overcome—cataract surgery in the near future, the development of hypertension and high glucose as a result of the drug regimen. Still swallowing 25 pills per day! Looking forward to going to see Hamilton in April and actually being able to SEE the show!!!

And I’ve changed my motto. My old one didn’t seem to fit anymore. So my new motto? “Why Not!” A reminder to myself to be open to experiencing everything that comes my way!

08/31/2025

Sorry, I’ve been quiet for a little while here while I was trying to adjust to my new medication regimen. But… here’s the whole story of what went down 4 weeks ago!!!

I “got the call” on August 1st, NWM letting me know I had a liver offer on the table and that I was the primary recipient. Very exciting, but I didn’t want to jinx anything, so I didn’t pack, didn’t tell anyone, and went on with my day while they ran all of the tests they needed to on my liver. On my agenda that day was lunch with Greg Hart. We met at a local restaurant, but being that I was in the prep window for an upcoming colonoscopy, I could only eat mashed potatoes, lol!

Naturally, I did tell Greg that I got the call, but wouldn’t know for sure till later that day/evening. I spent the rest of the day focused on anything BUT the liver offer. Finally about 7:45 or so, I got the confirmation call and was told to arrive to the ER at 2 am for a 9 am transplant surgery. I packed soooo darn fast!!! Good thing I had already made my lists up!

Things get a little blurry from here for me. I did let my family know this was happening, and called an uber, who was a Tesla driver, and was so excited to be part of making my transplant happen! Really nice guy! Got me to the hospital in under an hour!

Then, it was registration for direct admit and getting up to my room on 14E, and getting all of the pre op stuff done. It all seemed to go by really fast, and before I knew it, I was in pre-op. And then rolling into the OR. I remember giving everyone there my “timeout” speech and telling them that I had complete trust in their knowledge and skill, but I wanted everyone in that OR to give me nothing less than their “A game”!

A short time later, they said they were going to slide me onto the table. I have no memory beyond that, but I think it’s safe to assume they did exactly that! The surgery took about 8 hours, and then they moved me—sedated—to transplant ICU. I have no memory of that until I shook off the sedation on August 4, my mom’s birthday. I was shocked to realize I had basically lost 2 whole days! But I was still kicking!!!

This is super long, so I’ll add more tomorrow in a separate post!

08/11/2025

Love the work they do! My stylist is wonderful!

08/10/2025

Huge progress today! I have gone from 90% saturration with 02 set to 50. To today’s—90% saturation on 02. Set to 4!!!! Super amazed by this !!!!

08/09/2025

Fighting for my life—one breath at a time. The slowest way to make progress, for sure! Working so hard to kick off the high flow 02 and just replace it with normal O2 !

08/02/2025

At NWM ER for direct admit to 14E. In just over seven hours, my transplant surgery is scheduled to begin!!!! Keep those prayers and good vibes coming everyone! And thank you again for your help and support!

07/30/2025

Having an eyeore kind of day.

2 full days at the hospital make me a pooped puppy!!! I now have a referral for an endocrinologist to treat my newly dia...
07/30/2025

2 full days at the hospital make me a pooped puppy!!! I now have a referral for an endocrinologist to treat my newly diagnosed osteoporosis. Woohoo! One more thing on my list of issues! Also, discontinued the protonix that I’ve been taking for 4 years. But the really exciting part is that I don’t have a clinic appointment for 3 months, because they expect to transplant before then!!! One step closer.

07/24/2025

Had my follow up yesterday with my ortho, who took a new set of films of my foot. Good news! Callus already forming, yay!!! Today was my follow-up Physical Therapy appt. Talked to my PT regarding my concerns post transplant, and he’s giving me exercises to strengthen my deep abdominals. On top of that, he said he’s pleased with my progress but,because the back is a pretty complex injury to heal, I will be spending at least 4 weeks visiting him at the torture chamber. Bummer! And, just like last week, I came home and promptly fell asleep, lol!

07/19/2025

Not the best day today. Big problem with HE. I could not remember how to text, I had to call Torey and ask her how to text. I do this all the time, and suddenly I just couldn’t do it. Dang! Stuff is getting real now.

07/17/2025

Today was much better! Yay! Got my nutrition in, got my exercises done, got my dental exam done! Still exhausted and in a lot of pain, but huge improvement over yesterday! I’ll take what I can get! Thank you again for your support!

Address

676 North Saint Clair Street, Suite 1900
Chicago, IL
60611

Telephone

+13126953637

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Liver Quest posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Liver Quest:

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram

Category