Someone got their staples removed!!!

[KatNyerHAT]

Hiya Robin, 

How'd it go yesterday?  I know you were getting those staples removed... Wow, that was fast!  Perhaps, you counted them?  Hmmm, more than likely it was painful so I'm sorry I asked...

Sure hope you're doing good today.

Love and light, my dear friend!!! 
Kat

[Helen]

Hope everything went well Robin.  We'll be waitin to hear from ya. 

[Hank's mom]

Do they give you one of those big EASY buttons at Staples? Oops, wrong staples

Hope it well sunshine–
Susie

[Squeaker1]

Yayyyyyyy, the staples are out and you are freeeeeee......What a wonderful thing.    I am proud of you, my dear Robin

Hugs, Squeak

[beingbecky]

Good for youRobin.
Hope your recooping wel.

Talk to you soon, nice to see you in chat the other nite.

Becky

[pete c]

HI Robin
 Hope all is going well for since your big day ,just want to say thanks for the hope.kep smileing.
                                                         
                        JUST FOR TODAY
                        pete c

[MissyMouse]

Too cool!  Robin, it was like  "old times" having you in chat the other night.  You always brighten up the room.

Love ya,

Mouse

[robin]

Staples are out and steri-strips falling off. The youngest grand loved pulling my shirt up and looking at the staples in my belly and now it is no fun. There were either 48 or 49 and I didn't go for a recount. It's nice to be able to scratch around the incision...good sign but it's weird...I have no real sensation...it's like my belly is someone else's when I touch it. No pain...a couple of little stings but no pain involved at all. I laughed because they asked me if I wanted some demerol and I said...what for? Then they wanted to put a topical number on and I said no way...no pain. LOL. Keep your spirits high and my goodness...staples coming out isn't really an event that is special...robin 

[MissyMouse]

Gosh Robin,

You're just so amazing in the recovery department!  I got lots of weird sensation spots on my belly from all the surgeries when I had Leukemia.  The feeling doesn't come back and ya do eventually get used to it.   When you get to go on tx you  have to be careful because you can't inject around the scar tissue.

Love ya girl!

Mouse

[hanklive39]

Hi Robin!

I heard that your syaples are out!!! Great news!!! It is something special because the surgical wounds are healing nicely, and when someone is immunosuppressed that's a good thing as it it is very important for total recovery! Many folks have had trouble with infections or other complications such as myself, and a list too long to post so, consider yourself very fortunate that there have been no complications so far!!!

Now I do'nt know if your doctor's have mentioned it yet but ,when the scabs if you have them, come off, an excellent remedy for the scars is cocoa butter... I used in my first two years, and now I can hardly notice them in the mirror!!!

Do'nt worry about the wierd sensation, and lack of feeling in your abdomen... It'll come back when all the nerves repair themselves over time as it happened to me around three or four years after transplant.

Are they starting to ween you off the steroids yet???
Anywho, Congratulations!!!

Respectfully,
Henry

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[robin]

No Hank...still going nuts from the steroid and probably ProFraf buzz. I hate that jittery feeling but that is why I never have used caffeine...I hate being jumpy. Question here...do you know if the Gancyclovir to prevent CMV will help keep your hepatitis at bay since it is an antiviral? Just wondering. My incision healed beautiful and I really have a very thin but big scar. Since it is all above the belly button...except on the side...it shouldn't matter so far as doing treatment. They say I can't use my belly for insulin because it is still too soon but I can after 3 months...so I'm assuming that is when they consider it healed as that is when they OK me for driving. I'm thinking that transplants have got a lot easier since you had your's Hank. Now it's almost like getting your tonsils out...at least that is how I perceive it. I didn't expect any problems and that is what I've found. Keep your spirits high...robin 

[hanklive39]

"Now it's almost like getting your tonsils out..." Wow!!! is that the understatement of the year!!!
I say this because, you as a patient comparitively speaking did not have to wait as long as most patients with ESLD secondary to HCV usually do wait which could be anywhere from four to five years after being listed as a candidate... I had extensive internal complications and technically dies twice while under the knife so to speak so, what it all comes down to is how bad are your internals as a result of the complications due to ESLD, and how your vitals were prior to surgery...

However, I've checked with the folks @ UPMC, and they confirmed that the average surgery times have been significantly reduced by an average of 50% less time to perform the operation... This usually equates to having less time to recover post operatively also which is a good thing!!!

Now to answer your question regarding the Gancyclovir that is given to you in order to prevent CMV while you are on it... Here's my experience, and also what has been explained to me by Dr. John Fung, the former director of transplantation @ the Thomas E. Starzyl Transplant Center, who is now the director of transplantation @ The Cleveland Clinic, and is also the doctor who really co-discovered Prograf and championed it's use over cyclosporine... Thereby increasing the prevention of allograft rejection when compared to cyclosporine which did not work sowell especially with liver transplant patients, but enough of his qualifications because I'm losing focus in answering your question...

Anywho, Gancyclovir is used for  - well you already know but, does it keep HCV that may have found it's way into other tissue or organs from spreading back around your body and eventually re-infecting the transplanted liver??? The answer is that there have'nt been enough studies on this mainly because, it's use is limited for a certain amount of time on the patients that take it, and it usually is after the patient no longer takes the gancyclovir that CMV usually rears it's ugly head afterwards!!!

The HCV virus has a very hard shell so to speak that makes it so different than CMV so, it would be more difficult for gancyclovir to penetrate it's armor so to speak, and that's why protease inhibitors look very promising. HCV cells theoretically speaking, can be stripped of their armor by shutting down the mechanisms that make their armor so invincible to other antivirals...

The long term use of gancyclovir is not recommended although there are some folks whom have been on it for at least two years post transplant. I would have to say that HCV usually comes back when it wants to... If enough of the virus hid, and stayed dormant until stress, anxiety, and a number of other factors, they will inevitably give the right conditions to multiply, and eventually attack the healthy liver again...

Especially if there is a lack of constant vigilance on the part of your medical team, which I'm sure is not the case with you, and that is why so much blood work is done on you... They need to know before the HCV virus has spread to the point where it's attacking your liver so that they can put you on a maintenance treatment usually involving combination therapy with interferon & ribavivarin.

I hope they start to ween you off the steroids soon!!!

Merry Christmas to you and all of your families!!!

Respectfully,
Henry