Wednesday 13th May
Today was a very early wake up call because I'm in Notts on IVs! So 6am I'm awake and out the bed, I'm washed and dressed and on the road to Birmingham to get mom by 6.15am! The drive home was very uneventful except for the traffic jams all the way home! So my 1 hour drive on a normal trip turned into almost 2 hours which didn't please me.
I pick mom up and we are on the way to Papworth. Pretty chatty drive to begin with then mom gets the Patient Advice Transplant info booklet out I was given the week before and begins to refresh her mind on everything but she manages to fall asleep in record time and the majority of the drive I am chatting to myself in my head about what the different outcomes of the day could be.
Mom wakes up as we get a lot closer to Papworth and says to me 'playing devils advocate, if they tell you today your ineligible for a transplant are you still going to do all your treatment and look after yourself' and without a single thought I reply with an answer that I think shocked her, I said 'No mom, what would the point in that be?' And that was that conversation over very quickly and a very nervous looking mom sat next to me.
We arrive at Papworth and mom drops me off so I go in and check in, the waiting room is packed, there is one or two separate seats and other than that there's standing room only!!
As usual I require a blood test so I put my backpack on the seat I sat in to reserve it and I make my way to the vampires to be bled! It's only 8 bottles they need today so it's not to bad. Once I'd been bled I went back out into the waiting room and awaited my call to go through and meet the surgeon.
Considering clinic is so full my wait to see the surgeon is Pretty short and im called round by Tracey to meet him, we walk in and shake hands and I sit down and he begins to talk and tell me he sees no reason why he won't be able to do the operation, he tells me my lungs are hyperinflated which has made my rib cage bigger so I would be able to have larger lungs transplanted if they became available which is great news, as this makes the pool of lungs available to me bigger, and he tells me all about the operation. He explains the risks and goes through the different types of donors with me and asks me if I'd take lungs from any donor or if I'd be picky and fussy, I'm in no position to be picky so I sign the paperwork to say I'll take any lungs they see fit to transplant into me!!
The chat with the surgeon is concluded with the signing of all the paperwork and the answer to the biggest question I have had all through the process, can I have a photograph of my lungs when they are taken out of me to which I'm told yes but to remind him on the night, so I'm a happy guy!
I walk back into the waiting area and sit down and the wait begins to be called through to meet the anaesthetist and have my neck ultrasound scanned to make sure there is a good enough artery for my central line during transplant surgery for all the medication post transplant. To my amazement after having 5 ports all that is fine and he is more than happy for me to be listed, so I am taken back out into the waiting room to wait to speak to Paul to have my pre listing chat.
After a short wait and a quick phone call to Emily to tell her the good news that i am able to be listed, Paul calls me through and goes through what will happen now I've been put onto the active list.
He asks if we have any questions and answers all of them for us. He then tells us what happens on the night you receive the call. And tells me that if its him that calls me and its out of office hours he usually opens up the call with 'Its a bit late for a social call' to which we have a laugh and a joke. He goes through all the logistics of getting from wherever I am in the mainland of the UK to Papworth, and also what happens if I receive a false alarm.
I was then told the Do's and Don'ts of being on the transplant list, I was expecting a massive list so was pretty shocked when the Do's were, Do live your life. An the Don'ts were, Don't live your life waiting for the call!!
We finish chatting about everything and leave to come home knowing that I would be listed by either Friday or that week or Monday of the following at the latest as there's been a few admin issues recently at Papworth as they are having a new computer system fitted!
So we drive away from Papworth hospital knowing I'll be receiving a phone call soon to say I'm on the active list and I couldn't of been happier! When the surgeon got the paperwork out to sign I felt like a childhood dream of signing a professional contract with a football team was happening or I was signing the contract on the career of my life!
I know that once I'm on that list it's a lottery, it's a waiting game, but unless you have a ticket you can't win the lottery can you! This transplant is going to give me the future I want with Em and hopefully allow us to start our own little family and get a house together and me get a job so I can look after my princess like a real man should!
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