My New Tattoos

A year ago on April 20, 2018, I had a liver transplant at Toronto General Hospital, which saved my life. I'll always be grateful to the person and family from whom I received that gift. I wanted to commemorate the surgeons and fabulous staff who has been looking after me so I decide to get a tattoo.

I wanted it on my arm where it can be seen so if people ask I can tell them my short story and give them the website to register.

After checking out so many tattoo artists in my area, I decided on Lorena at Black Line Studio. It was a great choice.

Born during the Communist regime in Havana City, Cuba, Lorena found herself through the love for art. Since at a young age, Lorena liked to paint and draw. At the age of 19 she graduated from the Elemental Visual Art Institute in Jose Antonio with a diploma in Fine Arts. She worked at Main Experimental Graphics Studio in Havana for 1 year doing Printmaking and Woodcut Artwork.After moving to Toronto, Canada, Lorena kept up with her studies and graduated from OCAD and from The Toronto School of Art with yet another Fine Art Diplomas.

In 2009, she got involved in the Tattoo Industry and since then she has collaborated/worked with many world wide renown different artists and Studios in Canada, Mexico, Cuba and other countries. She enjoys tattooing in many different styles including: black and gray, bold/old school traditional style, realism, watercolour and neotraditonal.

Her style is distinctive, formal and characteristic to the different periods of her life, the countries that she has visited and all the fantastic artists that she had a pleasure to be working with.

The original art work.

The finished product.

We had a great dog, KC who passed away many years ago. Our vet took her paw print which I always wanted a tattoo of so I had that done too.

Lorena not only did a great job but was fun and interesting to talk with. She also does black and grey, many different styles and is very experienced in cover-ups. I have more to get done and will certainly be back to see her again.

I'll post pictures again when it heals.

Communicating With My Donor's Family

Writer Sarah Breathnach wrote “Life is not made up of minutes ... but of moments” and today I experienced a very special one.

In April of this year, I underwent a liver transplant at Toronto General Hospital through the University Hospital Network (UHN). It was an experience which I have already written about. 203 days later, I’m doing very well.

After I was called into the hospital for my transplant, Teena and I were in the lounge area waiting for somebody to come in and let us know what would be happening. I will always remember the gravity of that talk. The colours, smells and raw emotions remain vivid in my mind.

My surgeon came in and explained how my donor had just been removed from life support. Once they passed, the liver would be delivered to the hospital and I would head to the operating room. That’s when we both fully comprehended the reality of what was taking place at that moment.

While we sat waiting for a liver for me, somebody’s family was at a bedside waiting for a person they loved to pass. My hope became mixed with a crushing sorrow.

Part of the recovery process, if one wishes to, is to write a letter to the family of the donor. The letter cannot impart any details of who you are, man or woman, or age. I wanted to do this but waited months before doing so as I needed time to heal.

That letter was the hardest thing I've ever written. In not being able to give any details, I had to find a way to make it personal. I needed them to know I really understood what they went through for me to receive that gift. Their emotions. Their pain. Their loss.

I described my thankfulness for the person being so giving at the end. Then I related my own story of watching my father lose a fight with cancer at the young age of 47, when I was just 17, and how he still lives within me. I promised to look after that gift I received as a result of their loss. It was very hard to write correctly in order to convey my feelings and emotions. I could only hope that it all came through when they read it.

Today I received a reply from them. I am only allowed to send one letter. They too can only reply once and with no details of the deceased. Reading that letter for the first time was a moment in my life I'll never forget.

It was beautifully written. My God, was it ever. Not only did I feel that my words had meaning for them but it was wonderful to know the person they loved remains a part of them and they were able to move on. It would be improper for me to quote any of it as it’s a personal connection between us but their words are now a part of me.

I don’t know anything of the person I received the liver from but I think of them and their family often. Only beautiful people could write such a beautiful letter. I thank them for their words. I thank them for their deeds.

Please sign up to be a donor. Your choice, one day, could save up to 8 lives.

An Inside, Personal Look at Toronto General Hospital's Transplant Program

Yesterday I went for a 4,500 step walk with Teena down by Lake Ontario. I know this doesn't sound like much of a hike except for the fact that 30 days before, during the night of April 20, I was on the receiving end of a liver transplant.

I have always made sure that my driver's license and health card showed that I was registered as a donor. Never did I expect that I would be the one who would need a transplant from another.

Canadians are lucky. We have access to the busiest transplant hospital in North America and one of the most famous in the world. In 2017, the UHN program performed 639 adult transplants compared to 607 at the UCLA Medical Center and the University of California San Francisco Medical Center which completed 601. It should be noted for the purposes of this article that 195 of the transplants at Toronto General Hospital were liver transplants

Last year it was discovered that I had cancer in my liver. Princess Margaret Hospital took care of that. Originally I was told that the procedure, called a TACE, would halt and shrink the tumor but would not kill it.  It could be contained, though until I received a new liver.  However, it turned out that the cancer was indeed wiped out. The liver was weakened by the cancer and the likelihood of it returning was great so I was placed on the transplant list.

While waiting for my turn to come, I met with many doctors, surgeons and social workers at Toronto General  who all made sure that I was physically and mentally ready for the operation. My turn came up on April 20 and at 10pm I was wheeled into the operating room for my six hour operation. Let's just say that the day after my operation wasn't the best I have ever felt but, hey, it's like that for anyone that has gone through any type of major surgery.

The ward is divided into post-op stages, the first one being right after surgery in acute care where I was constantly monitored. I wasn't in there long, maybe overnight (that part is hazy) before being moved to the next unit and a less intensive level of care and designed to get me moving. My first feat of strength? Being helped out of bed and into a chair beside it to sit for an hour. The next day, though, the physical therapist had me heading down the halls for a lap with a walker. The day after, a lap or two without a walker and then I graduated to my last unit.

I spent three nights there, resting, climbing stairs with my physiotherapist, walking and being constantly looked after with medications, blood tests, small procedures and training.

Training for what? How to detect organ rejection. Surprisingly it's not IF it happens but how to recognize it when it happens. It could be in a few weeks, few months, few years, decades, but definitely will  occur.

My medications drive up my sugar levels so currently I am diabetic and had to learn how to inject myself and go through a diabetic program. I may or may not have to continue with my daily shots when one of my meds is cut off. I'm hoping I don't need it.

Every transplant recipient has an aftercare transplant co-coordinator and transplant doctor. The program has a call system that I had to learn about where I can leave messages that are answered the same day, or they can contact me though it for any followup, medication change or questions they may have. It's wonderfully efficient.

Six days after my operation, on Friday April 27th, I was sent home with Teena. Everyday has been a challenge but everyday too, Teena and I see an improvement.  My thanks go out to everyone who has been involved and helped me through all of this. Especially the nurses. I was so well looked after!

I know people had to suffer through a loss of a loved one for this to happen. That plays on my mind and every day I am thankful for their kindness and generosity.

There is still a long way to go to recovery but it seems to get a little faster every day. After all, 30 days ago I would have never dreamed that I would be going for a walk along the lake. Now I'm starting to look forward to so much more.

REGISTER TO BE A DONOR