Earlier that evening, we were doing something completely ordinary. I was playing board games in the hospital cafeteria with Carolyn, our son Hudson, and Aunty Christine. For a little while, things felt almost normal.
At 8 p.m., I had to head back upstairs to my room. Hospital rules. We walked together to the main entrance, said our goodbyes, and I turned back inside, hauling my IV pole and pumps with me as usual.
That is when my phone rang.
The call was from CHUM Hospital in Montreal, where I am followed by a hepatologist and transplant team. The timing alone felt strange. It was late. I assumed most staff would have gone home by then. More than that, I never expected a call like this for a liver. I had been told very clearly that my only real chance at survival would be finding a living donor.
I answered anyway.
The person on the line was someone I did not recognize. Then she said the words that instantly stopped everything around me.
“We have a liver for you. The transplant will take place tomorrow night.”
I was in complete shock.
I looked back outside through the glass doors. Carolyn was strapping Hudson into his car seat. Without thinking, I grabbed my IV pole and pumps and pushed my way back through the revolving doors, yelling, “Wait, wait, wait!”
I caught them just in time.
They had to park again because I was a mess. Every emotion hit at once. Happiness. Fear. Excitement. Anxiety. Urgency. Agitation. I could barely speak, but I knew I had to move fast.
I rushed back upstairs and went straight to the nurse’s station. I asked them to contact my doctor immediately so she could take a call from the hepatologist who had reached me. By 9 p.m., things were settled.
My doctor, Dr. Maya Doumit, called me personally to explain what would happen next.
I would be transferred by ambulance from Hull Hospital to CHUM Hospital in Montreal at 5 p.m. the following day.
Plans change quickly in moments like this. We didn’t leave at 5 p.m. In fact, we didn’t leave until 6 a.m. the next morning.
But we were off.
As soon as we arrived at CHUM and I was brought to my room, everything moved at full speed. I was immediately sent for the first round of pre-operative testing. Another full heart workup, my third that week. Lung testing. X-rays. Then a CT scan.
That scan is where things changed.
The results were not good, and that is where this story takes a turn.
More to come.
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