50 Ways to Leave your Liver

Most floors at the Royal Free have 4 wards arranged in a square and named based on the direction they face e.g. 8 North, 8 East, 8 South and 8 West. When I arrived for my transplant I was given a room on ward 10 East. After surgery I was in ICU on ward 4 South. From ICU I travelled back up the building to a room in 9 West. 9 North is the normal ward for liver transplant patients and I was moved there a few days before they let me go home.  Having stayed on wards facing all 4 compass directions and done so in the correct order going round the compass, I have achieved what is known as the "Ward Grand Slam". As far as I know, I am the first and only person ever to claim this accolade. I am also the creator of this title and, until someone reads this post, the only person that even knows about it. I suspect the Royal Free will want to put a plaque up to commemorate my brilliance but my humility will cause me to turn down the request. All jokes aside, I cannot tell you how much pl

The 6 days I spent in ICU after the transplant operation were unsurprisingly the toughest. I batted away my body's cries of "What the hell has just happened?" with regular dispatches from the fentanyl opioid trigger in my right hand. Even at my most awake I was still drowsy and my speech was weak and slurred. Gradually I become aware of all the new "wires" going in and out of me- 3 cannulas in my arm, a drain on each side of my stomach, a catheter, oxygen into the nose (not really very intrusive) and at least 2 lines going into my neck. I don't remember it happening but the breathing tube I had in during the surgery was removed quickly once I was awake. A post-op PCR test returned a positive result (probably still related to when I had covid a month before the operation) and meant that, after my first day or so in ICU, the team decided Bex couldn't visit me anymore.  So much happened during this time- some of which I was aware of and some I only began to