{"id":27009,"date":"2019-10-11T08:39:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T14:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=27009"},"modified":"2024-08-15T16:56:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T22:56:54","slug":"life-after-liver-transplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/life-after-liver-transplant\/","title":{"rendered":"Life after liver transplant, because life wasn\u2019t always guaranteed"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"This
Sarah Leonard and George Gess are engaged to be married in the fall of 2020. Photo courtesy of Sarah Leonard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When George Gess moved to Steamboat Springs in 2015, he wanted to experience everything a mountain community had to offer \u2013 biking, skiing, hiking, snowboarding. He wanted to do it all.<\/p>\n

Luckily for Gess, he had had the perfect tour guide.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met through mutual friends in Michigan,\u201d said Sarah Leonard, a Steamboat native and Gess\u2019 fianc\u00e9. \u201cMy friend told me, \u2018I think I know who you\u2019re going to marry.\u2019 Who would have thought that would actually happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gess had plans to pursue nursing school once in Colorado. It had piqued his interest after an exchange with a male nurse who happened to be caring for one of Gess\u2019 close friends following a car accident.<\/p>\n

\"This
George Gess fishes at Hog Park Reservoir in Wyoming. Photo courtesy of Sarah Leonard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSeeing the way he did his job and what it entailed really intrigued me,\u201d said Gess. \u201cAfter that, I did a wilderness first responder class for a weekend, then went to EMT school. I was about halfway through the paramedic program when I decided nursing would be a better fit for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he worked full-time as a pharmacy technician at the outpatient pharmacy<\/a> at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center<\/a>, Gess completed necessary prerequisites, applied and was accepted to the nursing program at Colorado Northwestern Community College<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then, just as Gess was preparing to learn how to care for patients as a nurse, he himself became the patient.<\/p>\n

When a consult turns into a liver transplant <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Gess developed a number of gastrointestinal symptoms, so he sought care from Dr. Jon Hamilton<\/a>, a family medicine physician in Steamboat Springs and a member of the medical staff at Yampa Valley Medical Center. Hamilton ordered a basic lab evaluation to help identify a possible source of the symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce these came back, I was concerned for hepatitis due to the levels, but not exactly hepatitis C,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cWhen the hepatitis panel did come back, it confirmed some of my fears.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This
Dr. Lisa Forman. Photo courtesy UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hamilton then referred Gess to UCHealth Hepatology Clinic on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a> in Aurora via Epic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I thought was going to be a consult, turned into a liver transplant conversation,\u201d said Gess. \u201cIt was not what I was expecting to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge had cirrhosis<\/a> of the liver and needed a transplant,\u201d said Dr. Lisa Forman<\/a>, due to the Hepatitis C infection causing significant damage to Gess\u2019 liver.<\/p>\n

Forman prescribed a number of medications to help Gess, but as time went by, things got progressively worse.<\/p>\n

Comfort in the community\u2019s hospital<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Over the course of a few months, Gess was admitted a number of times to YVMC via its emergency department<\/a>; on a few occasions, he was flown to UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a> (UCH) in Aurora.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know how to feel in those instances, except that when he\u2019s being flown, you know it\u2019s serious,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cIt was surreal, but oddly comforting, when George was at our hospital (YVMC). There\u2019s advantages to living in a small town like Steamboat and having YVMC be a part of UCHealth<\/a>. Dr. [Gary] Breen<\/a> was super helpful. The doctors were all great, and especially the nurses as we were able to really connect with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an up and down road, in and out of the hospital in Steamboat and at UCH,\u201d said Gess. \u201cI was in an incredibly fortunate place for an incredibly unfortunate set of circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late 2018, Forman told Gess that the only option was to get Gess on the transplant list for a new liver<\/a> with UNOS<\/a>, the United Network for Organ Sharing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Dr. Forman, \u2018If we have to do it, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d said Gess. \u201cThere were evaluations and meetings with a social worker and routine blood and urine screens, but in early December 2018, I was officially listed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waiting for the call<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Gess and Leonard kept a bag packed, as they didn\u2019t know when the call might come.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be tomorrow, six months or two years, depending on where you\u2019re at on the list for our region<\/a>, which is made up of six states,\u201d said Gess. \u201cThey use a MELD score<\/a> to determine the severity of your need for a new liver. When I listed, I was a 25 out of 40 \u2013 it was high, but there were patients closer to 40, meaning they were sicker than I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gess was at work in the pharmacy when the call came on March 21, 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the time you get listed, you hold your breath a little bit every time the phone rings,\u201d said Gess. \u201cBut when Amy, my primary nurse contact, called and said, \u2018I think we have a match for you. Can you get down here?\u2019, it was an overwhelming feeling. Wes [Hunter, director of pharmacy at YVMC] immediately told me to, \u2018Go! Get out of here!\u2019 It wasn\u2019t 30 minutes after I got the call and Sarah and I were on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waiting for the liver, then more waiting<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"This
A liver transplant on March 22, 2019 literally changed George Gess’ life. Photo courtesy of Sarah Leonard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Gess and Leonard arrived at UCH the next morning at 6 a.m., the liver still wasn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew all along that even when the call came, we might get here and it might not happen,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cThe team gave us frequent updates, and finally midafternoon, they came in and told us it was actually going to happen, that the liver had arrived and it was time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Gess was prepped for surgery, Dr. Michael Wachs<\/a>, Gess\u2019 surgeon, introduced him to the team involved with the surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Wachs told me, \u2018I got you. Don\u2019t sweat it. We\u2019ll see you in a couple hours,\u201d said Gess. \u201cFor Sarah, it was a much longer wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the nurse came out after seven hours and said the doctor wanted to talk with me, but deferred all my questions to the doctor, I thought he was dead,\u201d recalls Leonard. \u201cI thought I was going to pass out when Dr. Wachs told me he was ok. Through the whole process, your body somehow takes care of you, pushes you to do whatever you can do and have to do for your loved one. It wasn\u2019t until it was over that I think I actually processed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connected to My Health<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"This
George Gess, one day after his liver transplant. Photo courtesy of Sarah Leonard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gess stayed at UCH for a week following surgery, then moved into an apartment in Arvada for a month, as post-operatively, it was easier to be close for the multiple clinic visits, lab tests and medication modifications that needed to take place. Leonard, Gess\u2019 mother, Sarah \u2013 \u201cthe other Sarah in my life,\u201d and sister Emma supported him during recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so comfortable with all the care he received,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cThe culture there [at UCH] is similar to that at YVMC. They\u2019re nicest people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gess was pleased with the personalized care he received, and having My Health Connection<\/a> made it seamless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team was so on top of it. The efficiency of how they do things is crazy,\u201d said Gess. \u201cDr. Forman was my rock through this whole thing. She advocated more for me than I could possibly ask for. Dr. Forman did everything in her power to make this happen as soon as possible. She cared to the point of if they hadn\u2019t heard from me with a question in a few days, they\u2019d reach out to me via the app, which made all of this so easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEpic has allowed me to follow every step along the way with George\u2019s journey,\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cI continue to follow George with every appointment he has with all the UCHealth specialists and Epic is the driving force behind this.\u201d<\/p>\n