Donor Visit

Scott stopped by CMH to visit Jaisal today. When we heard he was going to come by, I asked if the nurses would do a slow clap when Scott arrived to create the perfect air of embarassing fanfare for Scott. Unfortunately, I was stuck in what felt like the world's longest and slowest post office line, and Kirk completely forgot to to give the nurses a heads up about who was coming. Such disappointment. Obviously, it would have been an amusing joke, but part of me definitely thinks Scott deserves a standing ovation where ever he goes, as does his wife Chris.

Despite the completely non-congratulatory normal start to Scott's visit, it was great to see him. We learned that his second follow-up appointment went very well and that Scott is cruising right along with his recovery.

We also got to hear some of Scott's surgery stories. Just like with Jaisal, Scott had a team of doctors working on his living donation. The head of NMH's transplantation program, Dr. A, participates in each living donation liver surgery. When Scott met Dr. A, he felt Dr. A was a bit aloof and distant. Scott thought it'd be a good idea to warm up Dr. A so he'd have a bit more vested interest in the surgery. To that extent, Scott addressed Dr. A by asking if he was the rock star transplant surgeon that everyone was talking about. Not only did this not butter up Dr. A, but it actually made him get a bit uneasy, such that he started mumbling about how his team is critical and does x, y, and z. 

Undeterred, when the transplant team was fully assembled and asked if Scott if he had any more questions, Scott looked at each of the surgeons and anesthesiologists and said, "I know you can't give promises, especially you Dr. A, but I need each and every one here to bring your A game today." Scott then proceeded to point to pictures that he had of Chris, Acadia (his daughter), Rylan (his son), and Jaisal and said we're doing this for them.

Kirk and I were nearly rolling on the floor laughing thinking about Scott's pep talk to the team. All I could imagine was a music montage, something like "You're the Best" from Karate Kid, playing as they all ran Scott's bed into the OR yelling with enthusiasm. I guess I wasn't the only one thinking about music, because Scott talked to the team about was what music they were going to listen to in the OR and gently requested that they not listen to country music. After that he said "Let's do this," and the rest is living donor liver transplant history.



Scott - the video is just for you. :)