The Last Call

I wrote this a couple years ago and decided to share it with y'all. I hope everyone likes it!

The Last Call

Can you pinpoint a specific time or day when you knew your whole life was about to change? I can, my life changing day was March 21st, 2013. The days leading up to that specific day were very different then the day before. I was with my best friend Brittany and we decided to go get our toes done that evening after school. While we were sitting at the nail salon getting them done I started having this bad feeling in my feet. They felt super tight and I couldn’t hardly move them around, it felt like pins and needles when I would walk it was super painful. Finally, when we were done I was trying to put my shoes back on, but my shoes didn’t fit! It was as if my feet had grown 3 sizes in an hours’ time. Of course, Brittany and I joked around about my feet being so huge because we thought the maybe the lady had used latex gloves and I was having a reaction since I am allergic to latex. So later, when I got home I took some Benadryl and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up and stretched in my bed and I noticed my skin on my legs felt super tight, just how my feet did the day before. I sat up to get out of my bed and swung my legs over the side and proceeded to stand up. Once I got pressure on my feet I felt the pins and needles sticking sharp into my feet and the pain shot up through my legs. The pain was horrible, but I managed to get up and get dressed. That’s when I noticed my belly was swollen a little bit and hard to push on. I started panicking because I had no earthly idea what could be going on with me. So, I tried to run downstairs after I got my clothes on and showed my mom what my feet, legs and belly looked like and how the Benadryl didn’t work. She examined me looking and feeling my belly and legs trying to see if she could figure out what the hell was wrong. In the end she couldn’t think of anything, so she made the first available appointment at my pediatrician’s office to figure out what was going on.

As I got into the pediatrician’s office they immediately called me back and put me in one of their colorful rooms and had me sit on the big squishy tables with the paper strip on it to protect people from germs. I only waited for what seemed like 5 minutes and my doctor Dr. McGraw came in and she did the regular physical exam but when she got to my stomach and legs she saw how swollen and tight they were. She looked at me and said “Well Kayla this isn’t normal at all. So, we are going to run a few tests on you while you’re here.”. I sat there and waited anxiously for her to order the test. She ended up ordering bloodwork, an ultrasound and I think a few other tests, but the bloodwork and ultrasound are what I remember the most. My mom walked with me down to the other part of the building where the bloodwork is done at. I walked in and sat on the big purple cushioned recliner and held my arm out to have them draw the blood. Once I was done I walked over to another room to have the ultra sound of my abdomen done. When the ultrasound started everything was good until they got over to where my liver is. The ultra sound techs face started to look like she was worried. She looked over to me and asked

“So, you have had liver problems in your past?” 

I said, “no not ever, why??”

She ended up shutting her mouth after that because she knew she had said to much. Of course, my mom and I start freaking out not knowing what was wrong all we knew was it involved my liver. Once the ultra sound was done we went back into the big colorful room I was placed in before all this started. Dr. McGraw came in and the look on her face was horrible, she looked frightened and worried all at the same time. She said to me “Kayla, you need to go down to the medical center to the main Texas Children’s Hospital. Your liver numbers are in the high hundreds and they’re only suppose to be in the 20’s or 30’s for your age. You’re in stage 4 liver failure.

Over the next 4 months I spent most my time in the hospital at Texas Children’s. I would stay in the hospital for a week and then get to go home for 3 days but then I would get sicker and end up back In the hospital for another week. My body was quickly changing because the disease was taking over me. My belly grew three times the size it normally was. Everyone thought I was pregnant even though they knew your belly doesn’t grow that fast in pregnancy. When my belly would get bigger my muscles would deteriorate more. I looked like a very anorexic pregnant person if you can imagine that. My belly was so huge that I couldn’t see my toes, my legs were so weak I couldn’t stand up by myself anymore and walking up the stairs to my room was a challenge for me. The doctors finally diagnosed me with Autoimmune hepatitis, The disease is that my immune system tries to kill my liver because it is confused and thinks it’s a foreign object in my body. It isn’t a contagious disease just genetic. All my “friends” thought it was contagious so they didn’t want to come around anymore. I felt alone all the time because nobody could understand the physical and emotional trauma I was going through at such a young age of 17. The doctors would run test after test on me. My skinny little arms had finally had enough, there was so much bruising I looked as if I was being beaten by someone. 

One day while I was in the hospital trying to sleep my hospital phone rings, so I answer it and it was my transplant coordinator saying, “Kayla there may be a liver for you!”. I am so happy, I was crying because I thought my time had come to be able to get a liver and to be able to start my life again. In the end though the liver was to fatty for me and they gave it to someone else. I was crushed I felt like my world was ending. I thought I would never get a transplant.

It was now about November and close to Thanksgiving, And I was enjoying the cool breeze outside and got to wear my new hats since my hair was falling out some. I was excited to spend time with my family and eat a ton of food. I didn’t know how much longer I had left so I wanted to spend every waking moment with my family. They knew my time was coming soon because of how sick I looked and how different I was about being ill. I wasn’t mad and blaming God for it, instead I was praying more and had a peace over me that whatever happened I was okay with. Now I wasn’t giving up I was just close with God and knew He had me through this disease. 

It was Thanksgiving Day and we were getting our plates full of food. My dad had fried a turkey that year which is my favorite thing to eat on thanksgiving. We all got our food and enjoyed it. We had a ton of sweets and sides, I felt like a fat kid in heaven with all the food. As soon as we were finished and had all the food leftovers put away, my mom’s phone rings and it was my transplant coordinator saying, “we may have another liver for Kayla, can you get her here within the next hour?” My mom said “yes, we sure can!”. So, I get my bag that’s filled with the things I need for the hospital stay and the after-transplant needs. At this point I am jumping for joy thinking “OMG they may have a liver for me, I am going to start my life again!!”. I ended up calling three of my closest friends to ask if they can come up and sit with me while I waited there. Once we got there we were told to wait in this holding area until the doctor can come talk to me. We waited there for what seemed like hours but, really it was only 30 minutes. The doctor got there and said, “I am sorry Kayla, the liver wasn’t the kind we wanted to give you.”. My heart sank because I knew my time was coming I knew I was getting sicker by the minute. My heart was beating slower and I was super tired all the time. I didn’t know if I was going to make it much longer. The doctor had given me 8 months and it was already November. I had one more month left, and I knew it was coming. 

Its December now and I was even sicker then the month before. My legs kept giving out on me walking so I was in a wheelchair now. I had to go everywhere with my parents in case something happens to me they could take me straight into the hospital. I had no more independence anymore. I couldn’t go to the restroom by myself or take a bath or shower. My mom had to wash me and help me to the toilet. She even had to help me get dressed in the morning and my pajamas on at night. By this time, I was on 13 different medications. The doctors had done all they can for me, but nothing was working anymore. It was basically a waiting game to see if death or my transplant would come first. I was praying hard to be able to live but also praying hard that if God was going to take me to make sure my parents and siblings would be okay. I had never dreamt of being now 18 and so close to death. Just earlier that year I was accepted into Blinn college for their Vet tech program and then I would transfer off to A&M to study to be a veterinarian. All those dreams were closed before I could even start them. I soon though realized that if I did make it out of this horrible mess that I would study to go into Nursing and work with the kids who were like me because I understand everything they’re going through. 

It was the night before my sister Jenna’s cheer competition and I prayed hard to God that He would either take me or bless me with a liver because I couldn’t handle all this anymore. I was done I was miserable and wanted it to all just go away or for it to just stop. 

My last call started out going to my sister’s cheer competition on December 15th, 2013 just 9 months since all this started. That day is also my brother’s birthday so I was super excited to spend that day with him and her. As I was sitting in my wheelchair watching my sister’s team preform their routine I was feeling sad because I know I wasn’t going to be in this world much longer. I could feel my body was slowly fading away. I had no more muscle anywhere on my body. I was barely eating anymore. I felt like my body was finished. Then after seeing Jenna finish her cheer routine with the rest of her team I hear my moms phone ring. Whenever her phone would ring we would all hold our breath hoping that it would be “The Call” for me. So, my mom answers her phone and started smiling at me as the words “We got a liver for Kayla” were being said to her. I immediately started crying because I knew that this call was my call. We had to hurry downtown to Texas Children’s hospital, so the liver wouldn’t fail before we got there. After driving for what felt like hours we got to Texas Children’s. I got all signed n and up to a room. We waited for hours because the baby who brought the liver in was in surgery getting her half of it. Once she was done they took me to the prep room where I said all my “I love you’s” and got all my hugs done. Then the doctor came in and wheeled me out and into the hallway and he said “Kayla, its time to go and start the journey of a new life” I looked at him and said “okay, I am ready.” Then he wheeled me back to the surgical area and I went to sleep.