Quality of life of living with a transplanted liver :The issue of returning to normalcy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Advanced technology in medical and pharmacology has increased surgical survival rates for transplant recipients. Therefore, post-transplant care is critical and tightly connected with key focuses on the recipient’s quality of life (QOL). Post-transplant QOL is multifaceted, encompassing morbidity and personal, social, familial and environmental support for recipients. Post-liver transplantation recovery extends well beyond returning home.METHOD: Building on Wainwright’s research (Wainwright, 2011a, 2011b; Wainwright, Jülich, Waring, Yeung, Green, 2016), herself a liver transplant recipient, this article reports transplant recipients’ perceptions and experiences after the first three years and discusses how they re-established function in everyday life as they adapted to their new normal to achieve QOL. The research employed interpretive description to interview transcripts and field-notes of 17 liver transplant recipients. Data were evaluated according to inductive thematic analysis. Eschewing the health-related QOL measure for its rigidity and lack of qualitative data, this research captured the lived experiences of liver transplant recipients unlike clinically focused studies.FINDINGS: The results showed that, although transplantation can make positive changes in their lives, recipients continued to be influenced subtly by illness which can alter their re-conceptualisation and re-definition of QOL and normalcy. The success of a liver transplant does not depend only on the physical care given; to the recipients as the spectre of future ill health and transplant failure continue to be perceived as a constant risks. Ongoing support from family, friends, and healthcare professionals are none-the-less fundamental in the post-transplantation journey.

Reflections on Nan’s liver transplant

“…In turn, her whānau cared for her. Certainly, family support is critical to liver transplant recovery (Wainwright et al, 2018). Nan's liver remains in Auckland hospital and she was always quite proud of the fact that her organ was being studied and had the potential to help medical science.…”