Dr. Anil Suchak, India

I was taken for Liver Transplant surgery on February 19th of 2007. This surgery normally would have taken 10-12 hours but I had lots of complications, because of my previous surgery. There were lots of adhesions and my surgery took almost 23 hours. I was given 60 units of blood and blood components. I was taken in at 6 am and brought out at 5 am the next day. The explanted Liver Biopsy showed two tumours of Hepatoma besides the Cirrhosis of Liver. During my post op recovery, I had decided, I will surely walk out of this place hale and hearty. With that spirit and strong will, I started mobilising myself. Unfortunately on the 6th or 7th day there was a biliary leak because of the transplant. Almost 1.5-2 litres of bile collected in the abdomen, doctors had to put a drain and remove it every day. Then on the 9th day I was told they would have to re-operate. That was the only day I felt low, I felt that God was testing me. I talked to my wife and she said ‘We have to do it, we have total faith that everything will be fine as the finest doctors are with us’. That surgery lasted for 6-7 hours and I was in the hospital for 40 days. Added to this my strong will to survive and my zest for life were also factors which helped pull me through. There was an excellent team of doctors headed by Dr Subash Gupta. Their expertise and caring attitude is something I owe my life to.