When you have a liver transplant at Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), you become the most important member of our liver transplant team. Our post-liver transplant team at the Center for Liver Disease is always on call, and we follow your progress for life.
You will leave the hospital with a lengthy list of medications—some of which will prevent your body from rejecting your liver—but as time goes on, the list likely will grow shorter and your confidence will grow stronger as you return to your daily routines.
Before leaving the hospital, an inpatient transplant nurse coordinator will teach you how to take your new medicines, recognize the signs of infection or rejection and change any wound dressings. You also will be instructed in how to take your blood pressure because some immunosuppressive medications may cause high blood pressure.
If you live more than 50 miles from CPMC, our team will require you to stay in or close to San Francisco for 30 days following your liver transplant. This enables you to easily get to CPMC should an emergency arise and makes required clinic visits and lab tests convenient.
Routine follow-up after the first few months from the time of liver transplantation includes:
- Monthly Blood Tests — Liver function tests and medication levels will be closely monitored.
- Annual or Twice Annual Liver Clinic Visits — During your clinic visits, the transplant team will look for and prevent the complications of liver transplantation.