My Husband’s Delirium Brought Us Closer Together
His life-saving liver transplant helped us both face our fears.
My husband saw the SWAT team everywhere. They were in the ceiling and behind the glass. He believed they were there to break him out of the hospital. In his reality, they were the only ones he could trust.
Not everyone suffers from delirium after a serious operation, but some do. It can happen to anyone. My husband Ed was one of the unlucky ones. In his fragile mind, his delusional visitors were there to kill him. While his false beliefs were, in fact, harmless, his mental health and safety were at incredible risk.
His story is not unlike others we’ve met. At first, he felt shame, but now he shares his experience with dignity and pride. We both faced incredible fear through the experience, but together we came through it on the other side.
In the beginning
For two years, Ed endured the scary realization that he was a person living with liver cancer. He accepted his reality with fortitude and strength. I, on the other hand, faltered. Although Ed endured many CT scans, RFA procedures, and specialist appointments to support me through the liver transplant surgery, I was the one with the rented therapy dog.
