Jaclyn Smith: I woke up in another world

I woke up to bright lights and people screaming my name. Everyone was wearing wigs and colored contacts, or so I thought. I didn’t know where I was, or what had happened. I heard a doctor ask me how I was feeling. I couldn’t answer him. I couldn’t talk. He told me I got a liver transplant last week. I didn’t believe him. I thought I was captured and these people in wigs were part of it. It turns out I was experiencing ICU delirium. The last thing I remember before this, was going in for a colonoscopy at a different hospital, in a different city. Now they’re telling me I just had a liver transplant? No way. In my head, nothing was real. Everyone was out to get me. I do remember certain parts of my hospital stay, but not much from the ICU at all. I became sick in November of 2020, and it wasn’t until about June of 2021 that my brain was finally out of that fog. There’s so much more to my story and I’d love to one day try to bring awareness to ICU delirium and how serious it can be. I received my transplant on April 5th, 2021. Physically, I am healed. Mentally, I have some work to do. Thankful and grateful to be alive.