The new mountain we started to climb on April 9th., when my son-in-law’s (Carey) first day of the liver transplant evaluation started. The first day did not go so well. Erin (my daughter) and Carey had a consultation of the whole process with one of the transplant doctors. This doctor did not hold anything back and just looking at Carey he could tell visually that he was too weak for any surgery. Unfortunately, Carey has lost a lot of weight and is also diabetic. The cirrhosis has caused so many other major problems, including loss of appetite, he has become malnourished. Erin has tried to get him to drink the Ensure shakes but he has trouble drinking them because they don’t taste good to him. His taste buds are not working right, either. This doctor wants to put a feeding tube in him. He has to put more weight on in order to get through the surgery. Another major problem, about two months ago, doctors discovered a blood clot in his heart, in the left ventricle. Though, he is on a blood thinner to keep the clot from getting bigger, the doctor told them this could prevent him from getting on the transplant list. That was not good news and really brought their hopes down. These transplant doctors are not going to give you any false hopes. But, the evaluation will continue. After that consult, he had to go to the lab to have blood taken. There is a lot of lab work done for the evaluation process. They check everything and every organ in your body. He had to fast for these lab tests, with his weakened state and being a diabetic, drawing many vials of blood caused him to almost pass out and get sick. They had to end that day early and reschedule the other procedures for that day. Erin and Carey were emotionally drained from that visit. Carey was really depressed. The next two visits did get better. I mentioned last time, Carey’s liver transplant evaluation would go through April 15th. That was incorrect. This process is going to go through May 6th.
To be continued….
I discovered your website this morning and it touched my heart. Good luck to you all. I had a liver transplant 17 months ago and my world has changed dramatically – some good, some not-so-much. I want to start a blog, in hopes that some of the things I’ve learned can help others. That said – Ensure is FOUL. I was urged to drink it after my transplant but couldn’t gag it down. My internist suggested Carnation Instant Breakfast, which has nearly the same beneficial ingredients and tastes millions times better. Caution though: It contains sugars. Also, there were some fruit-type nutritional drinks that I was served in the hospital that were loads easier to drink than Ensure, so you may want to look for those, too. You’re in my prayers.
By: happytobehere on April 29, 2008
at 3:13 pm
Jay,
Thank you so much for your advice and having us in your prayers. Unfortunately, my son-in-law passed away on April 23rd. and we just had his service on the 29th. I plan on finishing my blog about Carey’s courageous battle to hang on. I hope you will continue to read my blog. I think it would be a great idea if you started a blog. There are many people out there that could benefit from someone that has dealt with liver disease first hand. I was thinking about doing an ebook on the evaluation process to get on the transplant list. Or maybe starting a fund for the people who do not have insurance. I know there are organizations to help set up fundraisers but there was a one month window when my daughter was laid off and they didn’t have insurance. His quality of care changed, it was terrible. The family all pulled together to make the premium payments for his Cobra. I would like to email you sometime if that’s okay with you. Again, thank you.
Christine
By: cawest on April 30, 2008
at 5:26 pm