OVERWHELMING

It has been a very interesting day. First Philip got up this morning looking as if he lost 40 pounds. I am sure it is all the fluid he was retaining. His legs are much thinner and his stomach is practically flat. We had early morning appointment for an endoscopy, just to make sure that there was no bleeding after the procedure with the shunt a few weeks ago. Everything went well and there is not a change is the esophageal varices (veins in the throat).

One of the things you must do to get on the transplant list is to attend a Liver Transplant Education Meeting. We attended that meeting today. It was a chance to ask question and get a clear picture of what lies ahead. I would not truthful if I didn’t admit that it was overwhelming. We learned what to expect for the rest of Philips life. Tests, procedures, transplant list, surgery, recovery, and life post surgery. We have known that the biggest obstacle standing in the way of the liver transplant is the pulmonary hypertension. We knew that the blood flow pressure of the right side of the heart was 50 and it needs to be 35 to qualify for transplant. What we didn’t understand is that normal is 5. We really don’t yet understand what all of this means. We will have the opportunity to speak with the pulmonologist at the end of the month when we come back.

Nothing medical tomorrow.

7 Comments:

  1. Glad his swelling went down! He must feel better! Thinking of you all with love.

  2. I was so happy to hear the fluid retention is going down! Now – hypertension next – Please HaShem, lower it too!

    Thinking of you. Phil – hang in there. Hope you are feeling better!

    Hanah

  3. Pesach Yaakov, I hope things are going well and you will be full of good news soon instead of fluid and pain!!!

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