Two sides to a coin

His story-

Since I am blogging myself, I knew there would be others that are blogging about liver transplants. Either getting or giving. I found two that I liked so far. One, I have emailed the blogger, Edd, and we are now following each others stories, but from opposite sides. Edd’s blog is here http://live-for-life.blogspot.com/. You can of course check it out and possibly get an idea of what could be happening to my own recipient.

The other blog I of a live donor and she can be seen here http://chopped-liver-blog.blogspot.com/ she has a really good sense of humor and writing style.

Below are some excerpts…okay, it’s pretty much word for word, of what I received from Edd about his ordeal and where his donors have been stopped in the process of donating.

My transplant center (Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles) goes through the following steps, and can “pull the plug” at any step along the way:

1. Two-page form to get basic medical information to the team
2. Basic blood tests for matching and to rule out problems based on that
3. Schedule a trip to LA: X-Rays, CAT Scan, MRI, another blood test
4. Cardio Stress test and heart workup
5. Liver Biopsy
6. Transplant team reviews all the data together
7. Schedule the operations
8. Do the operations

So far, I’ve had two people get as far as the biopsy, to be disqualified because of “internal structural abnormalities;” in one case, the bile ducts from the liver to the intestines were twisted, and in the other, the donor candidate didn’t have adequate blood veins going from the portal vein to the right half of the liver. In both cases, the surgery wouldn’t affect the donor’s recovery, but would force the surgeons to be more creative in grafting the liver section to my body. And they don’t want to be creative if they don’t have to be.

Two of the other candidates got as far as the stress test when the doctors decided there were other potential problems in putting them through surgery. In one case, the donor was at a slight risk to develop pancreatitis post-surgery, and in the other, they found a small mass above one of the organs (the spleen, I think) that they thought might be cancerous. Turned out it was a benign mass, but the team opted to play it safe.

The other two were dropped earlier on, due to “socialogical” issues. Both are primary caregivers (housewife and mother) to two young children (and one being a smoker didn’t help matters), and because there is a remote chance of complications up to and including death, the doctors elect to be as safe as possible.

blogging to most of those that blog seem to be a bit of therapy. It is for me. But I also like to communicate. Mass communicate that is. Tell it once and let one or two of you hear it. LOL