Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[Ten_Titans]

Glad they won but Will Smith should never try to "close" a game for them ever again.

 

[Johnny Majors' Ghost]

Yeah, but singing, "You've got an Elarbee in me" is wrong on so many levels.

Elarbee is pronounced the same as Ellerbe. As in Ellerbe, NC. Former home of Andre the Giant. Conclusion? The offensive line is going to play like giants this season.

 

[NMVol]

This is true. All I know is I'm excited for footballs regardless of whomstsoever wins the job.

Mm, mm, mm...

 

[Maxwell865]

Yeah, but singing, "You've got an Elarbee in me" is wrong on so many levels.

Rhymes though

 

[Jackcrevol]

Rhymes though

potato

 

[SweetasSoda]

Thanks!

Apologies ahead of time but this one is gonna be kinda long...

Sigh, well as you prob remember we lost everything in the fire and then he was diagnosed with cancer and liver failure directly after (I don't remember if I told y'all the dx's or if I just told you he was sick). So it's kind of a country and western song. I've hated being stuck here at my parents and under normal circumstances we'd at least have found a place to rent but being forced back home and having his illness strike directly after did have one good side effect that my Mom keeps reminding me of whenever I talk about moving and that's that I have help here. With his health, he can be feeling great one day and on the next day be so sick that all he does is sleep but the worst is probably what I call the 'temporary alzhiemer's' that he can sometimes suffer from when his liver doesn't get rid of amonia levels fast enough or if his sodium and potassium levels get out of whack. We went through a very bad time last month where he was hallucinating, asking the same questions about his parents (who are gone), at times I was 2 people and at times he didn't know me and was just generally confused. The hardest part wasn't the physical stuff (that can be hard) but the mental stuff. That part just breaks me down. I mean it really is just like Alzhiemer's but it's of the type that until/unless it progresses to a point he will come back out of it with the right treatment so at least I have hope when it happens.

I'd asked hospice what could be done and they told me they couldn't do anything because they couldn't run the tests needed to determine such a complicated case. They told me they'd be there but unless I wanted to consider assisted living for him (which is a hard no from me) there was nothing they could do.

It got to the point where he was falling a lot (when amonia levels get high it not only effects the brain but it can also effect your ability to walk) and I knew that I couldn't do it alone. I was picking him up too much, sometimes having to struggle for 45mins or so to get him back up or on the bed and doing very stupid things like using my knee to keep him from falling all the way down and to go along with that his mind wasn't always there enough to help. He would awake and immediately want to go somewhere when I knew his platelet levels were too low for him to risk moving around much assuming he could get more than a step and he had already developed a hematoma on his spine. But I also knew that the hospital could get his levels down and that was the best chance we had. So I made the call to drop hospice so he could get treatment and I'm glad that I did. His doctor told us upon discharge that based on how he was when he came in that he thought he would be discharging to an assisted living or rehab facility but he improved immediately and has been doing well. He's a little fuzzy today but I'm fairly sure that's because he accidentally took two of one of his meds.

He is back in hospice now but our goal is to find out what if anything can be done for his liver. Is he even a viable candidate? When he first went in and was diagnosed they told me flat out they would not operate on his cancer. Several hospital visits later (including that initial one that lasted a month) and the hospitalist had his case reviewed recommended a tumor board (which is something they did to figure out how to operate him even though he is very high risk because his liver basically makes him a free bleeder). He's improved a lot since that first year but without a transplant his case is considered terminal. I wish we'd been able to find out all the answers back when he was on UT palliative care but the pandemic hit and closed a lot of doors and they advised us to move to hospice.

Now, it's trying to figure out how/what to do to get back in touch with his liver doc and find out some answers. He can see specialists while on hospice but the rules about what constitutes aggressive treatment can be weird. Once we do find out, he can wait on hospice for the transplant (assuming he qualifies). He's in his forties so I'm really hoping that we can make something happen.

I'm so sorry that you are going through this. I can't imagine how difficult this is for you. I will be praying for you both.

 

[Volbucky]

Dead serious. Got an extra ticket next to the one and only

That’s going to be a hard sell

 

[engineerVOL]

Rightful place.

 

[Weezer]

Thanks!

Apologies ahead of time but this one is gonna be kinda long...

Sigh, well as you prob remember we lost everything in the fire and then he was diagnosed with cancer and liver failure directly after (I don't remember if I told y'all the dx's or if I just told you he was sick). So it's kind of a country and western song. I've hated being stuck here at my parents and under normal circumstances we'd at least have found a place to rent but being forced back home and having his illness strike directly after did have one good side effect that my Mom keeps reminding me of whenever I talk about moving and that's that I have help here. With his health, he can be feeling great one day and on the next day be so sick that all he does is sleep but the worst is probably what I call the 'temporary alzhiemer's' that he can sometimes suffer from when his liver doesn't get rid of amonia levels fast enough or if his sodium and potassium levels get out of whack. We went through a very bad time last month where he was hallucinating, asking the same questions about his parents (who are gone), at times I was 2 people and at times he didn't know me and was just generally confused. The hardest part wasn't the physical stuff (that can be hard) but the mental stuff. That part just breaks me down. I mean it really is just like Alzhiemer's but it's of the type that until/unless it progresses to a point he will come back out of it with the right treatment so at least I have hope when it happens.

I'd asked hospice what could be done and they told me they couldn't do anything because they couldn't run the tests needed to determine such a complicated case. They told me they'd be there but unless I wanted to consider assisted living for him (which is a hard no from me) there was nothing they could do.

It got to the point where he was falling a lot (when amonia levels get high it not only effects the brain but it can also effect your ability to walk) and I knew that I couldn't do it alone. I was picking him up too much, sometimes having to struggle for 45mins or so to get him back up or on the bed and doing very stupid things like using my knee to keep him from falling all the way down and to go along with that his mind wasn't always there enough to help. He would awake and immediately want to go somewhere when I knew his platelet levels were too low for him to risk moving around much assuming he could get more than a step and he had already developed a hematoma on his spine. But I also knew that the hospital could get his levels down and that was the best chance we had. So I made the call to drop hospice so he could get treatment and I'm glad that I did. His doctor told us upon discharge that based on how he was when he came in that he thought he would be discharging to an assisted living or rehab facility but he improved immediately and has been doing well. He's a little fuzzy today but I'm fairly sure that's because he accidentally took two of one of his meds.

He is back in hospice now but our goal is to find out what if anything can be done for his liver. Is he even a viable candidate? When he first went in and was diagnosed they told me flat out they would not operate on his cancer. Several hospital visits later (including that initial one that lasted a month) and the hospitalist had his case reviewed recommended a tumor board (which is something they did to figure out how to operate him even though he is very high risk because his liver basically makes him a free bleeder). He's improved a lot since that first year but without a transplant his case is considered terminal. I wish we'd been able to find out all the answers back when he was on UT palliative care but the pandemic hit and closed a lot of doors and they advised us to move to hospice.

Now, it's trying to figure out how/what to do to get back in touch with his liver doc and find out some answers. He can see specialists while on hospice but the rules about what constitutes aggressive treatment can be weird. Once we do find out, he can wait on hospice for the transplant (assuming he qualifies). He's in his forties so I'm really hoping that we can make something happen.

I've been on both sides of that ammonia problem. Both me and my dad had cirrhosis, his eventually became liver cancer. I remember what he was like when his ammonia levels were out of whack, speaking nonsense. On the flip side, my ammonia levels went out of whack and I lost like a day and a half. I just remember waking up, very confused, in the hospital with no idea how I got there. Unfortunately, I lost my dad to his cancer, they deemed him too high risk and too old to be eligible for transplant. But I did get a transplant. Personally, that was hard for me.

Thoughts and prayers to your family. I know how hard it can be.

 

[Weezer]

Elarbee is pronounced the same as Ellerbe. As in Ellerbe, NC. Former home of Andre the Giant. Conclusion? The offensive line is going to play like giants this season.

But Andre was French, so what does that mean??

 

[Johnny Majors' Ghost]

But Andre was French, so what does that mean??

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

Wouldn’t mind a DB with non-iron hands.

Kenneth George the man with the Iron hands….

 

[tnvols72]

Thanks!

Apologies ahead of time but this one is gonna be kinda long...

Sigh, well as you prob remember we lost everything in the fire and then he was diagnosed with cancer and liver failure directly after (I don't remember if I told y'all the dx's or if I just told you he was sick). So it's kind of a country and western song. I've hated being stuck here at my parents and under normal circumstances we'd at least have found a place to rent but being forced back home and having his illness strike directly after did have one good side effect that my Mom keeps reminding me of whenever I talk about moving and that's that I have help here. With his health, he can be feeling great one day and on the next day be so sick that all he does is sleep but the worst is probably what I call the 'temporary alzhiemer's' that he can sometimes suffer from when his liver doesn't get rid of amonia levels fast enough or if his sodium and potassium levels get out of whack. We went through a very bad time last month where he was hallucinating, asking the same questions about his parents (who are gone), at times I was 2 people and at times he didn't know me and was just generally confused. The hardest part wasn't the physical stuff (that can be hard) but the mental stuff. That part just breaks me down. I mean it really is just like Alzhiemer's but it's of the type that until/unless it progresses to a point he will come back out of it with the right treatment so at least I have hope when it happens.

I'd asked hospice what could be done and they told me they couldn't do anything because they couldn't run the tests needed to determine such a complicated case. They told me they'd be there but unless I wanted to consider assisted living for him (which is a hard no from me) there was nothing they could do.

It got to the point where he was falling a lot (when amonia levels get high it not only effects the brain but it can also effect your ability to walk) and I knew that I couldn't do it alone. I was picking him up too much, sometimes having to struggle for 45mins or so to get him back up or on the bed and doing very stupid things like using my knee to keep him from falling all the way down and to go along with that his mind wasn't always there enough to help. He would awake and immediately want to go somewhere when I knew his platelet levels were too low for him to risk moving around much assuming he could get more than a step and he had already developed a hematoma on his spine. But I also knew that the hospital could get his levels down and that was the best chance we had. So I made the call to drop hospice so he could get treatment and I'm glad that I did. His doctor told us upon discharge that based on how he was when he came in that he thought he would be discharging to an assisted living or rehab facility but he improved immediately and has been doing well. He's a little fuzzy today but I'm fairly sure that's because he accidentally took two of one of his meds.

He is back in hospice now but our goal is to find out what if anything can be done for his liver. Is he even a viable candidate? When he first went in and was diagnosed they told me flat out they would not operate on his cancer. Several hospital visits later (including that initial one that lasted a month) and the hospitalist had his case reviewed recommended a tumor board (which is something they did to figure out how to operate him even though he is very high risk because his liver basically makes him a free bleeder). He's improved a lot since that first year but without a transplant his case is considered terminal. I wish we'd been able to find out all the answers back when he was on UT palliative care but the pandemic hit and closed a lot of doors and they advised us to move to hospice.

Now, it's trying to figure out how/what to do to get back in touch with his liver doc and find out some answers. He can see specialists while on hospice but the rules about what constitutes aggressive treatment can be weird. Once we do find out, he can wait on hospice for the transplant (assuming he qualifies). He's in his forties so I'm really hoping that we can make something happen.

Sending prayers

 

[UTProf]

I'm so sorry that you are going through this. I can't imagine how difficult this is for you. I will be praying for you both.

Thanks SweetasSoda. I've learned to live for the moment in a very literal way. If he's having a good day and it's 4AM then I'm up at 4AM spending that time with him. I no longer have time for bs. I never had a high threshold for things like petty drama but now it's non-existent. I just don't have the time to bother arguing with people let alone getting involved in that sort of thing. That extends to all sorts of things beyond drama. I don't know how much time we have so I'm going to spend the most I can with him.

I've also learned to be grateful. I think I was pretty good at it before but now I've had the experience of having everything taken away from me. I can remember that first month in the hospital when he was on death's door and being horrified by the thought that if something happened there would be absolutely nothing to mark that we ever existed or that we ever were a 'we.' Everything we had was incinerated and although we've been engaged since college we never bothered to get married. There was no urgency and it felt like we had all the time in the world.

Now, we're planning on finally doing it and we both know he has to be healthy enough so that he can. That's something we talked about after the last hospital trip. I never cared that much about the formality because to me a piece of paper isn't what keeps anything together. Marriage was for the outside world to acknowledge you as a couple and I didn't feel any urgency for that. I'm not the type of social butterfly that dreamt of a big wedding and all that entails. I'm more of a hang out with close friends than a go to a giant bash kinda person and always have been. We had both expected my mom to step in at some point and start planning or at least push me to get the ball rolling but she never did - she'd ask why we weren't married yet but no planning.

It wasn't until a few years ago that the pieces of the puzzle fell into place - my mother and father had eloped! I never knew that. She had pulled out some of my dad's stuff to show me one Thanksgiving and then she showed me her wedding dress. It took me a moment to figure out what was off -- it was just a normal pretty dress not your usual formal wedding dress and when she noticed my furled brow she told me they had eloped. My mom who I've always seen as Mrs. Manners by way of comparison to me being rebellious enough to elope never crossed my mind!

Now, that we're facing a possible end neither one of us want him to leave the world without the acknowledgement that 'yes, we were, we existed, and we loved.' We might not have anything else to show of our lives together but we can still have that and hopefully the story has a happy ending even if it takes jumping through more hoops and chasing down every lead to figure out how to get him treatment.

People online and in real life have been incredibly kind to me and considerate of my situation -- more than I ever thought possible. One of my stress relievers is to play video games and I've had MMO buddies who are willing to tolerate the fact that I might have to stop what we're doing in the middle of the action to help the SO. People have gone out of their way to include me in events and they've lent an ear when I needed to talk. And of course, VN has been there. I haven't dropped this on y'all very much because I haven't wanted to bring everyone down. Our situation is incredibly tough but I know others are going through stuff too.

 

[UTProf]

I've been on both sides of that ammonia problem. Both me and my dad had cirrhosis, his eventually became liver cancer. I remember what he was like when his ammonia levels were out of whack, speaking nonsense. On the flip side, my ammonia levels went out of whack and I lost like a day and a half. I just remember waking up, very confused, in the hospital with no idea how I got there. Unfortunately, I lost my dad to his cancer, they deemed him too high risk and too old to be eligible for transplant. But I did get a transplant. Personally, that was hard for me.

Thoughts and prayers to your family. I know how hard it can be.

Thanks Weezer. It means a lot knowing you've been there.

Can I ask you how old you were when you had your transplant? We think his cancer is gone (it was in his kidneys) but he once had heart failure and cardiomyopathy and even though Coreg did a pretty miraculous job of fixing his heart and shrinking it down to a normal size years ago we're a bit worried about that being a problem. And yeah, there are whole chunks of time that he doesn't remember and I've told him it's probably for the best. His first hospital stay was something you wouldn't want to remember so I'm actually kind of glad that he has little to no memory of the times his amonia has been high. He's also had the same symptoms when his sodium levels have been out of wack so there's actually a lot that he doesn't recall. That said, the cancer and liver failure basically cured him of both high blood pressure and diabetes. They took him off insulin and said he was no longer diabetic which is exceptionally rare for multiple reasons but we'll take whatever wins in the health column we can get.

I know he's scared of a transplant and has mixed feelings about it but the alternative is worse. He's relatively stable and doesn't drink so he could probably squeeze out a few more years without one (although they'd be the ups and downs of ammonia and all that liver problems can throw at you) but ultimately we'd both like for him to stick around.

 

[Weezer]

Thanks Weezer. It means a lot knowing you've been there.

Can I ask you how old you were when you had your transplant? We think his cancer is gone (it was in his kidneys) but he once had heart failure and cardiomyopathy and even though Coreg did a pretty miraculous job of fixing his heart and shrinking it down to a normal size years ago we're a bit worried about that being a problem. And yeah, there are whole chunks of time that he doesn't remember and I've told him it's probably for the best. His first hospital stay was something you wouldn't want to remember so I'm actually kind of glad that he has little to no memory of the times his amonia has been high. He's also had the same symptoms when his sodium levels have been out of wack so there's actually a lot that he doesn't recall. That said, the cancer and liver failure basically cured him of both high blood pressure and diabetes. They took him off insulin and said he was no longer diabetic which is exceptionally rare for multiple reasons but we'll take whatever wins in the health column we can get.

I know he's scared of a transplant and has mixed feelings about it but the alternative is worse. He's relatively stable and doesn't drink so he could probably squeeze out a few more years without one (although they'd be the ups and downs of ammonia and all that liver problems can throw at you) but ultimately we'd both like for him to stick around.

I was 43 when I had my transplant in 2017.

Does your SO take lactulose? It's a medicine they can give you to help with high ammonia. The downside is explosive diarrhea, but it does help with the ammonia.

Where is his liver doctor located? All my liver care is through Vanderbilt, but I started out with a GI doctor at UT Hospital here in Knoxville.

 

[Weezer]

Thanks Weezer. It means a lot knowing you've been there.

Can I ask you how old you were when you had your transplant? We think his cancer is gone (it was in his kidneys) but he once had heart failure and cardiomyopathy and even though Coreg did a pretty miraculous job of fixing his heart and shrinking it down to a normal size years ago we're a bit worried about that being a problem. And yeah, there are whole chunks of time that he doesn't remember and I've told him it's probably for the best. His first hospital stay was something you wouldn't want to remember so I'm actually kind of glad that he has little to no memory of the times his amonia has been high. He's also had the same symptoms when his sodium levels have been out of wack so there's actually a lot that he doesn't recall. That said, the cancer and liver failure basically cured him of both high blood pressure and diabetes. They took him off insulin and said he was no longer diabetic which is exceptionally rare for multiple reasons but we'll take whatever wins in the health column we can get.

I know he's scared of a transplant and has mixed feelings about it but the alternative is worse. He's relatively stable and doesn't drink so he could probably squeeze out a few more years without one (although they'd be the ups and downs of ammonia and all that liver problems can throw at you) but ultimately we'd both like for him to stick around.

As far as health, my dad was 70 years old, had a pacemaker, and his one kidney(he was only born with one) had quit working, so he was on dialysis. All of that made him too high risk. But the cirrhosis left me with a host of problems myself, so if your SO is in his 40's(I think you said he was), then he should probably qualify. I was in bad enough shape that my transplant surgeon told me he was surprised I made it.

 

[Christian Lowe]

Who wants to go to BG game free ticket. Friend got a divorce and come anymore lel.

I’m down I just have to get my girlfriend a ticket

 

[UTProf]

I was 43 when I had my transplant in 2017.

Does your SO take lactulose? It's a medicine they can give you to help with high ammonia. The downside is explosive diarrhea, but it does help with the ammonia.

Where is his liver doctor located? All my liver care is through Vanderbilt, but I started out with a GI doctor at UT Hospital here in Knoxville.

Yes. We weren't very good about keeping up with his lactulose when all of this first started but we definitely are now. (Mainly, because I had to learn how to be a better caregiver and had to learn so many new things and get used to the fact that I couldn't take for granted even little things. It was an odd reversal because if anything he'd always taken care of me and done so many of the daily tasks of life). Neither of us wants him to be in a situation where his mind is gone or he can't walk so we've gotten good about it and I now keep a daily medical journal so I can pinpoint things. We've also gotten better at figuring out what dose he needs and *when* it will hit him. That has helped a ton.

His liver doctor is at UT but we've only seen him outpatient once. When COVID hit was when his first followups should've taken place but because of COVID they weren't seeing as many patients. We also had his disability case and insurance pending so things were a giant mess. I focused on the cancer first because I figured there was no way he'd get a transplant if that weren't taken care of first. I know now that the liver was the bigger problem but I heard the word cancer and immediately that dominated my attention.

 

[UTProf]

As far as health, my dad was 70 years old, had a pacemaker, and his one kidney(he was only born with one) had quit working, so he was on dialysis. All of that made him too high risk. But the cirrhosis left me with a host of problems myself, so if your SO is in his 40's(I think you said he was), then he should probably qualify. I was in bad enough shape that my transplant surgeon told me he was surprised I made it.

I'm very sorry about your father but I very much appreciate the info. It sounds like the SO is in a similar situation to you which makes me feel good. Ironically, he was on a transplant list before when we were in grad school and he had cardiomyopathy -- he was the youngest non-congenital case they'd seen and so damn near every resident paid him a visit. His blood pressure had been so high that the machines couldn't read it and they had to pull out the old ones to manually read it. They told us later that they hadn't expected him to make it through the night. But he responded so well to coreg that his heart is now normal size and he never had to have a transplant. These days his heart rate stays too low these days because of the liver.

Did you have any problem with platelet levels? His are at critical levels. They had a blood band on him when he was in the hospital because they were afraid they'd have to give him platelets. That is what worries me the most because it had been an issue with the cancer surgery. The tumor board decided to use cryoablative to freeze the cancer because it was the least invasive method and they still had to give him platelets beforehand.

 

[Weezer]

Yes. We weren't very good about keeping up with his lactulose when all of this first started but we definitely are now. (Mainly, because I had to learn how to be a better caregiver and had to learn so many new things and get used to the fact that I couldn't take for granted even little things. It was an odd reversal because if anything he'd always taken care of me and done so many of the daily tasks of life). Neither of us wants him to be in a situation where his mind is gone or he can't walk so we've gotten good about it and I now keep a daily medical journal so I can pinpoint things. We've also gotten better at figuring out what dose he needs and *when* it will hit him. That has helped a ton.

His liver doctor is at UT but we've only seen him outpatient once. When COVID hit was when his first followups should've taken place but because of COVID they weren't seeing as many patients. We also had his disability case and insurance pending so things were a giant mess. I focused on the cancer first because I figured there was no way he'd get a transplant if that weren't taken care of first. I know now that the liver was the bigger problem but I heard the word cancer and immediately that dominated my attention.

Is his doctor at UT hospital here in Knoxville, or one of the other UT hospitals around the state? If it's UT in Knoxville, then he's probably seeing one of the GI doctors. The actual liver doctors in the state are mostly at Vanderbilt and UT Memphis. As far as I'm aware, those are the only two hospitals in the state that do liver transplants. My GI at UT Knoxville was Dr. Stancher, but when my case progressed to a certain point he sent me to be seen by the doctors at Vanderbilt so I could be put on the transplant list.

I was lucky in that I kept my insurance through my former job(thanks to COBRA) until after my transplant. It took jumping through a lot of hoops to finally get disability.

 

[Weezer]

I'm very sorry about your father but I very much appreciate the info. It sounds like the SO is in a similar situation to you which makes me feel good. Ironically, he was on a transplant list before when we were in grad school and he had cardiomyopathy -- he was the youngest non-congenital case they'd seen and so damn near every resident paid him a visit. His blood pressure had been so high that the machines couldn't read it and they had to pull out the old ones to manually read it. They told us later that they hadn't expected him to make it through the night. But he responded so well to coreg that his heart is now normal size and he never had to have a transplant. These days his heart rate stays too low these days because of the liver.

Did you have any problem with platelet levels? His are at critical levels. They had a blood band on him when he was in the hospital because they were afraid they'd have to give him platelets. That is what worries me the most because it had been an issue with the cancer surgery. The tumor board decided to use cryoablative to freeze the cancer because it was the least invasive method and they still had to give him platelets beforehand.

My platelets were almost non-existent. I had to see Dr. Hanna at UT because my platelets were so low. You might be familiar with him as he's a cancer doctor, but also deals in hematology.

Not to be discouraging, but just to prepare you, once you get on the transplant list, there's still a lot ahead. I went through a lot of highs and lows, even after the transplant. But you eventually make it through to the other side. Never lose hope.

 

[Weezer]

I'm very sorry about your father but I very much appreciate the info. It sounds like the SO is in a similar situation to you which makes me feel good. Ironically, he was on a transplant list before when we were in grad school and he had cardiomyopathy -- he was the youngest non-congenital case they'd seen and so damn near every resident paid him a visit. His blood pressure had been so high that the machines couldn't read it and they had to pull out the old ones to manually read it. They told us later that they hadn't expected him to make it through the night. But he responded so well to coreg that his heart is now normal size and he never had to have a transplant. These days his heart rate stays too low these days because of the liver.

Did you have any problem with platelet levels? His are at critical levels. They had a blood band on him when he was in the hospital because they were afraid they'd have to give him platelets. That is what worries me the most because it had been an issue with the cancer surgery. The tumor board decided to use cryoablative to freeze the cancer because it was the least invasive method and they still had to give him platelets beforehand.

When your liver fails, it affects the rest of your body. My platelets were very low. My kidney function dropped. In my dad's case, his one kidney quit working all together. I retained lots of fluid, hence the paracentesis where they would drain liters of fluid from my body. It was nothing for them to take 10 liters of fluid from me every two weeks. At one point, I had to have a catheter put in because I couldn't urinate. My spleen became enlarged, which might have something to do with the platelets, I can't remember to be honest, but it seems like they were connected. And of course there's the ammonia levels. The lactulose helps with that, but it comes with its own set of messy consequences.

At some point, if it hasn't already happened, your SO will probably have to have an EGD to check for esophageal varices. The blood vessels in your esophagus can become enlarged and potentially rupture, so they'll check to see if they need to be banded. They'll do a colonoscopy for the same reason. The vessels there can also enlarge and rupture. So they keep an eye on those things to be safe.

Like I said, it's a long road. Just don't give up hope.

 

[BigOrangeGoose]

 

[drvenner]

Thanks!

Apologies ahead of time but this one is gonna be kinda long...

Sigh, well as you prob remember we lost everything in the fire and then he was diagnosed with cancer and liver failure directly after (I don't remember if I told y'all the dx's or if I just told you he was sick). So it's kind of a country and western song. I've hated being stuck here at my parents and under normal circumstances we'd at least have found a place to rent but being forced back home and having his illness strike directly after did have one good side effect that my Mom keeps reminding me of whenever I talk about moving and that's that I have help here. With his health, he can be feeling great one day and on the next day be so sick that all he does is sleep but the worst is probably what I call the 'temporary alzhiemer's' that he can sometimes suffer from when his liver doesn't get rid of amonia levels fast enough or if his sodium and potassium levels get out of whack. We went through a very bad time last month where he was hallucinating, asking the same questions about his parents (who are gone), at times I was 2 people and at times he didn't know me and was just generally confused. The hardest part wasn't the physical stuff (that can be hard) but the mental stuff. That part just breaks me down. I mean it really is just like Alzhiemer's but it's of the type that until/unless it progresses to a point he will come back out of it with the right treatment so at least I have hope when it happens.

I'd asked hospice what could be done and they told me they couldn't do anything because they couldn't run the tests needed to determine such a complicated case. They told me they'd be there but unless I wanted to consider assisted living for him (which is a hard no from me) there was nothing they could do.

It got to the point where he was falling a lot (when amonia levels get high it not only effects the brain but it can also effect your ability to walk) and I knew that I couldn't do it alone. I was picking him up too much, sometimes having to struggle for 45mins or so to get him back up or on the bed and doing very stupid things like using my knee to keep him from falling all the way down and to go along with that his mind wasn't always there enough to help. He would awake and immediately want to go somewhere when I knew his platelet levels were too low for him to risk moving around much assuming he could get more than a step and he had already developed a hematoma on his spine. But I also knew that the hospital could get his levels down and that was the best chance we had. So I made the call to drop hospice so he could get treatment and I'm glad that I did. His doctor told us upon discharge that based on how he was when he came in that he thought he would be discharging to an assisted living or rehab facility but he improved immediately and has been doing well. He's a little fuzzy today but I'm fairly sure that's because he accidentally took two of one of his meds.

He is back in hospice now but our goal is to find out what if anything can be done for his liver. Is he even a viable candidate? When he first went in and was diagnosed they told me flat out they would not operate on his cancer. Several hospital visits later (including that initial one that lasted a month) and the hospitalist had his case reviewed recommended a tumor board (which is something they did to figure out how to operate him even though he is very high risk because his liver basically makes him a free bleeder). He's improved a lot since that first year but without a transplant his case is considered terminal. I wish we'd been able to find out all the answers back when he was on UT palliative care but the pandemic hit and closed a lot of doors and they advised us to move to hospice.

Now, it's trying to figure out how/what to do to get back in touch with his liver doc and find out some answers. He can see specialists while on hospice but the rules about what constitutes aggressive treatment can be weird. Once we do find out, he can wait on hospice for the transplant (assuming he qualifies). He's in his forties so I'm really hoping that we can make something happen.

Lifting you all up in prayer.