Checking the Boxes

In my last post I talked about the long process of making it onto a liver transplant waiting list. In order for you all to appreciate how involved the process really is, I though it would be an interesting exercise for me to lay-out what is actually required during the evaluation process at every single center that you would like to be listed at. Remember, Dad went through this twice, because he is especially lucky. Not like getting listed twice made his situation any better...

The pre-transplant evaluation process is a mechanical process that is highly regimented and ignores any patient individuality or humanity. For all of you that feel you don't get enough individual attention when you see a physician, consider what is involved in getting onto a US-based organ transplant list. You are essentially treated like a black box that every analyst involved (mostly highly specialized health care professionals) has to evaluate you as an inanimate object and check the box. Once that box is checked, however, everything has to be analyzed together to consider you for the list. It all comes down to treating a patient that needs an organ for survival like something that needs to be 'managed' and the associated risks to be assessed before proceeding.


http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969708006931


Pre-transplant Evaluation Requirements:

Medical Education: Variceal Bleeding

I have done some intense Google searching over the past several years about liver disease, and yet I still am frequently learning something new. Usually, I learn something whenever Dad has a new or more severe side effect from his cirrhosis. Of course, that means more Googling. I can certainly just ask Dad about most of these questions that I have, but it's so much more satisfying to see the pictures and read the various definitions and statistics for yourself when you are not a doctor and of my generation, right?

In January of 2010, Dad was hospitalized. Again. This was not the second time he was hospitalized in his life, only the second time mentioned in this blog. It was the second or third time he was hospitalized for variceal bleeding and when I really started to learn more about the topic.


Note: This picture is not entirely accurate in Dad's case as he has no spleen.


For the record, I am losing count of specific hospital stays for two reasons:
1. Both of my parents have been hospitalized about two dozen times in my lifetime for a barrage of reasons, so without a forum like this it really is hard to keep track. I am currently wondering why I didn't start something like this much earlier.
2. As mentioned in a previous post, Dad checks himself out of the hospital right away-- regardless of how sick he is--so the details of each hospital visit becomes blurred.

Let's get back back on topic.