Transplant recovery time

[Guest guest]

I do not often post to this site but I wonder if some could provide feedback on

the time it

usually takes to recover from a liver transplant and get back to work on a full

time basis. I

have had PSC diagnosed for 11 years and most recently my Meld score has been

bouncing

between 18 and 25 with billirubin between 19 and 24. I am on constant

antibiotic therapy

(Cipro and Augmentin) at high doses to fight infection and fever. I have ERCPs

every three

weeks and constantly have three stents in my ducts (there are only three ducts

that are

still open since the balance have scarred up due to having ERCPs for the last5

years. Since

I am on the transplant list at UCSF where the average wait time is 2 to 3 years

if not

longer, and one must have a Meld in excess of about 27 to obtain a liver, I am

going to

have my transplant at the Mayo Clinic in ville since it is a private

hospital and I am

fortunate to have wonderful health insurance. The wait time there is about 1

month for

someone at my Meld ranges. My transplant should take place sometime in April.

I often read about the complications that members suffer after liver

transplants, since this

group is biased by nature to those who are more ill and have more complications.

Of you

who are relatively healthy, in their fifties or forties, what have been your

experiences

regarding time it has taken you to recover after transplant? I am wondering

when my long

term private disability insurance will be taken from me after recovery from

surgery. I have

heard as short as six months after transplant. However other sources say that

disability

usually extends at least for one year after transplant. Have any of you had

physicians who

have refused to sign extensions of disability even though you did not feel well

enough to

get back to full time employment?

Thank you in advance for reading this post and I wish you all the fortitude and

strength to

fight this frustrating disease.

Listed for transplant in August 2006. Diagnosed PSC since 1996, elevated liver

enzymes

since 1975