Guest guest Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Please forgive me for such a lengthy e-mail. I am a new member and am just highlighting the journey that we have been on..... My husband was diagnosed with a stone in his bile duct in May of 2007. During a procedure to remove it, it was discovered that his bile ducts below his liver were totally hardened. Emergency surgery was preformed to remove those ducts, remove his gallbladder and make new ducts into his liver with his small intestine. After the 8 1/2 hour surgery, he was moved to intensive care and after a week was taken off of the vent, etc. Several days later, his colon ruptured, and he went into complete renal and liver failure and had a stroke. Our journey begins. He remained in intensive care for 7 1/2 months with consistent bleeds (275 units of blood), 2 more surgery's and on and on. He came home the day after Thanksgiving 2007. In April, we found out that his bladder cancer had returned and we went through chemo which made him very ill. Prior to this, the surgeon and gastro doc said that my husband had surprised all by his tenacious ability to "hang in there" and we could be looking at a liver transplant. The cancer, they said, kicked it out at least two years. He has now been in the every month since January of 2008 for one infection or another, usually Ecoli in his blood stream. We now think the cause is urine residuals in his bladder and we catheterize 4 times a day. The PSC has dropped his weight from 290 to 170. All the most recent tests have shown his Bolivian below 1, the other liver functions "within normal" for someone in his condition. He has never had colitis, IBS or any of the suspected related causes. He was treated with BCG for his origianl cancer however, that now we know messes with your immune system. The cancer returned just before Christmas again. Now they say that he can not have a liver transplant for another 2 years...maybe. His body from the PSC continues to deteriorate, I use megase to stimulate his appetite. Our gastro doc has increased is Actigal to 1800mg / day.... Would someone please help me see through this and let me know what I can do or am facing.......does having cancer really disqualify you for a liver transplant if the cancer is removed???? Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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