Mingo Junction man needs dental work before liver transplant

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Mingo Junction man needs dental work before liver transplant

By DAVE GOSSETT, Staff writer

MINGO JUNCTION — Harold “Donnie” McMillen isn’t looking for pity or sympathy these days.The 51-year-old Mingo Junction native is only looking for help in having six teeth pulled. Without that dental work, McMillen cannot receive a liver transplant that will save his life.McMillen is currently at Trinity Medical Center West, going through yet another procedure to have excess fluid drained from his stomach.According to his wife McMillen, “the doctors say my husband’s liver is now weeping and the fluids build up in his stomach and then start building up in his lower extremities. This is the fifth time he has had to have the procedure done at the hospital and they drain about 15 liters of fluid each time.” is scheduled to take her husband back to the Cleveland Clinic on Friday for another evaluation prior to being placed on the transplant list.“But we are in a Catch 22 position. My husband’s liver disease and his medications have affected his teeth. So even though the Cleveland Clinic has rated Donnie eligible for a liver transplant on the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease system, they will not put him on the list until his last six teeth are removed. They are afraid of performing a liver transplant and the procedure getting an infection from his teeth,” explained .“If he doesn’t get the transplant, his time is limited,” she stated. said her husband had his upper teeth removed by a Toronto dentist “a couple months ago” after the dentist was assured by Medicaid officials that Harold McMillen had dental coverage.“We went back a week later to have the stitches removed and his lower teeth pulled and were told the Medicaid people had changed their mind and said he had no dental insurance beyond an annual cleaning and one filling a year. So the dentist said he didn’t want to put us into a deeper financial hole by pulling the remaining six teeth,” she said.“I have been battling with Medicaid ever since then. My husband is receiving Social Security disability payments and we started out under Medicare. They sent us to the Cleveland Clinic for his medical treatments. But now we are under Medicaid and they want us to go to Cincinnati. I have told the lady at the Medicaid offices that it is a shorter trip to Cleveland and my husband is now comfortable with the Cleveland doctors. But the Medicaid woman said it doesn’t matter. They want us to switch and start over in Cincinnati,” she said.“My cousin has called a number of dental offices in the area seeking help. But the office managers refer us to a program that may help but it takes months for approval. We don’t have months to wait for approval,” said .“The dentist sent the paperwork required for assistance to our family physician, Dr. s, who filled out the papers and sent them to our insurance company. But the application is now waiting for approval from a medical review board which will take more time. And that is just not something we have at this point,” explained .“We don’t want any pity. But we are just asking if a dentist in the area is willing to remove my husband’s last six teeth so we can proceed with the liver transplant evaluation at the Cleveland Clinic,” noted.She said she met her future husband when they were students at Mingo Junior High School.“We met in the seventh grade and were boyfriend and girlfriend. We dated through high school and got married after that. We will be married for 30 years on Jan. 21,” she added. “We just had too much fun when we were young. That is what caused his liver problems. My husband drank some alcohol and took too many Tylenol pills because of the headaches,” remarked.“When my husband was first diagnosed on June 3, 2002, the doctors at the Cleveland Clinic asked if he wanted to see his youngest child graduate from high school. He told them ‘yes’ and he had several grandchildren he also wanted to see graduate,” related .“So they told my husband he had to stop drinking and stop smoking. That was OK. But they also told him he had to give up all his friends who drank and smoked and make new friends. They didn’t know my husband very well,” said.“He stopped drinking and smoking cold turkey. But he didn’t give up his friends. He still goes downtown to see his friends and watch the football games on television. But now he drinks a soda instead of liquor,” she said.“And those same friends, and many more people in Mingo Junction, came together at two different places downtown to hold benefits for us. People like Ed Fithen at the Parkview and Lee Bell at the Shutzen Club helped us when we had to spend four days for tests at the Cleveland Clinic. Their donations also helped us buy a walker and wheelchair for my husband and helped us with home medical needs. The people of Mingo Junction are absolutely wonderful. And we won’t ever give up our friends,” promised.“But if I could tell people one message from all of this I would say to be careful about drinking alcohol and smoking. It can come back to hurt you,” she stated.She noted she is spending, “close to $400 a month on medications for my husband.”“He was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. That takes three different medications a day. So a couple of my husband’s doctors are giving us samples to try and help us with the medications. And I have been to every pharmacy in the area to check on the availability and the price of generic prescriptions,” said.“My husband has always been a strong person. He worked for a Pittsburgh company called Remacor where he traveled to steel mills all over the country and Canada to test the de-sulphurization during the raw steel production process. Then his company downsized, and he lost his job,” she said.“It really bothers him to need all this help and attention. He has always been so strong. It just tugs at my heart,” she noted.Harold originally was rated an 11 on the MELD System five years ago.“Two years ago, he was rated a 13. During our four-day stay at the Cleveland Clinic at the end of November, my husband was rated at 18. The doctors feel he will be above 20 when we go back on Friday. The MELD system ends at 40 points. That number is fatal,” said .“It took two years for him to go up four points. Now he went up three points in one month,” she added with tears in her eyes.“Right now we are battling the insurance company and dental offices as we ask for help and most important of all, we are battling time. We really need help in solving the dental issues so we can move forward and see my husband placed on the liver transplant list,” said.“If he is placed on that transplant list, we then wait for a telephone call telling us to go to the Cleveland Clinic. Once the call comes in, we have eight hours to be at the clinic. They used to keep transplant patients for three months after the operation. Now the patient is there from 10 to 14 days,” explained.“But for my husband to get a liver transplant, I know another family has to suffer because they have lost a loved one and agreed to donate the organs for transplant,” she commented.As she sat in her living room the telephone rang with a message from a relative at the hospital. Harold was becoming nauseated during his treatment.“Find a nurse and ask if they can give him something for the nausea. I’ll try to be there by 3 o’clock,” she replied.“We are working shifts by having someone with Harold all the time he is in the hospital,” said .“I am doing a lot of praying. God has always helped us to manage to find a way through our problems. I really believe we will get through this. We just need a little help,” proclaimed . “That’s all we need at this point. Just a little help,” she added.(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@....)

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