I lost my Grandfather back in May 2011 from liver failure. He was diagnosed about
6 years ago with a fatty liver. For about
a year and a half before he passed he complained all the time about
being so wore out. We chalked this up to old age (he was 86). In the 6 months prior to his death he would have times where he was hardly able to move his legs. He would say his legs just didnt want to move. Again we felt it was because of his age and no getting any exercise. He worried all the time that he was going to fall and break a hip. Because of this worrying he bought himself a scooter than he used to get to his garage from the house. In April of 2011 he had horrible pain in his right side and spent two days in the hospital. He ended up going back to the hospital two days later after being discharged because the pain was unbearable. They sent him home with Vicodin for pain (wrong thing for someone that has a fatty liver). He only took 3 before we seen him going down hill. He then decided that it was the pills that was making him so bad. He started taking ES Tylenol. I went to visit him after taking these meds for 5 days and seen where in his commode the urine was almost the color of Coke Cola. I knew then it wasnt a good sign. We never knew until then that he should have been watching more closely to his diet with him having a fatty liver. I knew when I seen the color of his urine that it wasnt good. We went back to the ER and the same ER doc that prescribed him the Vicodin said that he couldnt believe that enzymes were almost double of what they were a week ago when they seen him. (duh you gave a man with liver disease high doses of Tylenol) Anyway, his biopsy said no cirrohsis or cancer. From the time we was admitted til the time he died was 5 weeks. It was awful to see him jaundiced, hallucinating, filling up with fluid (which they could not drain because of his blood clotting factor). He talked off the wall, etc....I know all the medical terms to all the above all to well because of searching for answers prior to his death. He was not a candidate for a liver transplant I am assuming because of his age. The docs say that he probably had cancer but it just wasnt detected (sister died of liver cancer) and that if they
openend him up they probably would have found it. But they didnt
open him up. Another doc said that they felt it came from taking Lipitor all these years. I still til this day want to call the doc and ask questions. How did he go downhill so fast just having a fatty liver?? I think the Vicodin just put a clinker to it all. He was a little over weight but when the doc would tell him to lose weight he said Im 86 yrs old and gonna eat what I want. Bad thing was he did. He drank whole milk, buttermilk, ate sweets galore and even drank protein shakes because he said they made him feel better. I do not wish this on anyone. Its awful to watch someone that you love so dearly fade away so fast and not be able to do nothing about
it. I just wish I knew what really went wrong....He had blood work done every three months, routinely.....wouldnt they have seen these elevated then??? Years prior to??? The day he died his AST was 1200 and his ALT was 932. I just wish I would have put everything together and seen what was going on for the last two years. I thought it was his heart, stupid me.....I loved him so much
