I'm new. My brother has been DX with Cirrhosis of the Liver: Part II

Hello,
My brother is out of surgery and back in his room. My sister and dad were there. He was in surgery for about 1 1/2 hours, the surgeon said he believes the strangulation was taken care of fast enough that it was not necessary to resect any bowel. They are watching him closely tonight though for any complications. And Rick, no, they did not place any Mesh as they did not with the umbilical hernia either. It looks like God decided when and where my brother would have his surgery.
Rick I will pass your messages on to Jay, I am sure he will be glad to hear from you again. Thank you for your prayers, I will keep you informed of his progress. Wishing you all a pleasant and peaceful evening.

Phyllis, It's great Jay made it out of surgery unscathed. I'm glad they didn't install the mesh behind the incision. The mesh can be prone to giving he unneeded infections and on a few occasions people have had to be reopened to remove it eventually. You know the less evasive the surgery the better off he is. Jay does need to find something to occupy his idle time. If I remember correctly he was a craftsman (carpenter). This being winter maybe he can find something to do indoors. I built my step daughter a head and foot board for her bed one year in our enclosed back porch. Took forever, But it's more about detail than production.

It's disheartening to not think your making progress during the struggle with this disease. Easy to give up rather to continue forward. Darned if you do, Darned if you don't type of thing. Getting worse is good to get you transplanted. Getting better means less chance of transplant but you live with a sword hanging over your head until it falls and your back to square one. Been there/are there, and done that. I had to accept this not with my mind but with my heart. You can tell yourself over again it'll be o.k either way but until you truly embrace it you'll be miserable. I was speaking to my dad the other day and he was going on about he and mom continuing trips to the hospital (Sucks being old). He said "Better to be seen than viewed I suppose". Yep, At least we are alive and life isn't as shabby as it was a few years ago. Just got to do what we have to in order to see a better tomorrow (Hopefully).

Thing about this narrowing of the shunt or flow issue will work to his advantage. They can only do revisions or cleaning so many times before the risk outweighs the risk of transplant. Remember MELD scores aren't just based on LABS. Extenuating circumstances change those numbers dramatically. His main goal is to stay as fit as possible to live through the surgery when the time comes. Mind focused on the next goal and nothing else. I have gained weight and currently about 20lbs over. It's not that I'm eating the wrong things but stress and poor weather has been limiting my busy work. I sit idle and sleep takes over. This has always been a issue from the onset. I can't sit idle or I'll dose off no matter what the task. Wife won't let me drive for any length of time because of this. He's got to find something to do with his time in short.

Please do tell the family that I said hello and pop Jay upside the head. Tell him it's from me and to keep plugging away at this. Hopefully thing will be better down the road from now. And Phyllis, You better not be such a stranger around here anymore. I have thought about you all hundreds of times since you last updated the post.

Ziff

I just talked with my brother a little while ago, a short conversation as he is very tired and a little groggy, he keeps trying to get rest and keeps getting visitors and phone calls. We just love him. He appears to be doing good, they are feeding him food for the first time today since the surgery. He said this strangulation was the worst pain he has ever felt in his life, still screaming in pain even on pain medications. He said he felt it getting worse but he had to take a shower before he drove up to his hospital. When he got to the hospital the hernia strangulated and they then had to transport him to the other hospital an hour south of him. He agreed God had different plans, because when, where, how was all different than what we were planning. He thinks they will probably keep him at least until Thursday. I called UWMC in Seattle and reported to the nurse coordinator about what happened, she did not know about it, so i don't know if his Dr knew about it yet either. She did give me a 24/7 Dr to Dr emergency telephone number in case of anything else. So as of right now he is recuperating and they are watching to see how the intestines are responding to digesting food. Jay has kept as busy as he can this last year considering dealing with this hernia the whole time and it progressively getting worse. Rick, he used to be a contractor for a commercial and residential painting business. He also has a degree in network marketing (entrepreneur) and has been studying up on starting a home based business for when he is better. He is staying up at our mom's at the lake and he helps keep things fixed around the house. This summer he and a buddy tore out the wood back deck and poured all new concrete. My mom said it turned out really nice. He also helped in landscaping around the property. He has been using one of those glider type exercisers so it was not hard on his hernia, but after awhile he could not even use that anymore, so he started walking the road that goes up at a slant to get some cardio exercise. The UWMC last year just made it sound risky for him to do the surgery, that is why he has put it off. We are just glad the surgery is complete.
Ok, well need to get some stuff done before sunset arrives shortly. Rick, always a pleasure hearing from you and others on here that share their knowledge and wisdom. Thank you so much! Oh, and Rick I passed some of your info to my brother, he said it was nice to hear from you. I am going to print it off so he can read it, his brain is a little tired right now. Good evening to all, may our good Lord bind up your wounds and bring peace and comfort to your hearts.
Harpazo Me Up!

He's came a long way Phyllis. I've never asked or been told the extent of blockage in my shunt. They tell me "It looks fine and give them a call if I see sudden weight gain". I'm happy to hear he's still kicking around, And you to for that matter. Tell him Rick said hey.


Ziff