my dad has cirrhosis of the liver... can anyone relate to my situation?

Last. Year my dad finally went to the. ER because of his belly be so sowllen, the doctors said he has cirrhosis cause by heptis c. My dad has never been a drinker that I can remember ..
It's been almost a year now.he has gone back 3 times to get his belly draned. He looks like a skelton very skinny and weak. He is still getting out of the house, but I will get calls from him confused on why or forgetting why he is in the store . Or can't remember what he is getting at the store.. for the past few days he has called sounding like he can't catch his breath . Saying his belly is hurting, it's not swolling anymore. He has been taking meds . I'm not sure what he is taking tho.
..Im young 21. Yr old female. I work full time and. Help pay some of his bills .it's always been my dad and I my mother left when I was young and my dad nevr remarried so now that I have moved out he is alone. I'm just so stressed out everyday and so scared to get the call he is gone. I have a small family but everyone seems to not want to talk about my dad's condition. My dad will tell people he is getting better but we know he is not.. what should i be expecting for our future and how will I know when it's time?

Hi, Pray4 (is it clay or day?) and welcome to the forum! Hepatitis C can cause cirrhosis, which is what happened to your dad. Do you know if he ever has done treatment for the hep? It also can cause liver cancer. I was diagnosed with hep C in '93, but didn't have cirrhosis back then. I had I was found to have a very large liver cancer (HCC) which was shrunk and then the rt. lobe with the tumor was excised. That was in 2007. At that time, I was diagnosed with cirrhosis. In 2011, I again was found to have an HCC, much smaller, but I was advised that I needed a transplant, which I underwent in Oct. of last year. I tried treatment back in '93. At that time, Interferon was the only thing available...an injection 3 x a week. It made my white cells drop so low that I was taken off treatment.

Your dad should be seeing a hepatologist and ask about treatment for his hep C. They have a 3-drug treatment available now, which is showing great success and is usually finished sooner than the 2-drug treatment (known as "the combo" is.

Just because a person has cirrhosis doesn't mean he is going to die...not if he is properly treated. It's a very positive thing that he doesn't drink alcohol. He should also avoid red meat and keep to a low-salt diet.

So please, do not be so fatalistic about your dad's condition. With the right care, he CAN get better...if it's not too late. If there's other information you can give us about him, perhaps we can offer more suggestions. His confusion is likely caused by HE, as Emma said. That is treated with Lactulose and sometimes also with a drug called Xifaxan. Read the info in the folder entitled Hepatitis Resources. Also you can use the Search feature at the top and input hep C or HCC and pull up posts from others regarding these conditions. The Caregivers thread is also a good place for info and support.

Hugs,
Connie