Hi, my name is Kelsey Claire and I'm 19 yrs. old. At the moment my father, Rodger Claire, who is fairly young, in his 50's, is currently in ICU in critical condition at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas, CA. He had hepatitis C when he was in his early 20's and since then has never had many problems with it until now. Over the years it seems as though his liver damage has gone into cirrhosis. This November he was admitted into the hospital for a week or so, the first time he was told his liver had become so bad. We immediately started him on all his medications, which my father was very precise about taking, and he immediately cut all alcohol out of his diet (not that he was ever a big drinker, but he did enjoy some wine with dinner at night previous to the hospital visit.) Unfortunately, On Dec.9, close to midnight, he suffered from a brain stem bleed because of his liver complications. The Dr. was extremely negative, but since then my father has made great strides. His mental acuity is 100 percent there, he has full usage of all his limbs (arms, legs), but has been off and on a ventilator for his breathing. It seems as though he cannot 100 percent recover from it because he still gets so weak from all the complications with his liver, such as raised ammonia levels etc., much like a 'Catch 22.' The Dr. has been nothing but negative from the very beginning. It hurts to see my father improve so much (because he is such a fighter), yet not have the Dr. acknowledge it at all. The Dr. continues to push 'Letting my father go' (essentially put him on a morphine drip) saying that no one would consider him for a liver transplant because of his stroke (as far as we know my father was on the transplant list after his innitial visit to the hospital in Nov., yet have gotten fuzzy answers as if he is still on it as of the moment). My father continues to let us know how much he wants to fight and overcome this and his family, my mother, me, and my sister, are right there with him, we are willing to do everything and anything to get him back. I feel so helpless at the moment of what to do, but it just feels as though there MUST be something. My father is such an amazing man and has shown incredible strides through all of this. He is a writer, formerly he wrote a book titled 'Raid On The Sun,' and has a book coming out this spring, 'Operation Entebbe.' I will do anything in my power to help him and was wondering if any of you had any suggestions, words of advice, or comments. Thank you SO SO SO much for taking the time to read my story and any help you have would be so greatly appreciated
Loving and Worried Daughter