My auntie is now 85 years of age,
Around 4 years ago she started vomiting blood, when in hospital we were told she has non alcoholic fatty liver cirrhosis and she is dying, The way it was put to the family was as if she was dying soon and while in hospital, A few weeks went by and she got discharged from hospital, she's been on lots of medication since relating to her illness, she also has thyroid trouble, anaemia and diabetes.
Since then she's managed to get on with her life, be it with a little pain, and become more frail,
about 2 months ago she began to become very confused! we had to force entry to the home as she didn't know how to open the door, she couldn't turn the television off etc... She's also mainly been bed bound, only getting up to eat or go the toilet.
The confusion is still there, not so bad but it does come in short spells, Last week she was admitted to hospital, she's very frail but has had 6 litres of fluid drained from her stomach as it was very swollen, as is her ankles... She doesn't look very well, her hair is falling out and she's in pain but she's still okay in her self still making jokes and talking.
Went into see the doctor yesterday, she explained that after having the ascites fluid drained last week its starting to build up again so will need to be drained again before she goes home , this is an on-going thing which will need draining every so often..
She also explained that the confusion is down to the liver problem and is a well known symptom, she's done a test to come to this conclusion.
She's also said she's in end stage liver cirrhosis, and she's looking at long months , short years to live.
The doctor is a liver specialist and she reckons she has around 6-12 months as this illness will only get worse...
What can I expect? Whats a rough life expectancy of her? Does the Doctors estimate sound right?...