Liver Failure and cirrhosis death, anyone go through this?

[Mary Z]

If you have lost a friend or close relative to liver failure and cirhosis, please share with me the amount of time they had in "end stage". We are trying to get some idea of what to expect....I have posted on the liver forum...but decided to ask here as well. Thank you all for your time!
Mary Z

[CalliopeFouette]

You are an addict, and it is too late for me or anyone else to pass judgement.  Hey, enjoy the blue sky and the rest of your life.  Pass along a few good words, have fun, don't wallow in self pity like my guy who was always a mean self-pitier.  I was ready to break it off when the cancer diagnosis came down.  Couldn't leave him for the kids sake.   He's not violent, just annoyingly more self-centered and spoiled and self-destructive and blaming me for everything that goes wrong in his life.  He must have been such an a-hole because his job screwed up his cancer disability insurance payments twice.  And this was a civil service job.  Do you know how hard it is to be fired from a civil service job? So darling, unless you are the King of the A-Holes, you have to accept that's where you are. I can't make you get help.  You know what's going to happen to you.  But if you were looking at a friend going through this, what would you do?  So, don't like yourself, eh.  Don't we deserve better than what that bloke in the mirror says we are worth?  Rewind the video dear, to where we began to stop caring about that wee boy.  Cry that tear, man up--play that Cleo Laine record, then find a great museum and see it for the first time.  Then see life again.  Then see if you can stand 15 minutes of sheer silence.  That's your heart beating, man.  You are going to want to drown and come up for air, and run to the bar. You decide.  Time is relative.  You just proved you could do it for a short while.  It is all relative. You're the scientist.  You are so full of it and so empty, what is in between is scary and will save you. Save your lips for the sweet kiss you'll get when you feel worthy of love.

[rbcmyhsm]

I'm so glad this thread is still going. My mother was diagnosed with Hepatitis C around the time I was born over 20 years ago. She has stage four cirrhosis and diabetes and is currently in hospital and has been deteriorating for the last month. She has severe fluid retention, she is very sleepy and encephalopathic and cannot stay conscious for longer that a few seconds which I fear will only get worse (I at least got to tell her that I love her and she told me that she loves me too when I visited her yesterday, I'm hoping that she might come out of it enough for me to have a proper conversation with her), her urine is dark brown and today her doctor's said that her kidney's are beginning to fail. They have put her on a fluid diet and as far as I know she is eating (I'm visiting her again tomorrow) and they have her on IV fluids but her doctor said it was a balancing act because of her kidney's. They have suggested dialysis but I'm not sure if that is a good option because I don't want her to be in anymore pain or discomfort then she is already. Although I knew that this was going to happen for a very long time but it's just come on so fast. I'm scared of what comes next as well. I've been doing a lot of research into End Stage Cirrhosis/ Liver Failure and I don't know if I could handle watching my Mum bleed out and be in pain. This is such a horrible way to go.

To everyone who has and will continue to come to this forum, I'm so sorry that you also have to go through this. I send all my love and support to all of you. Stay strong!

[Learning64]

I believe the waiting time is now 6 months. My husband couldn't make it for the year we had to wait. His doctor didn't put him on the list, as he was still drinking. If I could go back in time, I would find a doctor who would get him on the list asap (post rehab, which of course rarely works but which is required).

[C8605]

Hello Laura,
My father just died from a similar issue three weeks ago - liver disease. He seemed fine though he was having some trouble breathing. We were told that he needed to be intubated because he was having too much trouble. We (my sister and I) gave consent over the phone as it was 2:30am. When we arrived at the hospital, a different doctor was waiting to have a family meeting. She rambled on and on until my sister (a nurse) stopped her and told her that we were not changing our minds and she needed to intubate my father. By this point, it was an hour later.

Our plan was to intubate while we waited for the pneumonia to clear up (he had started antibiotics that day). We figured it'd be only a couple of days. Everything was very hectic after that. I ran holding my dad's hand all the way to ICU and then they took him behind the doors and the next time I saw him, he was lying on a table, his eyes open, intubated, spasming, and brain dead (no neural activity they said). While in his room, my father had been asked questions about who the president was and he responded "Obama." When I started to cry, he asked me "What's the matter?" When I told him that I loved him, he said, "I love you too, baby." He was fine. And then, after they took him to ICU, he was not.

I share this because I understand how you feel. The need to have the questions answered - what happened to him is all I think about. I have ordered all of his medical records and they should be arriving by next week. My sister and I have decided to go through them and seek professional advice to get to the bottom of what happened to my dad. We can't rest until we know and I suspect you won't be able to either.

Order the records. Don't take "she was very sick" as a final answer. Find out what happened to your mom. You deserve to know.

[Obxnc]

I am sorry for your loss. Did he spend the two months in the hospital?

[Obxnc]

My ex-girlfriend (33 years old) has been in the hospital for about three weeks and it is really hard to get answers. Her belly is 3-4 times her normal size, she has been a heavy drinker and has been to detox and rehab programs 10-12 times over the last five or so years. She also takes benzos and has been for the last seven or so years. Normally she would detox for a week to a month and go right back to her habit as soon as she was discharged. She is not rebounding like she normally would, they drain the fluid every few days and it comes right back. Her color seems to change from a light yellow to a bright yellow with the fluid level and some days she is with it and others its like she is somewhere else. From what I understand they don't consider a alcoholic on the transplant list for two years post drinking. He vitals are all over the place even her blood sugar is going haywire and I am just really unsure what her outlook is. Has anybody ever survived this or is this her final stages of her life. Its hard to watch even know the doctors told me years ago if she did not stop drinking that this was going to happen. She is just laying in a hospital bed starring at the TV.  I feel I need to do more!!! Should I bring her a stress ball so she can be doing light exercises? or does she not have the strength and needs to rest? Should I be doing some short of light PT or OT. Should I have her favorite music playing? Do you bring her favorite movie and watch it on a lap top... Writing?? reading to her???