Hi again,
You may want to post on the Cirrhosis of the Liver forum as well. There you will find more forum members who are familiar with Cirrhosis as well as ESLD.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Cirrhosis-of-the-Liver/show/1390
Advocate1955
We are not doctors, so we have no way of knowing. If your husband has ESLD, a transplant is the only thing that will save his life. However, if he is drinking, he will not be approved for a transplant. In April he had two of the three major symptoms of decompensated liver (liver not working properly): bleeding varices and severe ascites. Does he also have hepatic encephalopathy (confusion, disorientation, forgetfulness, unusual behavior)? Does he take any medications to prevent a reoccurence of the varices or the ascites? If he continues drinking, my uneducated guess would be that these symptoms will reoccur fairly soon. His liver is already damaged beyond repair, so not drinking was helping his liver. Drinking again will further damage his liver, causing it not to work properly or to fail, which will lead quickly to a reoccurence of those major symptoms. Is he under the care of a hepatologist? He should be restricting sodium, taking medications to prevent ascites, varices, and hepatic encephalopathy, monitoring for liver cancer, restricting red meat, eating a liver friendly diet, and not drinking or taking medications that harm the liver. Obviously it is his choice whether or not to drink and whether or not to take care of his liver. I wonder if he realizes that his only option is a liver transplant and that he will not receive a liver if he is drinking or otherwise damaging his liver? Dying from ESLD is a horrible, painful death, and I wonder if he realizes what the end will be like for him (and for you)?
Again, there is no timetable and no way to predict how long. Some people live with ESLD for years, but that is under the care of a hepatologist and taking good care of the liver and treating symptoms. Other people get sicker and sicker and die fairly quickly after being diagnosed with ESLD. I personally have known 3 people who died due to liver failure. All 3 were under the care of a hepatologist, following doctors' orders, and doing everything possible to stay well: one lived for a year, one lived for 6 months, and one lived for about 2 months.
My heart goes out to you. I am sure it is excruciating to watch him kill himself this way.
Advocate1955