And so it goes

So it's not exactly smooth sailing. With the unexpected pain Ron is experiencing in his back bringing us back to the ER then some less than perfect blood test results, this week may prove to be trying.

I haven't really got into to many details about what happened before I got the blog up. I don't know if it's just because there is SOOO much to say and so little time to type it, or if I am still trying to figure out what happened myself. I'll try to work on filling in the missing details very soon. In the mean time here is where we are at today.

Ron's doctors are a little concerned with one of his "numbers" from his last couple blood tests. They are not improving at the pace they normally expect to see. That means that this week will be interesting. Tomorrow Ron is scheduled for a sonogram. Thursday he will give more blood for testing and depending on the result of the sonogram and his blood test, they may have to do a liver biopsy on Friday. Because of the medication he is on they don't want to do a standard biopsy where they get a gigantic needle and poke him through the ribs to retrieve a sample of his new liver. Instead they well go through his neck... how that works is beyond me. Although I do know they call it a trans jugular biopsy... (now that's some cylon shit)

But I will tell you, after this experience I am beginning to find myself more interested in medicine than I would have expected. For the last few years I have been singly interested in pursuing a law degree... I may need to do a bit of research soon.

There are a few different reasons his test results would stop progressing... I will do my best to explain to you the dumbed down versions the doctor explained to us.

#1 Rejection... the doctor told us this is the less likely of the three things, and although very scary, it doesn't happen over night and its very treatable through medication adjustments.

#2 Bile duct... so there is a duct that goes from the liver to the intestines... you might imagine what it's for... anyway. no two bile ducts are exactly the same size, the two different size ducts cause pressure build up (like a traffic jam, it moves through but gets congested). And it is the most common complication of the liver transplant surgery. Infact 3 of the 5 post-op patients at the support group mentioned they had this issue. If this is the reason then he needs to have a stint put in the duct. Basically its like an umbrella and holds the duct open.

#3 Is my favorite... the liver just needs more time to "wake up" because Ron had to wait quite a while before he got into surgery his liver was "cold" for longer than optimal. they pump the liver with "preservatives" to keep it fresh and sometimes it takes a while for the liver to process out the junk. They set the procedure on Friday as tentative just in case his liver decided to co-operate.

so that is Today... tomorrow and the next two days. We will keep you posted as we go.