Journey Of A Liver Transplant Recipient

It is a reality that someone in Canada dies every three days waiting for an organ transplant; for some patients, they are lying in their hospital beds, waiting to be given a second chance at life. Some are fortunate to receive that organ or gift of life, yet for many, they don't survive because the organ they require is either not available or doesn't get there in time. Christine Jowett was only thirteen years old when she became jaundiced, fatigued, and endured bouts of right abdominal pain. Having lived with autoimmune hepatitis for twenty-six years, Christine's disease finally took its toll on her and she ended up in St. Mary's Hospital, where she works as a cardiology nurse. In order to save her life, she was then sent to Toronto General Hospital to wait for a liver transplant, yet, her situation continued to deteriorate as her kidneys were shutting down. Now at forty-one years old, a mother and a wife, it still remains a mystery as to why Christine developed chronic autoimmune hepatitis, a disease that for so long through her life she was able to manage with few medications. Life Goes On is a moving story of her life, which tells of her sickness, facing up to the possibility of losing her family, and the struggle to regain the normality of life after her operation. After the tragic death of an anonymous hero, Christine is given the ultimate gift of life, a healthy organ, on one very special day.

This book details Fatimas journey as a two-time liver transplant recipient. The book is also about how her health struggles affected her personally and how the youth who have grown up with chronic illnesses can have normal yet special lives and how their families cope and become their strength. She also writes about how families from very different ethnic backgrounds come close together and form a strong bond in the pain of their children and their common challenges. She discussed the medical mistakes, which become life-changing for so many, and how there should be more acknowledgment of them rather than putting a lid on them. Finally, Fatima talks about how she came to spread awareness about organ donation; shares her story through social media, media, and public speaking; and how she came to be a part of a community of transplant patients, donor families, and those with chronic illness who united together through diversity and helped each other during their struggles. This book details how her life changed after her second liver transplant and the medical mistakes that Fatima endured.

This story is based on Aryan Beharry, who at nine months of age had to undergo a liver transplant due to biliary artesia, a condition caused by the narrowing and restriction of the bile ducts which are necessary to drain bile from the liver, preventing toxifciation. The story covers his birth and parental care with the daunting circumstances during his early years leading up to the present. It also goes into the actual interactions with his physicians from the time of the liver transplant through stages of triumphs, problems and accomplishments. The documented steps are also meant as an inspiration to other parents or adults in similar situations and it shows the possible scenarios that could be followed to deal with such a circumstance. Last but certainly noteworthy, it gives an idea of the type of sacrifices that one must endure to overcome adversities with a life-threatening medical problem.

With collaboration from Consulting Editor, Dr. Norman Gitlin Dr. Goldberg has assembled a state-of-the-art issue devoted to management of liver transplant patients. Expert authors have contributed current clinical reviews that covers the breadth of the pre- and post-surgical journey. Articles are specifically devoted to the following topics: Obesity management of liver transplant waitlist candidates and recipients; Expanding the limits of liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: Is there a limit; Frailty and sarcopenia in patients pre- and post-liver transplant; Achieving tolerance in liver transplantation: Where are we now and what does the future hold; Expanding role of donation after cardiac death donors; Optimizing selection of patients for simultaneous liver-kidney transplant; Keeping the patient with end-stage liver disease alive while awaiting transplant: Management of complications of portal hypertension; Expanding donor selection and recipient indications for living donor liver transplantation; The changing liver transplant recipient: From hepatitis C to NASH and alcohol; Cardiovascular risk stratification in liver transplant candidates; The role of machine perfusion in liver transplantation: Warm, Cold, or does it not matter; Paradigm shift in utilization of livers from hepatitis C-viremic donors into HCV-negative patients; Transplantation of elderly patients: Is there an upper age cutoff; Transplantation for acute alcoholic hepatitis: Controversies and early successes. Hepatologists will come away with the information they need to improve outcomes in liver transplant patients.

Explore this practical and step-by-step guide to managing liver transplant patients from leading international clinicians in Hepatology The newly revised Second Edition of Liver Transplantation: Clinical Assessment and Management delivers expert clinical guidance on best practices in managing the care of liver transplant patients. Authors are all experts in their field and cover a world-wide perspective. Organized in an accessible, stepwise fashion and packed with text features such as key points, the book covers all critical areas of each stage of the liver transplant journey, from assessment, to management on the list, to long term care. Readers will learn when to refer a patient for liver transplantation, how to assess a potential liver transplant recipient, learn the principles of the procedure and the long term management of the transplant recipient. Liver Transplantation provides the entire hepatology and surgical team the information required for a sound understanding of the entire procedure, from pre- to post-operative care and management. Clinically oriented and management-focused, the book is far more accessible than the liver transplant sections in traditional hepatology textbooks. Readers will also enjoy: A thorough discussion of when to refer a patient for liver transplantation, including general considerations and the use and abuse of prognostic models An exploration of the selection, assessment, and management of patients on the transplant list, including how to manage a patient with chronic liver disease while on the waiting list A treatment of liver transplantation for acute liver failure (ALF), including assessment and management of ALF patients on the transplant waiting list A discussion of care of the liver transplant recipient after the procedure in the short and long term Perfect for gastroenterologists, hepatologists, and surgeons and other health care professionals managing patients with liver disease who are awaiting, undergoing and following liver transplantation, Liver Transplantation: Clinical Assessment and Management will also earn a place in the libraries of medical students, residents, internal medicine physicians, and GI/Hepatology trainees and all health care professionals providing clinical care to people with liver disease, before, during and after transplantation.

Penned in real time, from the hospital bed while battling for life, on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone' s 4x2 inch keypad, the only device allowed to the patient in her super-sanitized recuperating room, this book follows a hybrid format of medico-psycho thriller, interspersed with SMS chats, transcripts of medical records, and other workings of an addled mind overcome by sickness, yet determined to pull through. It is a first-hand account of a liver transplant recipient' s journey in India, chronicled from the patient' s perspective in vivid detail as a series of dramatic events unfold in her life, completing the cycle from sickness to health, despair to hope. It also tells the story of a single mom and breadwinner of the family, her strong bonding with her adoptive daughter, and her family and friends' support. The author hopes that this book will give courage and direction to other patients whose lives are hanging by a thread, patients awaiting a life-saving cadaveric organ donation.

A book inspiring hope, perseverance, and triumph for those needing a new organ.

The process of transplant is about restoring life. I mean how truly amazing is modern medicine and science! They can now take organs from a person who is brain dead (yes, a person must be brain dead to be able to donate their organs; heart still beating, but no brain activity) and medication taken twice or more daily can keep that organ functioning and give new life to a person who, half a century ago, would be dead. And not just new life, but for many a life they had never dreamed of living.