The Dr did say that Mike's liver is getting worse but he are still a ways from dying. The Dr took blood work to see where Mike's levels are at. There is a thing called the MELD Score; it stands for
Model For End-Stage Liver Disease. The way you find your MELD score is to take the following blood test results and enter them into a MELD Calculator and it will give you your MELD score. Mike's MELD score is at a 20. For 5 years he was Keeping his MELD score around 12-15. since July it has been around 18-20. At 20 you qualify to be put on the Liver transplant list. Unfortunately in the state of Utah they are doing transplants with MELD scores around 30-40. We are going to be meeting with the U of U team once a month now so they can get the needed information in order to do the transplant.
The 2 main things the Dr wants Mike to do is track his Sodium Intake and to have More Protein. With these changes and the Meds. the Dr is hoping to keep Mike's health good and to keep him out of the Hospital. It is a Fine balancing act with everything.
Colorado's average meld score at transplant was hovering at 38 the whole time Cindy was with them, their admittance level was only 15 though.
ReplyDeleteI hope you guys have some good luck, I know how difficult it can be, and you two have been going through this for so many years already.
I do have a question for you, the 38 average meld is people waiting for a perfect whole liver, has anyone discussed "less than optimal" options with you? There are cases where a healthy partial split, or even a whole with a managable issue (like hep A) get offered to and refused by people with higher meld scores.