After months of waiting, we finaly have results......

After months of waiting, my mom finally got back the results to her liver biopsy. They found out from the biopsy that she has VERY bad liver cirrhosis and shrinkage of her liver, and that is what had caused the build up of fluid in her belly - like how she had suddenly gained like 30 lbs, in 2 weeks.

The doctor also said that her current condition was caused by a procedure she had done in 1978 that they were unaware of the side effects it could cause or the aftermath of it. You see in 1978 my mom was really overweight - by then she had 4 kids and was working on her second marriage. Since they didn't offer stomach stapling or gastric bypass back then, they ended up removing a section of her colon to make her lose weight, and she did. At that time removing a section of your colon was the equivalent of the surgeries they perform today. I remember times that my mom has been very skinny growing up, or worse yet she had very thin legs, but a round belly on her - so regardless to say, the surgery wasn't even a complete success or an end to her weight issues. My mom was so skinny when she first married as a teenager, that you could have almost wrapped your hands around the circumference of her waist -that's how skinny she had been before kids!

Anyway, they've done some surgeries on her to get the build up of fluid under control among other things, and now most everything is much better. But in order to keep all of this in control - at least for the time being (until there is a permanent solution made), she has to undergo another surgery called a TIPS procedure, where they insert a Transjuglar Intahepathic Portosystemic Shunt in her. This procedure should help relieve the portal hypertension (pressure on the blood circulation of the liver) because THAT alone could kill her, it will also help reduce fluid production so she won't swell up anymore - and hopefully all this will somewhat ease her pain. Afterwards, the next steps will be to evaluate her for a liver transplant. This sounds as though it may take quite a while to determine and lots more testing. It may be months before we know anything for sure. Then if she is determined to be a candidate for transplant, she'll be put on the waiting list according to urgency. Or at least that is how I understand it. So for now we wait and see how bad it really is, and hope and pray that someone in my family (or someone else's) will be a match for her. I don't know how matches are determined, but I do know this - I am O+ blood and she is O- blood, so I have no clue if that rules me out or not. My sister also has O+, but I don't know about my brother(s) or my husband. I have also since found out that my Uncle Coleman in TN has a clean liver and may be a good match - but then again, I'm not positive if he's a match.

So if there is anyone in the Las Vegas area who would be kind enough to donate half of their liver to a total stranger, just leave a comment or email me at MLSSBUGS@AOL.COM (yes that IS an L and not an i). I'm only 32 and the last few years have been really rough, I AM NOT READY TO LOSE MY MOM YET. My daughter has already lost one grandparent - my husband's dad to lung cancer. I do not want her to lose another. I know there ARE kind people out there, KIND PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO HELP. Don't be shy, just let me know - and NO, my mom does not drink or smoke. If nothing else, please pray for her - that is something everyone can do! Thank you!