'End-stage' liver disease from Hep C

[lhoward]

My Father has been diagnosed with "end-stage" liver disease from Hep C.  I would like to understand what the descriptor "end-stage" means - what does this tell us about his likely duration and quality of life?

[bransonangel85]

I came to this site looking for a clear answer about how long my mother has left, but I guess no one really knows. My mother has had hep. C for 35 years and is in end stage liver failure. She is currently awaiting a liver transplant. Her MELD scores are between 29 and 32, fluctuating. She did get a liver the day after she was put on the list, but unfortunatly it was too big for her small body. She gets her abdomen drained weekly and takes lactulase and lasix. Prayers to everyone

[onepebble]

I have read these posts and see my husband's story retold over and over. He has probably had his Hep C disease 35 years now, but we have only known about it for the last 12 due to routine bloodwork for a physical. I can see that he is coming to his end. His abdomen is full of fluid, his feet are swollen. He sleeps whenever he stops moving. He tells me everyday that he is going to change the belt in the car that was changed three days ago. My heart is broken for him, for our ten-year-old daughter, and all of you out there with lives damaged or destroyed by this disgusting disease.

[Bill1954]

Hi there,

So sorry to hear of your mother’s plight. I don’t have answers for you myself; it does seem that an evaluation by a transplant center would be a good idea though. There are other members here that are transplant recipients, and might be more knowledgeable than I on this subject. Please go to the top of the page, and start a new thread by clicking on the green ‘post a question’ button. This topic was originally started 10 years ago; your thoughts will be lost here.

My best to you and your family—

Bill

[kitcat597]

Hello!
My mother has Hep C, and has been diagnosed with end stage liver disease.  She has been in and out of the hospital for the past 8 months.  In this last hospital visit, the doctors are saying that she now has kidney failure.  They performed dialisis 5 out of the last 6 days.  Unfortunately, her kidneys do not seem to be responding.  
We have put her in hospice, and I am having second thoughts.  She was experiencing some confusion even with the dialisis, however once we mentioned hospice to her, it seems that her mental state has declined even further.  She is now hallucinating, and refuses to sleep, eat or drink anything.  In the meantime, I am wondering if I have made the right decision.  She never completed the steps to be put on the transplant list, however the hospital offered to have an evaluation done.  We declined the evaluation because the doctors made it seem that it would be useless since she has had internal bleeding, her platelette count is low, and the kidneys are now not functioning.  I dont know what to do.  Should i take her out of hospice, and her her evaluated?  Is it too late to save my mother?  I dont want to give up on her, because she would never give up on me...however I just dont know what kind of quality of life she's have if she were to have ongoing dialisis, and have to endure a liver transplant.  This is hearwrenching, and I dont want to live the rest of my life feeling that I made the wrong decision.  Please help!!!

[misty101]

god bless all and you all are in my prays dont give up hope we are not

[misty101]

my husband has hep c and now cirhosis he is currently waiting to go on the transplant list. his meld is 10 he has all the symptoms how ever now he has a lg amount rectal bleeding they have done a colonoscopy that should nothing how ever the bleeding is getting worse we have told the dr with no results. and my husband has said when the bleeding happens he gets alot of pain in his abd is this a symptom of the disease