Harvey's Blog

It is generally accepted that with a rare blod group of B positive such as with Harvey, the number of potential donors is more limited. Harvey could accept a donor liver from the more universal O blood group, but in either case, the chances of receiving from a dead (cadervic) donor are lower.

As an option, surgeons are able to perform a liver donor transplant, by removing about 20% ( The left lobe of the liver) form a live donor, such as mum or dad. The live Donor will resume 95% of their full liver function output within a few months. However, the operation to the liver donor is not without its risks.

Dad completed his work up tests last week, which involved various main organ function tests as well as interviews with the surgeon, anesthetist, physician and a psychiatrist. ( More detail available here).

Apart from discovering that dad had Gilberts syndrome, everything else is reasonably compatible.

The operation will take about 4 hours, for the donor, followed by a spate in the high dependency ward and if oges well, will be out of hospital within 6 days. There is a recovery period required, which leads to 3 months of being away from work.

The donor operation will occur at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital , where the donor portion of the liver will be removed form Dad, essentially flushed and put into an Esky. The organ is then transported to Westmead hospital approx 15 km away where Harvey will be waiting on the operating theatre to receive it. We all hope the traffic is free from gridlock on that day!

The real problem is how to manage the rest of the family as dad is away in hospital, and Harvey is in another hospital also recovering from  major surgery, which is where mum will be. So who is looking after Edward and Maisy at home? These social pressures are taken into account in the whole transplant process- not sure how- as after talking to a number of social workers, psychiatrists, etc, we are still in the some position of uncertainty.

 So the plan is to use dad as " The back up plan". There are pros and cons in either case to using a live or cadervic donor. The general consensus is that as Harvey is generally "stable" at the moment, and taking into account the social consequences, we are waiting for a dead donor. However, when Harvey's condition begins to worsen, we are fortunate to have this back up plan.

 

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