Through a routine term life insurance policy work-up, Joe's lab tests revealed elevated liver enzymes. That was 19 years ago.

Since that point, this condition has been monitored at regular intervals. The official diagnosis is cryptogenic cirrhosis - meaning there is no known cause.

About 10 years ago, the monitoring was stepped up and the possibility of needing a liver transplant was discussed. Over the past 5 years Joe's vitality has been declining and there were intermittent medical episodes that required either hospitalization or a lot of medical care. It has become quite apparent in the last year that a transplant would be needed in the near future.

Joe is now being treated by Dr. Victor Navarro and his team at Jefferson University Hopsital. As of September 20, 2010, Joe is officialy on the liver transplant list. From that list, donors are matched with qualified patients who are both sick enough to need an organ and healthy enough to survive the procedure. We are hopeful that Joe will be called for a transplant soon.

Joe received a liver transplant on October 8, 2010!!!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Joe is out of surgery!

We just met with the surgeon - he said everything went very well. The liver has been performing well. Just in case you're wondering, the liver stays in place by surface tension since the fascia has been cut away (that was Jon's burning question).

The jaundice should resolve by the end of the hospital stay which could be somewhere between 8 days and 2 weeks.

We are down in another waiting room and should get to see him in about 30 minutes. He will still be sedated and be on a breathing tube. They say the breathing tube could come out tomorrow afternoon if everything goes well.

More updates to come as we're able...
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