Today, I got the call. I am officially on the transplant list at VCU. Now the next hurdle is waiting for the phone call.
So here is the way this works. Based on bloodwork, they calculate my MELD score (a scoring system for assessing the severity of liver disease). The higher the score the more severe the need for a new liver.
So when does a new liver come? If someone went to a restaurant and putting their name on a list, at any point in time, they could check how close they are to getting a table. On the other hand, while I have a place on the list, in six months, if someone is added to the list with a higher MELD score, they will get a liver before me.
Granted there are a lot of factors. Is the liver a good match for the person in blood type, size, etc? A few years ago, my friend David was on the transplant list. He used to tell me you have to be sick enough to get a high meld score, but not so sick that you couldn’t recover.
Here is where I could get lucky. If someone who’s score is higher than mine gets to the hospital, and after checking them over they aren’t a good match for the liver, or are too sick to do the transplant, it is time to find a backup person. Considering I live very close to the hospital, I could be a good alternate person for the transplant.
Then there is option three. A living donor. Basically, someone would volunteer to donate two-thirds of their liver. There is a bunch of medical, social, emotional and psychological tests to make sure that the person isn’t just a match from a medical point of view, but also able to cope with everything else to do with the transplant. The process is like threading a needle.
While I don’t know when the transplant may come, today’s news is a huge step forward in progressing and getting better. Until then there is faith and hope.
