June 30, 2008 Procedure

Earlier today, I underwent another medical procedure in which stints were placed in my mesocaval shunt to help keep the shunt from becoming blocked in the future. The procedure went very well, and I am feeling very well. Even though the procedure was a tremendous success, I was not discharged today. My doctor wanted me to spend the night in the hospital for observation. I thought this moment would be a good time to multi-task by posting a blog entry and watching "Goldeneye" on the Spike Channel at the same time. lol

The doctor inserted shunts in order to reduce the number of times that my mesocaval shunt will have to be opened using balloon dilation in the future. Right before the procedure, I asked the doctor if the shunt could still become blocked with stints, and he said that there was still that possibility... but that the stints will decrease that chance. If there is blockage, there still is a chance that the shunt (with the stints) could be reopened with balloon dilation. However, the real solution to my medical problems, is the multi-organ transplant.

Please keep my family and me in your thoughts and prayers, and thank you all for your care and support. I hope to get back to Tennessee very soon. Please remember to become an organ donor if you have not already done so!!!!!

Latest procedure on June 4, 2008

I underwent another medical procedure on June 4, 2008 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. One of my doctors checked whether my shunt, which carries blood flow from my intestines to the venae cavae, was blocked by any blood clots. There was some blockage in the shunt, and the doctor used balloon dilation to clear the blockage. The procedure lasted a little over an hour, and I was discharged from the hospital a few hours later. On June 30, 2008, I will have a stint(s) placed in the shunt to make blockage less likely in the future.

The shunt is an artificial tube which was placed in my body in November 2004 to connect the blood vessels from my intestines directly to the venae cavae, the main blood vessel providing blood to my heart. The shunt was intended to be a temporary solution to allow most of the blood flow which normally flows through my liver to bypass my liver and flow directly to the venae cavae. The original plan was to use the shunt in conjunction with blood thinning medication to dissolve the blood clots (that had developed in the blood vessels to my liver) to eventually allow blood to flow through my liver again. The shunt was periodically checked and worked well until December 2005. Since then, the shunt on several occasions had been blocked and needed to be opened again. Upon the advice of my doctor at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, I was evaluated for a multi-organ transplant by one of the nation's top liver transplant surgeons at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The liver transplant surgeon recommended that I have the multi-organ transplant, and I moved to Pittsburgh in order to participate in the multi-organ transplant program at the University of Pittsburgh.

I would like everyone back home to know that I am doing well, and that I would really like the opportunity to have the multi-organ transplant soon. I feel like there is nothing wrong with me, and that I can do everything that I did before I left Tennessee. However, I also know that I need the multi-organ transplant and that now is the time to do it, while my health is still well. Thank you for all your concern and prayers, and I hope to see everyone very soon. Take care and remember to become organ donors.