OFF TO FLINDERS AGAIN

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The weeks moved on and I was to be admitted to Flinders to have some teeth removed but the night prior to admission I did not feel at all well and as we travelled to Flinders on the morning, I got progressively worse with what turned out to be a severe episode of encephalopathy and again I lost consciousness and have no memory of my time in High Dependency with constant nursing..

Explanation of Hepatic Encephalopathy:

Symptoms

Symptoms many begin slowly and gradually worsen, or they may begin suddenly and be severe from the start.

Symptoms may be mild at first. Family members or caregivers may notice that the patient has:

• Breath with a musty or sweet odor
• Change in sleep patterns
• Changes in thinking
• Confusion that is mild
• Forgetfulness
• Mental fogginess
• Personality or mood changes
• Poor concentration
• Poor judgment
• Worsening of handwriting or loss of other small hand movements

More severe symptoms may include:

• Abnormal movements or shaking of hands or arms
• Agitation, excitement, or seizures (occur rarely)
• Disorientation
• Drowsiness or confusion
• Inappropriate behavior or severe personality changes
• Slurred speech
• Slowed or sluggish movement

Patients with hepatic encephalopathy can become unconscious, unresponsive, and possibly enter a coma.

Patients with hepatic encephalopathy are often not able to care for themselves because of these symptoms.

Of course no Dental work was done because I needed to recover and after a week in hospital I came home again and the Dental work was rescheduled.

Another time of waiting anxiously at home until I was called in for the Dental work to be done.  Blood tests were done and the Dentist felt it was far too risky to do extractions because of the risk of bleeding, so another stay at Flinders and treatment with blood products through an IV line to encourage my blood to clot.

I was treated with Albumin and Thrombin and surgery was delayed again, so I came home only to find my pleural cavity was filling fast and that I would be again admitted to Flinders to be drained.

During this stay, after more treatments of Albumin and Thrombin and it looked as though surgery for Dental work would actually happen this time.  The Thrombin was really expensive and I had several treatments.

The weeks were moving by and by now we were into October and still not on the Transplant list.

Love and hugs,