Help support Christy while she struggles with liver failure.

October 1, 2023

On a regular Sunday morning, I was drinking coffee, doing laundry, and planning my day. Suddenly, I felt woozy and went to take my blood sugar. The next thing I remember is waking up on the floor in a pool of blood. I was in and out of consciousness while trying to make a call on my phone. I finally got my niece and managed to tell her that I needed help and there was a lot of blood.

I was taken directly to Lubbock UMC. They were watching me very closely in ICU to see if I needed surgery, but the bleeding seemed to have stopped. I asked to stand up, and my heart stopped. The Mallory-Weiss tear in the lining of my stomach and 7 varices had to be banded. Portal pressure likely the cause.

Through all this, I was diagnosed with cirrhosis. I had known that I had elevated liver enzymes for years. Blood work was done every 3-6 months and yearly sonograms were done to “watch”. I was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago, but with medication and diet changes, I lost weight, and it was controlled. Six days in the hospital with 4 of them being in ICU. I was begging them to do something. I was getting very swollen which had never happened before, but they sent me home. I managed to be home overnight when I woke up the next morning. The next morning I was 23 lbs heavier. I went back to a different hospital where I was transferred by EMS to Covenant Hospital to be drained and was diagnosed with ASCITES (fluid buildup in the abdomen) and NAFLD (non alcoholic fatty liver disease). I spent another 5 days in that hospital and a bunch of very thorough testing of all organs was done. I was anemic before this and it had gotten much worse, My platelets were and are also very low. I was given 4 pints of blood and 1 pint of iron.

In February, i was admitted to covenant again for an enlarged spleen they did a endoscopy and banded more. I was sent to San Antonio to the transplant hospital in March for more testing, and now I have to continue doing labs and tests every 4 to 6 weeks. I will have to have an endoscopy repeated with more bands, biopsies, and the staples placed in my esophagus and stomach checked. I will be added to the transplant list once I pass all the pre qualification tests. I will stay in San Antonio for 3 days of testing. I won't be admitted into the hospital because all testing is outpatient. This is and will be very costly. The medical bills, the meds, procedures, trips to Lubbock and San Antonio, and the stays in San Antonio are going to be lengthy and very expensive.

The latest procedures were done on the 19th. The doctor saw some changes since the February procedure. While this is good news, for the foreseeable future, I will not be allowed to go back to work. My bills haven’t slowed down with all the medical trips dr visits. Nor my mind either Oct to now liver failure seems way to fast for me!

Please if you are told you have elevated liver enzymes get to the cause, change your diet, your life, I

All help is much appreciated donations, prayers, healing vibes!

Thank you all