Decompensated liver, ascites, aki

[Kk1985]

Hi my dad was in icu in June, been a tough few months. He got decompensated liver disease failed rapidly from day he went into hospital, his ended up back in twice low sodium, his got ascites and gets drained every 2 to 3 weeks he has stage 1 and 2 kidney failure, I'm at my wits end. His 7 stone and I think he has stopped drinking I've been over and back a few times i live in a different country, his ukedl 56 and child pugh B9, I know its terminal but its hard to understand it all what would be his life expectency as I want to spend as much time as possible with him. Can anyone help please I'm at my wits end

[AyrshireK]

Unfortunately, no one and not even a doctor can put any sort of reliable life expectancy on your dad. It's a very individual thing - some folks can rally and go on for a good while even after having incidences of decompensation. Obviously though Dad is extremely poorly with both the liver and kidneys now involved & sounding severely malnournished.

A UKELD score of 56 would put him in the range of requiring transplant (though I assume that isn't an option for Dad as you haven't mentioned it being discussed).

Child Pugh B is middle of the road with 80% chance of 1 year survival, 60% 2 year survival though these are medical guidelines and things do change from person to person. (Child Pugh C is the more severe end of things).

Just spend as much quality time with him as you can, he could be here ages yet or indeed an infection of further liver failure shorten his time - absolutely no one can tell.

The BLT has guidance on cirrhosis and indeed the issue of End of Life in their document/page on planning for the future which you might find useful in these sad circumstances.

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

britishlivertrust.org.uk/in...

Best wishes to you,

Katie

[Glenfaba123]

No body can predict his life expectancy for certain sorry, you should speak to your dads specialist, maybe he can give you an indication on how your dads situation is and how poorly he is, the best thing you can do is spend as much time with him as you can now, no one can predict how long he's got left for sure, just be with him as much as you can and support him through this, best wishes to you and your father take care

Julie