Dad's first hepatology appointment

[BethForrest]

Hi everyone. Me again. Dad has hepatology appointment on Tuesday. So I've gathered together from this website some questions to ask.. Correct me or add more information/questions for me if you think I should ask more when we go there. thank you everyone I appreciate all your help and support lately. 💗🙏🏻

What's dad's MELD score?

What date is his Fibroscan?

Ask for new diet/information for good nutrition for liver.

Life expectancy / prognosis / diagnosis?

Will he need belly fluid drained? Will this help edema in his legs as that's quite bad at the moment.

Can he stay on water tablets and lactulose forever?

Can I donate some of my liver to him?

How often will he come back for check ups?

Have I got most of the questions here guys? I'm a dental nurse not a hepatology one... Thank you again for your continued support and prayers for me and dad God bless you all 🌹 🙏🏻 he's so weak at the moment and really gone downhill since leaving hospital. It's destroying me and my family 😢

[AyrshireK]

Establish a point of contact should Dad have any issues between appointments - consultant secretary email address/phone number or similar.

[BethForrest in reply to AyrshireK]

excellent. Yes I will thank you so much. X

[ThreeSmiles]

Good luck for you both tomorrow Beth.

(Do try really hard to go through all your questions - I had a tendency to get distracted and/or overwhelmed by the occasion and forget to go through them methodically!)

Miles

[Aotea2012]

Good luck with the appointment. I think you’ve covered all bases. Ask for a referral to a dietician as well as dietary advice. Fantastic as my consultant is...he’s not too great on the dietary stuff. A dietician will be able to adapt the advice to your dad’s exact needs and will be able to give meal suggestions too. I found mine invaluable at the start. It’s amazing with liver disease just how much diet can support a good outcome. Also make sure you get a contact point in case you need support, as Ayrshire suggests. There’s bound to be things that crop up which you may need to ask about. Hope things go well. Keep us posted.

[teletonetapper]

With all my thoughts for tomorrow. If you need full medical explanation of anything, do not hesitate to ask them to explain in "layman terms". All the best.

[Readlots]

Depending on the answers you get to your questions:

If they are going to drain his tummy ask how this is organised.

Ask for a referral to an odeoma nurse re his swollen legs.

Ask for a referral to occupational health if you haven’t already got one for mobility aids.

If the prognosis is not good (and check if your Dad wants to know this first), request a referral for palliative care, this might be through a local hospice. This can run alongside the liver transplant process and May access more support for both of you and family. They can advise on all sorts of things including benefits.

There will be a lot to take in so make notes. Don’t worry if you don’t ask all your questions. Do as others have suggested and get a contact you can speak to about all of this later.

Good luck x

[VickiSpence]

Excellent job with your list! Looks like you've already received great advice here. Hope everything goes well. 🙏