The Derek Janiak Hepatobiliary Forum
The liver is the largest internal organ in humans and the only one that will grow back if part of it is removed. It is responsible for over 500 different functions in collaboration with other organs. Pfft. Overachiever.
My (the recipient's) insurance covers the cost of pre-operative testing and surgery of the donor. But, insurance will only cover the testing of one donor at a time, and only while I'm active on the list. For example, Logan could not start being tested for compatibility until I was on the active transplant list. The …
Continue reading "Who Covers the Cost of the Donor’s Surgery?"
"Writing Is a Struggle Against Silence." - Carlos Fuentes There's an urgency and necessity associated with an organ transplant; conscious decisions made by my caretakers, the liver specialist doctors, assume that the operation giving me a new liver will result in a higher survival rate than living with my current liver. Interestingly, I looked at …
I wrote a little song / poem that I played on my tenor banjo for Logan and a friend a few weeks ago. It goes like this: Oh Liver, Oh Liver, don't you quiver it's just a diagnosis of liver cirrhosis. Oh Liver, Oh Liver, I want to liver foriver without a disease called PSC. Oh …
When I first got my driver's license, I signed up to become an organ donor. It was a very easy decision for me - I hate to see perfectly good organs go to waste. When I was diagnosed with this disease and heard a live donor was an option, I tried to think about what …
The Derek Janiak Hepatobiliary Forum 