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Linda’s Story
Site created on June 17, 2020
We wanted to start this site to update family and friends in one place and to help simplify communications. To give some background, Linda has not been feeling well for nearly a year. She became seriously ill in the last week of May and was admitted to the emergency room at Simi Valley Hospital on 29 May. There she was diagnosed with acute liver disease. On 12 June, she was released from hospital. Two days later she was rushed back to the ER, this time to Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. As of this date, 21 June, she is still in the hospital.
Liver failure is the inability of the liver to perform its normal synthetic and metabolic functions as part of normal physiology. Liver failure is a life-threatening condition that demands urgent medical care. Most often, liver failure occurs gradually and over many years. However, a rarer condition known as acute liver failure occurs rapidly (in as little as 48 hours) and can be difficult to initially detect initially. Once at Simi Valley, Linda was diagnosed with acute liver failure. More recently, at Los Robles Hospital and to our dismay, we learned that chronic liver failure has set in.
The first 2 ½ weeks was beyond difficult for the family because there were no visitors allowed in the hospital due to COVID-19. On June 18, hospitals began limited visitations (1 person visit per day).
As of today 21 June, her condition seems to have stabilized, with the primary goal to rid her body of toxins and make sure her other bodily organs are functioning properly. The most difficult unknown currently is to what degree of liver function she has. We are told that can not be determined until her hepatitis is cleared up, and that can take another month or two.
We are looking at all possible options, including the possibility of her need for a liver transplant. Since the liver failure has occurred over months, possibly years, the main goal is to save whatever part of the liver that is still functioning. If that is not possible, then a liver transplant will be required. Linda is 5 months away from being placed on the candidacy list, thus looking at a year and a half wait list total. We are also searching for the possibly of a live donor. With a live donor volunteer, the doctors remove about half of the liver, and within 8-10 weeks, the donor liver regenerates itself back to 100%. Truly Remarkable! Needless to say, it has been an exhausting month.
This brings us up to the first journal entry for this site. We do want to thank everyone that has come here to check on Linda and all of you that continue to keep her in your prayers. We also really appreciate the ever flooding of cards and flowers that have been sent at both Simi Valley and Los Robles hospitals, and to the home. Your amazing generosity and thoughtfulness is much appreciated and gives Linda a bright light in these restrictive and difficult times. We will continue to post updates here. Words cannot describe how profoundly grateful we are of all the support, Love Linda’s family.
