I am Jennifer and I will be the one doing all the blogging for Johnny's Journey. Johnny came into my life when I was 2 years old. He's been my dad ever since. When I was growing up, he was highly involved in my life. He coached both mine and my little cousins softball teams for a total of about 15 years. When I was in the school band, he, along with my mom, became "band parents." In 2002, he went the long 24 hours with the band when we marched at Disneyland. As long as I can remember, he has loved traveling. Our family goes to Branson quite often, but his favorite spot has to be the beaches of Florida. Johnny LOVES our 4 dogs! He enjoys watching older movies, although he's probably seen them a time or two! He just loves life!!!
About 2 years ago, Johnny bought a motorcycle. He ended up getting a nice little motorcycle burn on his leg, which sent him to the local walk-in clinic! It was, also, brought to the doctor's attention that my dad gets tired quicker than he used to. So, the doctor decided to run a complete blood panel to see if maybe something was off. Sure enough it was!!!!! They called us and told us that his liver labs didn't come back quite right and he needed to be seen by a gastroenterologist. They did ultrasounds, labs, and numerous other things to kinda give him the work up. The gastroenterologist determined that he has cirrhosis of the liver and that they were going to continue to watch him here and take it as it comes. This all came as a total shock, because Johnny has always been a healthy guy! Never drank, never smoked, never really done anything to harm his body, so how did all this come about! They continued to watch him here for another year and a half. One day, we went for the normal 6 month check-up and Dr. Jospeh said, "Johnny, I think it's time for you to been seen by a transplant team! You may never need them , but it's good to get your foot in the door." So, off we went to OKC!
We had our first visit to Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute (http://www.integris-health.com/INTEGRIS/en-US/Specialties/P-Z/Transplants/default) at Integris Baptist Medical Center in OKC, OK in September 08. We met with many people in a short period of time. They base the need for a transplant off a MELD score which is made up of bilirubin, INR, and creatinine levels. The MELD scale goes from 6-40, with a normal person being a 6. You have to be at least a 14 to be considered for transplant, and that's exactly Johnny's current number! Dr. Harlan Wright decided that it was time to get Johnny all worked-up for transplant consideration. We went back in October 2008 and stayed about 3 days. During this time, there was lots of testing on Johnny's part and lots of waiting on mine. He had ultrasounds, stress tests, labs, CT scans, MRIs, and anything else that tested him from HEAD to TOE!!! We met with a cardiologist, who looks for special things considered in transplanting, that said Johnny passing all the cardio tests with flying colors. YAY!!! One step closer! We got to visit with a finanical advisor, who told us what the insurance would pay and what all we should expect cost wise! Many people don't know, but the average cost of a new liver and all hopital care is about $500,000.00! Bet ya never knew that!
Two weeks ago, we got involved with NFT, National Foundation of Transplants. (http://www.transplants.org/) NFT is a Memphis, TN based company. They primary goal is to help patients overcome the finanical hurdles of a transplant. We have to raise about $50,000.00! The more we raise, the less monetary stress during transplant! If we raise more than the needed amount, they will help us pay for the many cost of having to stay in OKC 3 months after transplant for recovery, such as extended stay hotels, our mortgage, medical insurance, and much much more! We are going to have many fundraisers to help raise all this money!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment