Pops Update #2

Well, Pops has been accepted into University Hospital's transplant program. With a whole bunch of prodding from Dr. Salenger (he just loves Pops and will do anything for him), they agreed to take him after initially saying "HELL NO!"

We took him over there last night so he can begin a series of tests to determine if he's in good shape for a transplant. If everything looks good, they'll place him on the transplant list. As I understand it, there's an A List and a B List. The A List is just how it sounds - these are the very best candidates waiting for a liver. The B List are the not-so-great candidates (older, less healthy, etc.). However, if everything goes well, I believe Pops will be placed at the top of the B List.

Then it's a matter of waiting for a perfect match. So even though you're not at the top of the list, you can still get a liver if those ahead of you don't match the available livers. I'm not totally clear on how it works, but Mickey Mantle got one in a relatively short period of time (and he was a lush), so we'll wait and see.

That's the good news. The bad news is that Pop's condition is deteriorating rapidly. In fact, the doctors only give him a month or so to live. About 3 months ago he had a year. Once they realized the stint (kind of like a tube) that was placed in his liver wasn't working, they reduced that to 3 or 4 months. The last time they drained his stomach of fluid, I think the tests showed that his liver was in worse shape than they thought...which means we're now at 1 month.

Everyone is in good spirits and doing well. We all know - as Pops always says - "to live is Christ and to die is gain." So whether he gets a new liver or dies, Pops wins. Continue to pray that Pops will finish this race strong.