Spring Bloom, I am an alcoholic's partner, and likely his enabler for a long long time. I covered the bad stuff from the outside world. He had alcoholic cirrhosis. HOWEVER, he also has Hep C and developed Hepatocellular Carcinoma. The hat trick for liver disease.
In 2003, a Hep C treatment failed, but he was sober. The hepatologist told him that if he continued to be sober, even with the Hep C causing problems, he would probably last 15 years before he needed a transplant. 15 more years!!! And he had been drinking heavily since he was a teen....not breaking up bars drunk, no dui's, just cocktails and wine every single night...starting with daytime beers on weekend and holidays. He was pretty drunk by bedtime but never seemed hung over in the morning and went off to work like nothing was going on with him.
But he only stayed sober a year.
That broke my heart and we stopped talking about
it at that point. I threatened to leave and did not. I just did my stuff and he did his.
The Hep C ran away with his liver and so in ONLY 6 years he was at death's door. In took some time to see doctors and work through the process...but he didn't quit drinking. When he got sober that 6 months and became committed to his LIFE, he got on a list and he was transplanted in May 2011. And is doing pretty well.
Post transplant the sober folks who never had Hep C do the best. Those with Hep C generally find they will get sick again unless they have Sustained Viral Response to a Hep C treatment.
We have some folks who I hope will post who have gone years now without drinking and have staved off any talk of a transplant. It is the SOBER part that does the trick.
Best to you,
Mama Lama
Post Edited By Moderator (hep93) : 3/22/2013 9:15:51 PM (GMT-6)