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Journey15 Asked March 2019

End stage cirrhosis?

Family member's hepatic cirrhosis has turned serious. 4 trips to ER in 5 weeks. Now in assisted living type home. Doing better than expected but recently has had nausea, bouts of severe diarrhea and dizziness. How long can a patient live with these symptoms?

Journey15 Mar 2019
Yes. No more ER. He is in a nursing home although very young to be there.

NeedHelpWithMom Mar 2019
Whew! Brings back memories. Liver issues. My brother died with HepC. He had been a heroin addict since he was 13.

I’m so sorry that you are going through this. It’s so hard to witness. Hospice is a Godsend in the end. They did make sure he was comfortable in his final hours. Trust hospice. The hospice nurses that tended to my brother were amazing.

After he died, I wanted to show some appreciation for their service. The grief was horrible and I wondered how they selflessly cared for others everyday of their lives.

I couldn’t think of anything special enough to do but I thought maybe some flowers and restaurant gift certificates would be appreciated. They were so gracious. It was a hard thing to go through but those nurses, chaplain and the social worker saw that we got through it as best as we could. I’ll never forget them.

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Shane1124 Mar 2019
That depends on many factors we are not privy to. Does he have his belly tapped each time he goes to the ER?
Is he short of breath? All the time? Is he jaundiced (yellow tint to his skin)?

The bouts of diarrhea can be from a medicine prescribed to help rid the body of toxins (Lactulose). The method of action for Lactulose is for the toxins to be released via the stool and this medication generally causes diarrhea as a desired effect.

If now on hospice any outside interventions will be halted. No more trips to the ER. I am unsure if they will continue the belly taps in hospice as he would need to be transported to the hospital for further taps which are only prolonging the inevitable. There will come a time that a paracentesis won’t be done anymore once the person can’t tolerate the procedure due to low blood pressure. Often end stage liver disease patients run low BP’s to begin with.

It’s very hard to say how long a person will live. I do know that hospice will help make him comfortable as he transitions. Ask the hospice staff...they will know best.
JoAnn29 Mar 2019
Love having a nurse on site.😊
97yroldmom Mar 2019
I don’t think this is an easy question to answer.
If your loved one is on hospice that generally means that a person has six months or less to live in the doctor’s opinion who signed for the loved one to receive hospice care.
This would have been based on tests and observations. If your loved one has been under a drs care for awhile this hospice call may have been made early on. If your loved one has just recently sought medical care after a lengthy illness their time may be more at the end of that six months. Hospice can be called right up to the end. So the fact that a person is on hospice can mean they may die in the next 24 hours or 6 months OR MORE out. There are many variables involved in just when a loved one might die. I hope this helped.

Journey15 Mar 2019
Yes, hospice is involved.

gladimhere Mar 2019
Is hospice involved? Has a hospice evaluation been done?

They would be most able to answer this question.

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