Harvey's Blog

You may have heard about the break through surgery carried out by Dr Alber Shun using a ping pong ball (Daily Mail). Essentially, the size of the ping pong helps prevent the swollen liver from compressing and restricting blood flow to all the vessels during and after surgery. Well, the very same surgeon does it again with Harvey. The picture shows the actual ball that was used - Yes it was a Slazenger.

There must be a better way! Harvey has a nasal gastro tube that runs into his stomach. At night and in the afternoon, the end of the tube  is connected to a pump and drip feeds a mixture of Liquigen and Monogen into his stomach. Harvey has difficulty with fat absorption as any person in his condition would have. The Liquigen contains MCT (medium chain triglycerides) oil which helps in absorption. The Monogen is a milk protein based powder also high in MCT.

The problem is the tube has come out of his nose twice in the last week. As we get into the cold season and and colds and flus become more prominent, a runny nose makes Harvey reach for his tube more frequently.

I often get comments from people that they think Harvey is eating well because his tummy is well rounded and looks full.  This is in fact not the case. The reason why Harvey's tummy appears bloated is because of the condition of his liver, which is contributed by Portal Hypertension. His liver is much bigger than normal and his spleen has also enlarged because of this higher blood pressure from hypertension, causing these two organs to enlarge. 

Harvey has not been able to have a respectable meal for the last 3 months. He appears to have lost his appetite even though we try every day to encourage him to join in and eat around the table each morning, afternoon and evening meal.

It is generally accepted that with a rare blod group of B positive such as with Harvey, the number of potential donors is more limited. Harvey could accept a donor liver from the more universal O blood group, but in either case, the chances of receiving from a dead (cadervic) donor are lower.

Harvey is jaundiced. Jaundice is a yellowish discoloration of the skin and of the whites of the eyes caused by abnormally high levels of the pigment bilirubin in the bloodstream. Old or damaged red blood cells are constantly being removed from the circulation, mainly by the spleen. During this process, hemoglobin, the part of red blood cells that carries oxygen, is broken down into a dark greenish yellow pigment called bilirubin.