Can you guess where we've been?

 I wonder how many times I'll get to post this view from up here on the 10th floor? :-)

 At least this time it was a planed visit.

With the increasing fluid retention (ascities) we decided to go ahead with the TIPS.The doctors said it needed to be done. Jared was having to be drained every few days and they didn't want to keep doing it that often. There are too many risks, one of which we experienced last October.

We decided to do the Tips procedure and met with the doctor on a Monday. We were given the option to have it done in that Thursday but with Jared's work schedule and family coming in town we decided to wait about a week and a half. The next day Jared was feeling really miserable again, so bad that he wanted to go ahead with it as soon as possible. So I contacted the doctor and we scheduled it for that Thursday.

The procedure was done in the Heart & Lung center at IMC. The doctor went in through the jugular vein and down to the portal vein in the liver. They placed a shunt from the portal vein to the hepatic vein to decrease the pressure in the portal vein. So most of the blood now bypasses the liver and goes straight to the heart. The procedure took almost 3 hours which is longer than normal. The doctor said that because Jared's organs are so swollen it was difficult to find the portal vein. Once they got to it, it went pretty fast, and they said everything went well. After Jared woke up they wheeled him up to the 10th floor where he would spend the night.

Jared was pretty out of it for the rest of the day and evening. I couldn't tell if it was because of the pain medications or the effects of the TIPS which causes increased encephalopathy. The pain meds kind of mad him loopy too. He ended up staying two nights because he ran a slight fever the second day and they wanted to watch him in case of any possible infection.

We went home where he could rest for the next week or so before going back to work. The encephalopathy got worse. He was merging conversations and not making a whole lot of sense when he would try to carry on a conversation. I began to be worried that he would not be able to drive again or go back to work. This lasted about a week. Then slowly the medications began to help and he could think clearly again. It was a huge relief. He began to feel better and wasn't filling up with fluid anymore. Yay!! The doctor said he may still have to be drained every few months or so but not near as often as before.


*UPDATE*
 The TIPS has really helped Jared be more comfortable. He has been feeling pretty good lately, relatively speaking :)