For Liver and Ever

013021 The thought of going back to Taiwan without having the liver transplant operation done was very depressing to me. I tried to make myself feel better by saying "after all, I did go to the hospital to do the check-ups and the evaluations to see if I could be a suitable donor." The catch is that, they still need to do the CT and MRI to see the structures of my liver blood vessels and the gallbladder vessels. I had to cancel it because I might risk doing it again when I come back to Taiwan, who knows when, then I would have to double pay another 30K NTD. There are a lot of things going on in my mind right now. I feel lonely, and helpless and guess what's the worse part? I can't even stand being with my dad, how can I donate my liver to him if I am so disgusted by him? Imagine part of me would live inside his body for the rest of his life! I can't stand the fact that he talks crap all the time. I can't stand his habits especially the unhygienic ones.  I can...

 012721 I did not sleep very well last night because I have been "working" for my Panama job lately. It's like living the worst of both worlds. I wanted to sleep and I was cold the whole time when I was "working", but I could not do anything because of the time difference. Long story short, I went to the Taipei Mackay this morning and the ultrasound doc said that the fatty liver was still there, it did not improve at all, despite of the fact I have lost 7KG. Yes, it was very depressing. I took a selfie with the bronze statue outside of the hospital. Photo taken outside of the ultrasound room. I was very nervous because I was hopeful that miracle could happen. Imagine reducing the fatty liver in 2 weeks, it would need nothing less of a miracle. I came back to LK and I told auntie Gigi that I would have to go back to Panama to make sure to be with my lovely wife in her labor. Since it took time to rid the fatty liver. I gave her some rent money and asked her to ke...

 012621 Early in the morning I went to the LK District Office to get my NHI card and they said that they could not do it so I had to go to the main office of NHI. I got my card in less than 30 minutes after arriving. Thanks to the Lord. Then I went to Mackay Hospital Taipei Branch to see General Surgeon Lin, who was kind enough to schedule a second ultrasound for me to check my fatty liver. It was scheduled for tomorrow January 27th. The doctor also gave me appoint for MRI-CT for February 2. My goodness, the cost for MRI-CT was about 30K NTD. I swiped my card and was on my way back to LK. At the end of the day I praise the Lord for allowing me to get the NHI card even though I still don't know if I can donate my liver to my dad and when. May God give me peace in my heart.

 012421 I had never paid much attention on gender reveal. I remember when they did the GR for Josiah, I was very calm, not too excited. It was fun though. Moises was kind enough to organize the GR for our second baby and it was done on zoom today morning of 24th. Lots of people came including my in laws, church folks, the Hsiehs. It was a good time. So what is the gender? Thank you Lord for giving us another son. Please take care of him in his mom's womb and may his life be used for Your Glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.

012221 Dad is supposed to be discharged from the hospital today after a week of tests and check-ups. The chief General Surgeon came by in the morning and I asked him if he could allow me to do a second ultrasound to see my fatty liver he said yes. Before dad was discharged I went out for a run and I came back to use my credit card to pay the medical bills, which totaled 11000 NTD. By the grade of God I was able to pay with credit card. I am struggling to make the decision whether or not I should stay here in Taiwan and finish all the things or go back to Panama to be with my family, especial my wife in her labor. 

012121 Things could not be worse but when troubles snowballed to such a mass you feel kind of numb. I got so worried lately because of different things, things I could not control, things that are larger than me, and I find it hard to trust the Lord with a pure heart. I mean, what does it mean to trust the Lord? Is it like, "OK God, I can't deal with it, please take care of it"? Seriously I've got some trust issue, and it is an insult to the Lord. The docs believe that it is going to take about three months for fatty liver to improve. If so, I would have to go back to Panama and come back later, and it is going to be expensive. On the other hand, I miss my lovey wife and my kid so much. I want to be with her when the second baby is born.   I took a long walk along the Tamsui river and I wept. I ask God to take care of my family in Panama and give me wise mind to make the right decision. I also called Ruth and we talked for an hour. It was a good talk. I felt much bett...

012021 Around 1:30PM in the afternoon we gathered with the doctors in the conference room of the ward for Disease Explanation. Dr. Huang from the General Surgery department explained to dad and me about the details of the liver transplant. He first told us that currently there are approximately1000 patients waiting for liver transplant, but unfortunately on the yearly basis only 80 people got it. Mackay hospital will do 3-4 transplants every year. It is a big operation, which will take around 8-12 hours to complete it. So the complicated part is to connect the vessels, which consist of three main groups: 1. gallbladder vessels 2. hepatic artery and 3.hepatic vein. There could be 4 complications: 1. excessive blood loss (10% chance) 2.Vessels not well connected due to the thinness or vessels stuck; in such case, new transplant will be urgently needed 3.Severe new liver rejection in which high doses of antibiotics will be needed 4. New Liver fails to work. Besides, the doc also said that...

011921 Today Ruthie my lovely wife went to the clinic for the second trimester ultrasound. The doctor put the document about the sex of the baby in an envelop so she could give it to a friend for the gender reveal party. She also told me that a fruit vender guy was harassing her, I told her to block him off. I really miss you Ruthie my dearest wife, and you Josiah, my firstborn. I want to enlighten you, Jackira, so you find some sort of purpose in your life. I want to have a peaceful conversation with you, mom, without criticizing others and offenses. God protect you all.

 011821 Today dad and I travel all the way from LK to Mackay Hospital in Tamsui by bus and by MRT. I told him to leave first because I wanted to do some exercise and other works. I got to the hospital and asked the information lady (not the receptionist) about where was my dad and she gave me the floor, the ward, and the room number. I went directly to the ward only to be told that he has not been admitted yet. Andres was waiting for me at the Registration Center of the other building. I did the QR code, filled out the online registration, and got my Patient's Companion Card, then I went for a walk to get my steps (I wanted to get about 15000 steps everyday to lose weight). I came back and got some food for dad then I headed back to LK.

 011321 I was told yesterday by the doctor of General Surgery, Dr. Lin that I could possibly be the donor, but due to the fat concentration in my liver exceeding the safe level, I will need to lose some weight, about 10 pounds, in order to donate. And also I have to go through MRI and CT scan, which will cost a big chunk of money. I have started an intensive exercise regime and rigorous diet, I pray that the Lord strengthens me physically and mentally. The National Health Insurance has already approved to finance the transplant surgery for my dad’s part, so starting next week my dad will be admitted to Mackay Hospital Tamsui Branch for the second phase of evaluation.   Auntie Gigi gave me her secret recipe for losing weight. It is a less strict version of KETO, I think I am going to upgrade it to crazy non-fat diet plan. Seriously, hard boiled eggs with greens do not sound very appealing, but when you are hungry, you eat anything. A very tough journey is about to begin.

Today I woke up early with a very heavy heart. I could hardly sleep but I managed to sleep until 8 O’clock, weird right? Imagine the roaches crawling around the room, probably crawling on the bed and on the people, maybe into the blanket. This fear of disgust and discomfort is very unpleasant. I made a phone call to auntie Gigi asking if we can go to her place and I even offered her money as rent. I told her that my dad could not find a rental property because he is too old. Yet he needs to have a contract of rental agreement to apply for the benefit of government support. Auntie Kiki was generous enough to allow us to move to her place. So I got some money and settled the accounts with the Landlord Chen. I had to pay the total amount of 12,000.00 NT Dollar. I helped my father to clean up his place and together we took a metro train to LK. I spent another 200.00 to ride a taxi from the metro station of LK to Gigi’s place. Thanks to the Lord, things with the previous landlord are settle...

Today I went to Mackay Memorial Hospital to do the ultrasound and unfortunately the doctor discovered that I have fatty liver. They were able to perform a biopsy puncturing my liver on two sides to take liver tissue samples on the same day. It was quite scary but thanks God for His Mercy and Grace, the biopsy was done successfully with very little almost no after- pain. Please pray for my next appointment on the 12 of January, which is going to be crucial because the General Surgeon will probably tell me “yes” or “no”. My auntie Gigi is very kind to do me the favor of registering my name as an employee of her company so we can expedite the process of applying for National Health Insurance, which will lower my medical cost significantly.

  010221 The reason why I came to TW was for the liver transplant operation, and the arrangement of post- operation care. The living conditions of my father’s place is not suitable for recovery, to say the least. There will come a point when the Transplant Team will ask me who is going to take care of us (donor/ and donee). The social workers are going to investigate all the details regarding the caretaker, living conditions, the location, and the finances. My wish is to have my mom come here to take care of me and my dad at Gigi’s place. But we all know how hard it is. First, Gigi (she is my mom’s little sister) is not obligated to help me or my dad, not to mention that my mom’s relationship with all her siblings is not the best. Besides, my parents kind of hate each other. I am asking God for my emotional stability while I am staying with my dad, who likes to talk nonsense.