The magic number

The MELD score that is. For those of you that haven't listened to us drone on and on about MELD scores, MELD stands for "Model for End Stage Liver Disease". End Stage. Yep, that's a fun phrase. No good comes from End Stage anything. Unless it's End Stage Mortgage Payment or End Stage Lice Treatment maybe. Now, if you're really in to math, and want to google a bunch of things, here's the formula for calculating a MELD score

MELD = 3.78[Ln serum bilirubin (mg/dL)] + 11.2[Ln INR] + 9.57[Ln serum creatinine (mg/dL)] + 6.43

Fun right?

Sorry, back on topic. When we first heard this lovely MELD phrase, Ben's score was 8. That was in mid November. When he was in the hospital a week and a half later, it was hovering between 20-22. Way to go Ben! That'll get you on the transplant list for sure! (And oh how one of his doctors was pushing to get him evaluated for transplant while he was at that high number.) Now with Ben's latest labs, he's calculated that he's down to 17. Absolutely still in the transplant range. But, it just goes to show how often the numbers can change. And as they change, the patient moves in and out of catagories on the UNOS list (United Network for Organ Sharing). You can see the UNOS listings for your region or state by visiting their site http://www.unos.org/

The really interesting part in all of this is that two people with the same MELD scores can be functioning at totally different levels. I've read some stories with people having a MELD score of 11 or 12 and they're very sick. Fortunately, even at 17, Ben is still working full time, still chasing our sweet girl around and still making me crazy. I'm so thankful that as sick as he is on paper, we still get a lot of normal life. My goal is to help him stay at this quality of life up until the day of his transplant. I know that having a great support system will help so much in this goal. And I know that Ben deserves a lot of credit for never having let any of this get him down. (If you're reading this, you're my hero Ben :) )