cancer

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Denied for Transplant List

Denied for Transplant List. Most of us don’t know how the whole transplant system works. It’s stays out there in a vague corner of our mind. It’s a place that we don’t want to think about. Ever. Then something happens,

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All Shook Up with PTSD from Liver Disease

After being sick with cirrhosis, going through treatment for Hepatitis C, liver cancer, transplant, and ALL THAT STUFF, I can feel a bit off sometimes. Physically, my hands and heart tremble like little tiny earthquakes are going off inside me.

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Bring Back That Loving Feeling

Bring Back That Loving Feeling  I see it all the time. So many people are locked inside their own head, and heart, – alone – instead of sharing their lives. “Love hurts,” they say. “I can’t go through it again.”

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World Transplant Games After Liver Cancer

World Transplant Games  It’s difficult to put into words – being at that door and then coming through to the other side. The door was double and led into a rather crowded room with many machines and a metal table

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I’m No Better Than You

Some people think I’ve got it all the answers – that everything goes perfect for me. There is this blog thingy that I have somehow managed to keep alive (and award winning) through liver failure, treatments, chemo stuff, and –

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Take it Easy: Advice From My Sister

Take it Easy: Advice From My Sister  When my bottom lip sticks out and tears spill, I’ll simply write the word “cry”.  In July of 2014 an ultrasound picked up on cancer trying to take over my liver. My mind scattered out

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Turning Down Sweets: Rude or Smart

Turning Down Sweets: Rude or Smart  Liver disease from Nash, fatty, autoimmune, PBC, cirrhosis or Hepatitis C can put us in some sticky situations. I threw away a piece of chocolate S’mores cake this week. After taking one sugary bite,

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Finding Liver Cancer

Finding Liver Cancer  Up until a couple of years ago, the biggest threat to my life had been the Hepatitis C Virus. I got that “Not Detected” and was so excited. I still had cirrhosis scarring, on my liver, and

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Spots on Your Liver

Spots on Your Liver  With cirrhosis comes scans and look-sees at your liver every 6 months. Lately, I’ve been hearing all this talk about spots on the liver. Is it cancer? Are they nodules? What if it’s just a lesion?

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Balancing Hepatitis and Health

Balancing Hepatitis and Health  My life has been spinning since being diagnosed with the Hepatitis C Virus. At first, I ran out of the hospital trying to get away from it. Then I spent the next 6 years coming to

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Courage and Confidence with Liver Cancer

Courage and Confidence with Liver Cancer  During my battle with liver cancer, I loved reading all of your personal cards, emails, and messages. How could I possibly respond back? (Picture me typing all night.) Instead, I folded strong words into

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My Fave Free Health Apps for Liver Disease

My Fave Free Health Apps for Liver Disease   Today’s smart phones have more technology than the Apollo One Spaceship! Have you thought about using your smartphone to improve your health? The applications (apps) can help you get through the ups

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Ethanol Alcohol Ablation for HCC

Ethanol Alcohol Ablation for HCC I get these hunches. Call it intuition, inkling, or whatever you want. The tumor was growing again. For several weeks my snooze alarm was getting tapped more frequently. Not even Matt Bellamy motivated me to

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Blog
Karen Hoyt

Waiting Room Etiquette

Waiting Room Etiquette   There is no other time in your life when waiting seems so long as when you’re sick. It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in a chair at the doctor’s office or waiting for a procedure – it’s

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Karen Liver Transplant ihelpc.com
Blog
Karen Hoyt

I Don’t Want a Liver Transplant

Sleep is kind of like a thought eraser that swipes the day clean. But I frequently wake up in the middle of the night and remember the tumor. One night last August I awoke with the image of big clamps all around my chest cavity. Eyes wide open now, I saw myself lying on a table surrounded by doctors and nurses, my face as white as the fish I had seen floating belly up on the pond last year. I could see my head arching back with a tube tunneling down my throat that clicked and whished while forcing air into my lungs. I blinked hard and then stared at my chest as my breasts moved up and down. I wondered what it would be like to wake up in ICU with that machine on and my hands tied down. Shaking my head with an audible moan, I flung back the covers, and jumped out of bed like the house was on fire.

My heels drummed a hollow beat on the wood floor as I fairly flew to the kitchen. I stood in the dark. I don’t want a liver transplant. The thought of someone dying to keep me alive is more than I can bear. Of course there are a lot of other things that I don’t want. I don’t want to clean the branches up from the last storm. I don’t want to pay taxes or shave my legs. I don’t want cancer.

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Social Security Disability with Cirrhosis and Cancer

Social Security Disability with Cirrhosis and Cancer  I just got my approval letter. I am officially on Social Security Disability with Cirrhosis and Cancer from Hepatitis C.  I have mixed feelings right now.  In a sense I’m pretty relieved because I’m

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