Liver Anatomy 101

Here goes as I understand it in general.  This organ has 8 independent sections that comprise the liver, each section has it's own artery and vein so any section can be removed without much problems occurring for the rest of the liver.  The liver is the only organ that can regenerate itself, but you have to leave some of it for that to happen.

I had an 8 hour surgery, "extensive" as the surgeon says.  I only have 2 sections of the liver left sections 6 & 7, they removed 80% of my liver.  As we speak supposedly it has already regenerated to 80 % of it's size.  That's why all my energy is going to the liver and I'm so nap ready and can't go for long periods of time.  Of course that will change, the whole process takes 6-8 weeks.  That's probably also why I'm not gaining weight at the point, because everything I eat is going to the liver.

Here is a drawing that the surgeon made yesterday showing what's left of the liver and the bile duct routing.

Well, fudge, I can't seem to upload an Adobe file.  So anyways, I have a plastic tube that is protruding from my body, I left the hospital with it, perhaps for this situation.  It is inserted into the bile duct leaving the liver.  So that could be the site of the blockage, some of the bile is getting through, just not enough to keep me from turning jaundice.  In other words some of the plastic tubing is actually blocking the bile duct.  When they remove the tube that could clear up the problem.

But, the surgeon does not want to remove the tube too early as it needs to create some scar tissue.  If you remove it too early the hole in the bile duct may not seal correctly and you end up with a leak inside your body, We don't want that.  Also it could slow down the regeneration of the liver.  So we are going to err on the side of caution.  Next Weds, it will come out and we will watch the results.

I messed with it enough that I got it to work, now my above description may be clearer.  Remember you can click on the picture to enlarge it, if you want.  I will not show any actual photos, might be too graphic.

Thanks for all your prayers, it's not over yet,  God Bless, Captain