Cathera is a Liver Transplant Recipient.
Cathera received two liver transplants, the first one in December of 1998, given by a living friend of Cathera's who donated 40% of her own liver. This transplant became infected and slowly over the course of a month became non-functional.
During this month Cathera lay in intensive care heavily sedated, on life support, fighting a raging infection and many times near death.
Much of the work, which Cathera has produced since then, deals with the places her spirit visited as well as experiences she had during this incredibly difficult ordeal.
Cathera feels that she had the choice of "crossing over" or coming back to this reality. As she now says, "I've been to the other side."
In January of 1999 a donor liver from a deceased person was available and Cathera underwent a second transplant followed by a slow, difficult, but "incredible" recovery. Cathera wishes to acknowledge the dedicated, exceptionally skilled doctors and staff of Mt. Sinai Hospital, especially Dr.'s Emre and Fishbien as well asTransplant Coordinator Lindsey Arnott.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
PSC
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* Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis Index
* Glossary
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
Medical Author: Dennis Lee, MD
Medical Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD
* What is primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)?
* How common is primary sclerosing cholangitis?
* What causes primary sclerosing cholangitis?
* What are the symptoms of primary sclerosing cholangitis?
* What are the complications of primary sclerosing cholangitis?
* How is the diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis made?
* How is primary sclerosing cholangitis treated?
* Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis At A Glance
What is primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)?
Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic (lasting years and decades), progressive (worsening over time) disease of the bile ducts that channel bile from the liver into the intestines.
The liver performs many functions; one of them is manufacturing bile. Bile is a watery liquid made by the cells of the liver that is important for digesting food in the intestine, particularly fat, and ridding the body of toxins. Liver cells secrete the bile they make into small canals within the liver. The bile flows through the canals and into larger collecting canals (ducts) within the liver (the intrahepatic bile ducts). The bile then flows within the intrahepatic bile ducts out of the liver and into the extrahepatic bile ducts. From the extrahepatic bile ducts, the bile flows into the intestine where the bile mixes with food.
In primary sclerosing cholangitis, the intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts become inflamed, scarred and thickened (sclerotic), narrowed, and finally obstructed. Obstruction of the ducts can lead to abdominal pain, itching, jaundice, infection in the bile ducts (cholangitis), and liver scarring that leads to liver cirrhosis and liver failure.
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