Possible Liver Donor. Are one or two drinks ok?
Hey there,
Apologies for the long post.
Just a little background... A good friend of mine (36M) unfortunately requires (required) a liver donor. Approximately 6 weeks ago I (38M) told him I would be willing to donate and started the process. I was a blood type match and began abstaining from alcohol cigarettes and THC. I wouldn't say I'm an alcoholic but I definitely would enjoy drinks with friends on the weekends. Also the occasional cigarette and THC edible. No prior health conditions.
I'm just about at the point where the donor team wants to bring me to the other side of the country to run all the deep tests now that it's been over a month since I've been abstaining. Specifically they said they would reach out on July 11th to see if I would like to proceed.
In really awesome and exciting news... My friend was just recently (2 days ago!!!) was able to successfully get a deceased donor transplanted and is currently undergoing recovery. (HUZZAH!) We are all super happy for him and keeping our fingers crossed that everything takes nicely. Apparently the surgeons are saying he's doing better than about 90% of their liver transplants... Not sure if they're saying that just to be optimistic but it sounds promising. :)
Here's my dilemma/concerns.
Myself my wife and our friend group are all folks who enjoy our libations together especially on holidays. This weekend for the 4th of July we were planning on doing an out of town visit to a city we've never been to where we will be going to my other good friends Aunt and Uncles cocktail lounge (tickets and hotels were booked way prior to me figuring out that my friend needed a liver transplant and I began my abstaining from aforementioned substance).
At the very least I would really like to have a sip or two of their cocktails to try out the place as I've never met them and never been to their place before.
I would love to try some of the cocktails at their fancy cocktail place... But I just have these thoughts...
-"What if my friend rejects his new liver? If I have a drink or two is this going to completely reset my "donor testing" clock?"
-At what point should I say, "I think it's unlikely he will still need mine"?
-Even if I did have a few drinks this weekend would he even be able to undergo a new surgery this soon after his last?
My wife is of the opinion that realistically having a drink or two over the course of 2 days isn't going to have any reasonable impact on my liver health... But I'm also thinking that this might risk me being disqualified from a donor perspective if the absolute worst case happens and he experiences acute rejection and I need to fly out quickly.
Any thoughts and expertise are appreciated on this.