Torch, Spring 1995

An interview with Dr. Kent R . Amstutz, currently serving as developmental pediatrician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Amstutz, a physician himself, is dealing with a health crisis in his own life and is waiting to receive a liver transplant. He and his wife, Marilyn, are 1978 Cedarville graduates. They have two daughters, Jenea and Melissa, and live in Papillion, Nebraska. TORCH: Dr. Amstutz, when were you first aware that you had a serious health problem? I was first diagnosed with chronic liver disease six years ago at Wilford Air Force Base Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Specialists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha confirmed the diagnosis. The Omaha medical center is an internationally known liver transplant center, and the Lord had seen to it that I was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha at the time. I have basically been treated there since the diagnosis in 1989. On October 12, 1994, I was officially placed on the active list for liver transplantation. My statistics were entered into the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) computer. I was listed in a Category 2 status. Category 2 means that I have many of the features of end-stage liver disease, but I do not have to remain in the hospital for care. When I have to be hospitalized for any complication, I am elevated to Category 3 status. Category 4 would mean that I would have to have a donor liver implanted within the subsequent 24-48 hours to survive. Most people in Category 2 wait an average of 12-18 months at medical centers that transplant livers regularly. The waiting can be a stressful experience as the person may continue to deteriorate slowly. It is difficult to know how to pray. If you remain relatively healthy, you wait longer. If you become ill, the wait may be shorter, but you tend to worry that a donor will not be available in time to save your life. It is not uncommon for liver transplant patients to wonder if anyone will die today to provide the life-saving healthy liver. Patients and their families can become obsessed with the waiting process. Their lives become dysfunctional. They can develop anxiety disorders or mood disorders . TORCH: How did you respond when you found you were critically ill? I went through physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma. I was angry with God and fearful of the future. I became depressed and sought help from a Christian counselor as well as a psychiatrist. Through the prayers of my wife, Marilyn, and my family, my own study of God's Word, and God 's mercy, I was able to recover from depression and move ahead confidently in my job as an Air Force pediatrician. My liver specialist encouraged me to pursue my career goals even though at some time in the future I would likely need a liver transplant. I continued to work at Offutt AFB . In December 1992, I was selected to do a fellowship in developmental pediatrics, a relatively new subspecialty of pediatrics. I also continued to serve actively with my family in our local church. I was beginning to confidently wait for the Lord's timing and leading for my life. The clouds of doom were lifting and I could see spiritual gains in going through this trial. In hindsight, God was preparing me for the eventual ordeal of actively waiting for a donor liver. TORCH: How has the disease affected you? When we moved in June 1993 to the Tacoma, Washington area so I could train at Madigan Army Medical Center, I had begun to show some more signs of my chronic liver disease. I became fatigued more often and had more frequent episodes of fever, joint aches, and chills. My concentration skills were impaired. It began to take longer for me to acquire new medical knowledge. I had always been able to learn quickly. Now I had to really plod through the material at a slow pace to adequately learn my subspecialty. This decrease in the level of mental function was due to increasing liver dysfunction. My physician treated me with medication to help alleviate these symptoms. Untrasounds of my liver revealed further shrinkage and scarring. But the Lord continued to sustain me and give me the endurance to nearly finish the rigorous academic fellowship. Then, in September 1994, I began to have internal bleeding. These bleeding episodes are life-threatening and I was in the intensive care unit off and on for the next three weeks. I needed to get back to the medical center in Omaha. Marilyn's parents helped us move from Tacoma back to Omaha. The Air Force moved our household goods, but her parents moved us into the house the Lord supplied. Torch 11