Notes from the Red Bird House

I haven't written about my liver in a few years. Last night, though, a friend who has a marked interest in my liver reminded me that I have 'liver pieces'. She didn't mean that my liver is in pieces (well, not yet anyway). No, she meant a couple blogs I wrote back in 2010 - 'The Smell of Liver Failure in the Morning' and 'An Owner's Manual for a 1969 Model Liver' (Both appear in my book, Notes from the Red Birdhouse ). When I wrote them, they were intended to be a funny take on a very serious subject. My friend's daughter had (and still does have) a rare form of a hereditary liver disease and I was on the short list of people willing to donate a portion of my liver. She ended up not needing mine, but did have a substantial portion of hers removed. Fast forward a little more than two years... That same friend with the daughter with the rare form of hereditary liver disease has been diagnosed with the same disease. I suppose that's why she re...