A few weeks ago I posted on my family blog about an upcoming liver biopsy. 

Here is what it said

Tomorrow....

Tomorrow I will wake up early and head to Intermountian Medical Center. I am a nervous nelly. I should not be, I have been here before. I am having my second liver biopsy done. I don't know if I am more nervous about the procedure or the results. I am praying that my liver has healed some over the past three years and I am not going to be staged at a higher number then what I already am. I have been really anxious the past year knowing that one day I may need a liver transplant. I read all the time that it is difficult to even make it to the list, and once your there your not guaranteed you get to survive. Also knowing someone will have to die in order for you to live. How does one live with that? Live the rest of your life to the fullest, be a better person in every aspect of your life, give all your got, be strong. Live your life for both of you. Have no regrets. Honor, honer, and honer!

Tomorrow will be a great day.

 The biopsy went smooth. Not as bad as I thought. Last time I had one Don was sure it was worse then this. They went in through the middle of my chest instead of threw the side by the rib cage. It hurt for a few days but nothing to bad. I was happy that they gave me some Versed before the procedure instead of waiting for them to start... I was much calmer...

 It was very frustrating waiting to get the results. I am either really lucky or really unlucky that my insurance posted the results before my Doctor even seen them. So as I read what pathology said I was scared, shocked, and had a lot of unanswered questions. I called my Hepatologist to see if I could get in sooner and of course the answer was no. What made it worse was that she would not talk to me over the phone about them. So I waited. 

I went today and seen Dr. Cobb. She was nice and attentive to most of my concerns. She disregarded the pain I have been having in my chest and sides as nothing out of the ordinary. I was a little upset about that. The appointment was also weird because she didn't just jump right in and like she usually did. We talked about all the medications I have been taking and about the stomach issues I have been having. After about 30 minutes she did a quick exam and I asked her if she was going to go over my results. 

She sat down at her computer, brought them up, read really fast and closed them. Then she brought up the biopsy results from 2009 and talked to me about them and walked me through. After about 10 minutes she brought back up the new one and said yeah, yep.... She left the room went and got a handout on the stages of liver disease and showed me where I am at. She thinks I am at the end of stage 3 to the beginning of stage 4. So.... YES I was freaking out. I had been for 2 whole weeks. I think I had been through every emotion already and was just waiting for it. She then said that they were scheduling me for a EGD to check for esophageal varices.  She was also at that point a little more concerned of the pains I have been having.  The whole appointment was just odd. I know she didn't even look at my biopsy results until that day when I asked her. She was defiantly not prepared. I didn't get any questions answered, and pointers on what to do from here.  

I have found a really great support group online and have learned more from others suffering with liver disease then I have my own Doctor.



I AM CONFUSED!

So I will be getting a new doctor. I am going to the liver and kidney clinic at the University of Utah. The clinic consists of 14 Doctors and staff. They have transplant surgeons, Hepalologist, family counselors, financial counselors, dietitians, and so forth. We will see how it goes but I am excited to hopefully get the right care I need and some much needed education.

 So the next step is the EGD on the 27th.