48 Hours? Piece of Cake.

All,
As you know, I went for a routine visit at the clinic last Tuesday. Peggy Albertine accompanied Beck and I. The plan was to see the doctor, have a nice lunch, wander around a little bit then beat the traffic home. The best laid plans… I ended up in the hospital due to abnormally high liver counts. A normal high for this particular test is 80, they worry when it reaches 240, mine was 880! A good reason for precaution.

There were no beds available until late afternoon, so we had that nice lunch, (Beck had a drink) and then we wandered around. Instead of beating traffic, we went back to the hospital. I was checked in and the girls hung out for awhile, then they went home. That was Tuesday evening. I was released on Thursday evening, this comes to you on Friday afternoon.

The purpose of the hospitalization was to run some tests. On Wednesday, I underwent a bronchoscopy, a sigmoidoscopy and an abdominal ultrasound (no I didn’t drink lots of water, and no I’m not pregnant!) I provided biopsies from both of the scope tests although visually everything appears normal. I also provided various other samples from which numerous other tests are being conducted. Thursday was spent restlessly waiting for lab results. I felt great as I had when I was admitted. A few of the results came back, all negative. We then had the choice of spending another night waiting results, or go home and get ALL the results at once on Tuesday at my next scheduled visit. I called Beck at 4:45 PM to say I still hadn’t seen the doctor. I called again 45 minutes later and said “Come and get me.” She and Peg dropped what they were doing to drive to San Francisco. We took the opportunity to have a very nice meal…thanks Dave Albertine!

We don’t have any concrete conclusions as to why the numbers went so high so quickly. We thought it was GVH attacking my liver, but the numbers came down as fast as they went up and were normal when I left the hospital. We think the spike was caused by one of my meds, specifically the anti fungal required to protect me while my immune system is suppressed. There is no substitute for this drug, so we’re hoping for another explanation. In the mean time, we have been tutored as to what to watch for if it happens again even if I continue to feel good. The steroids were increased from 15 mg daily to 60, then reduced to my current regimen of 20mg twice a day. The upside is my energy has returned and my legs feel stronger. I will start physical therapy next week here in Manteca. I will be walking and riding more as my body allows. Might as well make hay while the sun shines!

So… another bullet dodged. I’ll update again next week when the results are back. Love to you all. Thanks for your caring and concern…