I went to see my hepatologist about two weeks ago. I had blood drawn and I scheduled a liver biopsy for April 2nd. He just wanted to take a look at my liver...it had been a long time (over eight years) since my last biopsy...and frankly he thought that things were probably much better.

Last week I got a call from my doctors office telling me that I had elevated enzyme levels and that I should move my biopsy up to a closer date. Here's a little liver lesson for the day. When your liver is hurt it makes enzymes. The higher the number of enzymes...the more liver inflammation you have. There are two tests they do to monitor the enzyme levels. They are the ALT and and AST. Currently my ALT is 165 and my AST is 133. This is four times the normal level. To put things into perspective....when I was very sick 11 years ago my enzymes were running into the thousands. It could be worse. The wierd thing about this is that I have been taking the same amount of medication for years and never had any problems. My last flare up occurred five years ago and it only happened because they had cut my dose in half in hopes of taking me off of it. I was back on my normal dose within a month and all was well.

I rescheduled my liver biopsy for Tuesday March 16th.

The first time I got sick was a surprise to everyone. I only got so sick because I didn't know I had this disease and didn't know what to look for. Fortunately this time they caught it early and the doctors are all over it. I don't expect it to turn into anything near as severe as that first time.

About my Mom....she is home from the hospital. Her visiting nurse came on Sunday. She has a telemedical appointment today. AND...she is seeing her surgeon on Wednesday. All the samples they took out of her on Monday were clear of cancer. Looks like she has some adhesions (scar tissue)...which might cause a small problem. She has pain and is trying to adjust......but she also seems positive and optimistic about the future.