At the beginning of the week I had blood drawn and today I received a copy of the results. Some of the numbers were alarming and others had me shaking my head in disbelief.
The good news - most of the tests in my hepatic function panel (ALT, AST, GGT, etc.) are better than they've been in ages. Seriously?
My liver is cirrhotic, but on paper, these tests indicate that it's doing fairly well (for me, that is - it's all relative).
Other results aren't so wonderful. My MELD score has increased to 12, a jump of three points in five weeks. The docs are chalking it up to an elevation in bilirubin and don't seem too concerned. I'm praying that it's not a trend.
Additionally, my doc is running more tests now, one of which is AFP serum (it indicates the presence liver tumors). The normal range is 0 - 8.3 and mine is 106.2. ONE ZERO SIX POINT TWO. Holy crap! My doc believes the number is elevated because of my aggressive Hep C, not because I have a tumor. Six weeks ago I had two CT scans and neither showed a tumor, which is a good sign. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I nearly fell off of my chair when I saw that result. I'm grateful that it had been explained to me before I saw the results.
Up next: More blood work in three weeks and an endoscopy (where a scope is run down my esophagus). And I'm not certain what else, but I'll keep you posted.
Photo by Heidi Marasigan
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1 comment:
Jay, I follow every word you write and I am grateful that you share. Thinking of you, Pam
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