Saturday, October 25, 2008

Wow your spleen is huge!


That's what Dr. Hudson said at my appointment on Wednesday.

A normal spleen is only supposed to be 3-5 cm and mine is 17 cm.

I know gross!

If only my body would function normally and grow a accessory liver instead of an accessory spleen. The good news is that the spleen hasn't gotten bigger in the last 6 months.

The ultrasound tech said there wasn't any water in my abdomen but by the time it was over there was 3 technicians in there doing it. They couldn't get a great view of my portal vein. Finally got one but my ribs were red and sore because of it.

My blood test results came back great too! My bilirubin which measures my jaundice level was .8 and my tumor marker was negative. The only count down was my platelets but only slightly. I have been having nausea after meals. It doesn't really matter what it is i have eaten so its not really food related. Dr. Hudson will do yet another EGD to check for a ulcer or a blockage somewhere but I doubt its either one.

My MELD score they use to determine where you are on the transplant list is a 7 now. Six months ago it was a 9. You would think that would be good but its not really. I have to be a 15 to be listed at all and approximately a 24 to be transplanted. We asked with the spleen enlarging so much what that meant with time until transplant was needed. Answer: 2-5 years. At the beginning my spleen wasn't big at all so the time frame was about 9 years. So that was kinda scary to me and Jeremy. That's not much time and I sure don't like the thought of having such a HUGE operation.....if I can get a liver when I need one.

I would be more than happy to just continue seeing the specialist every 6 months and go about my business. It is nice to have advanced warning and be able to plan for certain things like insurance and coverage stuff.

The funny thing is the doctor pretty much said all the same things last time(minus the 2-5 yrs) and I feel so much better about this visit than the last one. Don't know why, maybe being more up to date on the time frame.

Jeremy and I both agree we have the best specialist there is on the subject of liver transplant. Dr. Hudson is very knowledgeable, down to earth, and kind. But more than that he is not a beat around the bush kinda doctor. He tells us straight up every time whats happening and that means so much to both of us.

So I will continue my course of going about my life trying my hardest to lose the weight I need to, being with my family that I love and making the most out of life while I still feel great.

I guess a lot of cirrhosis patients don't have a lot of energy and feel pretty crappy.

I on the other had ran on the treadmill at the gym today!