Letter from Dr Al today. He sums up where we are much better than I, so here is what he said:
"I reviewed Mrs S in clinic today. She is doing well from the liver point of view. She is complaining of aches and pains in the muscles that are similar to previous symptoms that at the time responded to steroids and a possible diagnosis of Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) was made. ... the clinical picture she is describing today might be PMR. ..... I would like to do an ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate - its a way to measure inflammation in tissue) before committing her to a course of treatment"
He also says he will repeat my Hep B viral load, take another set of liver function tests and alpha-fetoprotein tumour marker and let the GP (and me) know the results as soon as.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS - a diagnosis and treatment of Hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer) diagnosed August 2010, presumed caused by 30+ years of chronic hepatitis B. And a search for how to be healthy living with cirrhosis presumed caused by Autoimmune hepatitis (diagnosed April 2011)
Fiona,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your liver!
Sorry about your aches and pains:(
It sounds like they are going to try and stay on top of it.
Have a great weekend:)
Carla
Yes, glad your liver is good, mine is swollen and gives me gip in certain positionsbut function only slightly affected. Nice that you're being written to as well
ReplyDeleteDr Al is cool Fiona, he doesn't 'guess' he wants to know and he checks and double checks THEN he gives you the results...what more can we ask for as cancer patients.
ReplyDeleteGreat news on the liver - fingers crossed your aches/pains can soon be sorted out
xXx
Hi Carla. I'm lucky Dr Al is happy to recommend treatment for a non-liver related thing, rather than just shuttle me back to my GP. It's good to sense that he is happy to monitor 'all' of me, not just the bits of the liver that are medically interesting!
ReplyDeleteHope Steve's op goes ok and he recovers well
Hi Loopy. I noticed the letter from Dr Al was dictated and typed the same day he saw me in clinic. Pretty good I thought. I'll be off to check on your blog again soon, see how those carers are shaping up! Oh, and I'm very grateful for your links - I've found someone from the BHA just a short hop, skip and jump from here.
ReplyDeleteHi Carole. Yes Dr Al has proved to be the best of the bunch so far. Hope your tummy is more settled and your appetite is better today.
ReplyDelete