The sad: My liver specialist Dr Al is leaving. He has family in Syria and needs to go back. For a year, maybe longer. Nobody knows yet who will replace him. My next appointment is the end of January, so we shall see. I was upset to hear that, I feel 'safe' in his care. But family comes first before patients.
The weird: When I was in hospital in Jan/Feb Dr Al ran a whole load of extra tests, including all the letters of the hepatitis alphabet. After 10 months one weird result came back positive: - Hepatitis E. It can be picked up from food or water due to poor sanitation. Dr Al says he is seeing an increase in cases in the UK. Where did it come from? Baffled again, unless the protective gloves I wear at work don't protect. It shouldn't become chronic and as my liver function returned to normal after a few weeks he assumes I am clear but has taken the test again to be sure. Hope I don't wait another 10 months to find out!
The good: If the liver function flare in Jan/Feb was caused by the Hep E infection instead of the autoimmune, then Dr Al says I can come off the autoimmune meds .... in a year ... after another biopsy....
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)
