Oh my goodness, a year since i last posted.
Update:
My liver is scanned every 6 months and shows no sign of
cancer.
My Hep B is undetectable as i take one tablet of Tenofovir
a day as an anti-viral. Side effects of this drug just starting to cause
problems. Kidney function has been dropping slowly over the last year and
is almost at a level where the docs want to switch me to a different
anti-viral. The drug is also leaching phosphates from my bones.
DEXA scan done to assess bone density loss and evidence of progression of
osteopenia to osteoporosis. Clinic in October to review DEXA results and assess
whether to change the anti-viral. Am hoping all my dog walking daily
exercise and my excellent calcium and Vit D3 levels are helping my bones.
More of the dog walking later.
My Autoimmune Hepatitis After a couple of 'flares' over
the last 3 years and blood results that show i am on the maximum dose of
Azathioprine immunosuppressant my body can process but with lower than
acceptable lymphocytes (Google Lymphocytopenia if you want to know more)
we can’t do anything about that. Am back on low dose steroids
(Prednisolone) to control the liver inflammation, which luckily don’t seem to
give me any of the typical side effects:- weight gain (no); insomnia (no); mood
swings (ask T); hamster cheeks (no); but do make me bruise easily and have made
my sight worse and given me mild muscle tremor.
Life: Increasing
work hours became too much, and with the help of Occupational Health and an
understanding boss i am now on a fixed 15 hours a week, no more, no less.
That has given me time to volunteer for the Cinnamon Trust, a national
network of over 15,000 community service volunteers who provide practical help
for example, walking the dog for a housebound owner and a fostering
service is provided for pets whose owners face a spell in hospital. And i walk 5 rescue dogs once a week at a local rescue centre.
Here are some of the dogs i walk.
