Fatty Liver

Almost a year ago, I had pain in my side under my ribs. It hurt enough that I went to the Urgent Care at my university hospital. That is where I met that horrible doctor who told me to quit eating fried foods and lose weight. Fried foods?!? We haven't eaten that in decades. What a jerk. I already had the appointment scheduled with the Weight Management Clinic where I discovered the problems of losing weight with six years of prednisone in my system.

Everything single thing she diagnosed was wrong.

I actually had a huge case of pneumonia in my lower lung which was causing the pain. She let a person with a serious lung disease leave with no proper diagnosis nor any antibiotics. After the weekend, I followed through with Dr. K. who looked at the x-rays and quickly prescribed one of the super drugs. I could have died had I not followed through because I just didn't trust the Urgent Care doctor.

During the long day of tests, the Urgent Care doctor had me run to another campus for a sonogram to help find the cause of my pain. She was insisting it was a gall bladder problem. It obviously wasn't. But, what was discovered was a surprise. I had a fatty liver. Weird.

She said it was due to my weight. I had to follow up with the Liver Clinic. They were marvelous and I have written about my experiences there in past blogs. They said that Fatty Liver is rather a new discovery. It is going to be the reason for the majority of liver transplants the next decade as it develops into a non-alcohol based cirrhosis if one has the trifecta of high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. Since I had none of those, they said mine was probably caused by the drugs.

I have been to see them twice this year. The past six months, I have been having blood tests every two months and this Monday I am scheduled for another sonogram. On December 1st, I am scheduled for a visit to the liver clinic to review all the tests. They may want a biopsy, which I REALLY don't want. It requires a hospital stay and a "surgery." Hopefully, that will not be necessary.

Monday before dawn, I will be in the car for the long drive into the city for the sonogram and a fasting blood test. I am 60 pounds lighter than I was during the last sonogram. I hope my liver has reacted to the weight loss buy becoming smaller so I don't have to deal with the biopsy.