always a puzzle

Tuesday morning (May 13th), I still had yet to hear from the hospital where I was going to get my liver biopsy done. I had called before I left for work, but the same day surgery floor was still adjusting schedules, and that I would receive a call back within an hour or so. I threw an overnight bag in my car, and headed into work. Fifteen minutes after arriving to work, I then received a phone call that I could be fit in for a biopsy, and asked how soon I could make it to the hospital. I also was struggling to coordinate times with my mom, seeing that I would need a ride home from the hospital after the procedure. Also adding to the complexity, is that the facility is mid-way between my house, and my parents house (roughly an hour drive for each of us).

The plan was for her to bring my grandmother with her to the hospital, so my car would not be left there overnight. Once I arrived, things progressed pretty quickly, and my doctor had also ordered even more blood work before the biopsy. I was brought down to interventional radiology, pumped full of proposal, and was sent to recovery. The entire procedure took less then five minutes, and was virtually painless.

I was sent back up to recovery, where I would remain laying down for four hours before being discharged. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. My blood work which was performed while I was getting the biopsy, was "alarming". My LFTs were close to 900, my bilirubin was increased, as well as many other markers for severe liver dysfunction. My doctor wanted to admit me overnight for observation, as well as to run more blood work.

Wednesday morning, I had over twenty tubes of blood drawn. My mother had left the night before, with my grandmother, but was back with me by 9am. At this point, we were waiting for my hepatologist to round. I had the pleasure of explaining my story/ prior medical history to an intern and resident, and within the hour my hepatologist came by. He had just come from looking at my biopsies with the pathologist. Preliminary results showed what he expected, Autoimmune Hepatitis, with moderate to severe fibrosis, and stage 3 liver disease.

It was decided to start a concurring treatment of Prednisone along with Azathioprine, which is the most common, and basically only option for treatment of AIH.