Craving Liver

Ahhh, it's nice to be fiddling in Blogger again. I've been away a while. In fact, I've been pretty much down and out for a few weeks and just did my first decent walk - wow, spring has sprung in Greensboro! I saw four or five species of butterflies in my little 1.4 mile slow walk. One goal for this year is to learn my butterflies.

But for now all I can think about is liver.

Two weeks ago this coming Friday I awoke with a horrific migraine. Actually, I had had a spate of them that week. I didn't know why then. Now I do.

Anyway that Friday along with the normal bells and whistles that go with migraine I developed very bad vertigo - a whole new migraine symptom for me, or so I thought. I had to crawl around the house for two days - could not stand up. I felt off the chart terrible. Seems I was also dehydrated which kind of goes with migraine territory - more fluid leaving than coming in. I felt better as I hydrated and thought the dizziness was just due to that.

But it hung around, the dizziness, the malaise, so I finally went to see the doctor, my cardiologist, since I was most concerned about low BP and this awful loud "swooshing" sound in my head every time my heart beat. It was good check up, but he said I looked pale, and almost as an afterthought suggested I go to the lab and have some blood drawn to check for anemia.

The next morning they called to tell me my hemoglobin was 8.6, and would I go see a GI specialist that afternoon. So I went. They took more blood which then identified the problem as iron deficiency anemia, and recommended an endoscopy and colonoscopy. I was lying down or sleeping most of last week I was so fatigued and dizzy.

I had the colonoscopy and endoscopy this Tuesday. Getting ready for those tests is loads of fun. The main purpose of doing this was to rule out a BIG BAD cause and possibly detect one less dramatic one.

As far as the colososcopy, things down there are as clear as could be. Not a hint of a red mark, polyp, anything. I was supposed to be "out of it" but was totally lucid and enjoyed the tour of my bowels. I am a geek that way. So for now, colon cancer is out of the picture. As far as the endoscopy, there were two small ulcers in my stomach. They are small and were not bleeding at the time of the endoscopy. The doctor took a sample for biopsy to try to identify the cause. Usually there is a bacteria involved that can be treated once identified.

The doctor also took a small amount of tissue from the lining of the duodenum (uppermost part of the small intestine) in order to do a test to see if the cilia there are absorbing iron.

Oh, the really fun part was the audio - the colonoscopy after-effects. They have to push air in to inflate the bowel in order to see it clearly, and then, well, that air has to come out. So the nurse ordered me, ordered me mind you, to lie there and fart. She said the "f" word. I am still in shock.

Unfortunately my bowel didn't totally cooperate and decided to get rid of the air once I got home. That was kind of fun actually. It was better than those fart web sites!

So for now the plan is to try to get my iron levels up using iron supplements and some dietary additions. I have a physical in five weeks and that should give the docs a chance to know if the supplements and dietary additions are helping. It is kind of a slow process. Also, once the culprit is identified in the stomach there will be specific treatment for that too.

I got the sense the GI doctor remains worried about my having lost 40 pounds over the last 10 months, but I have radically changed my diet to eliminate simple starches and sugars, have been eating less generally, and exercising a whole lot more.

If none of that works then the next thing to do is test the bone marrow. We’ll hope and pray for the best. Right now all I can think about is liver.