Bruce is off all meds - this treatment is not going to cure him so no need suffering thru the side effects any longer. He needs to be off his meds for a month then get a blood test and see if possibly his liver will calm down. There are some new medications that should hit the market in 2011 hopefully these will offer some hope for a cure.
In the next couple months we need to make a trip to either Stanford or Portland medical center to visit with a specialist see if they can come up with a game plan on what the next steps will be.
So for now we will enjoy not taking shots and Bruce can start to build back his immune system and raise his blood counts and hopefully catch his breath again.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Shot #35
I have not been keeping up my blog weekly - truth is it has been mostly the same week after week. Bruce has lost weight, he spends most of his time trying not to feel bad and gut up for me, he is constantly tired and out of breath all the time and feels puny on the weekends.
I stopped my weekly updates when I caught him drinking during Thanksgiving. It did not feel right to continue since I was hurt and angry that he was not respecting what liver he has left.
Week after week he faithfully took his shot, every day he took his pills and every month we headed off for doctor appointment. Problem is his liver enzymes are not getting better. Actually they were getting worse.
This past week the doctor ordered some new tests to see if he was developing autoimmune hepatitis and maybe this was causing the extremely high liver enzyme levels, one of the tests was also to see if he had any detectable viral load. By now he should have no viral load, but he still has a small detectable viral load. He has had an ultrasound and that looks ok. Some of the tests they have ordered are commonly used for cancer testing, well unless my “self proclaimed internet doctor degree" is way off course. So that scares the shit out of me.
Yesterday the doctor called and said he can stop taking the shots and pills they are not going to work so no use taking them any longer. I guess I should be happy that he can feel better now and catch his breath and enjoy feeling normal, but I was really wanting a cure for him. We have an appointment tomorrow and it sounds like the local doctor will need to refer us to a specialist either in Portland or UC Davis.
To say were bummed out is a understatement, Bruce thinks it is all a huge waste of money, and I just want him to feel good and have good health. I know we will do what we have to do and put one foot in front of the other and figure out what life has in store for us, but DAMN I wish we could catch a nice break, so keep him in your prayers please.
I stopped my weekly updates when I caught him drinking during Thanksgiving. It did not feel right to continue since I was hurt and angry that he was not respecting what liver he has left.
Week after week he faithfully took his shot, every day he took his pills and every month we headed off for doctor appointment. Problem is his liver enzymes are not getting better. Actually they were getting worse.
This past week the doctor ordered some new tests to see if he was developing autoimmune hepatitis and maybe this was causing the extremely high liver enzyme levels, one of the tests was also to see if he had any detectable viral load. By now he should have no viral load, but he still has a small detectable viral load. He has had an ultrasound and that looks ok. Some of the tests they have ordered are commonly used for cancer testing, well unless my “self proclaimed internet doctor degree" is way off course. So that scares the shit out of me.
Yesterday the doctor called and said he can stop taking the shots and pills they are not going to work so no use taking them any longer. I guess I should be happy that he can feel better now and catch his breath and enjoy feeling normal, but I was really wanting a cure for him. We have an appointment tomorrow and it sounds like the local doctor will need to refer us to a specialist either in Portland or UC Davis.
To say were bummed out is a understatement, Bruce thinks it is all a huge waste of money, and I just want him to feel good and have good health. I know we will do what we have to do and put one foot in front of the other and figure out what life has in store for us, but DAMN I wish we could catch a nice break, so keep him in your prayers please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)