WE HAVE ANSWERS!!!!!

Brian went to Iowa yesterday for a follow up appointment with his GI specialist. This trip held lots of mixed emotions as we weren’t sure if he would end up being disappointed for having to drive 4 hours each way for a 45 appointment where they would tell him there was nothing they could do for him or pissed that he drove that far to be told he really had a problem and it took him a month after his last trip to get in to talk to someone.

I waited all day to hear the news and was overjoyed to hear that he actually had some news and he believed it was worth his trip to meet with his doctor one last time at University of Iowa Medical Center…yup, that’s right- he will not be returning.

While his health journey is not over, both sides agreed that from this point on, Brian should be able to maintain his health care needs at Carle. We are happy about it and also so very grateful for our many positive experiences in Iowa and for the staff who worked WITH us, not against us to get Brian’s health concerns addressed.

We learned after his procedures during our lasttrip to Iowa that his test results all returned in the normal range. While it was encouraging to again take things off the list, it narrowed down our selection of “issues” to only a few and we weren’t sure if they would be good things to have wrong with you or bad.

Well, it’s decided…it’s his liver. Brian has a compromised liver that currently (and recently) has experienced some damage. We’ll never know if his attacks and tremendous pain were caused by the eating of extra fatty foods, use of alcohol, overuse of Acetaminophen, or a combination of all as there are plenty of people who abuse those things much more than Brian and live a much unhealthier life. What we do know is that the liver is able to be regenerated and as long as too much damage hasn’t occurred, it’s a pretty great organ to have problems with as you can actually do things to make changes quickly and can repair damage caused previously.

Brian has lost 10 pounds since his first trip to Iowa. He is eating much less fat (we are pretty great eaters already) and has increased his workouts and fitness plans. The doctor was pleased and impressed with his efforts. Brian’s liver had been enlarged. We saw it on his CAT Scan and the Dr. Jolin literally could feel it during his exam back in October. Yesterday, Dr. Jolin estimated that his liver has reduced about 4 cm- that is WONDERFUL!

While blood work was not done yesterday, he communicated that there is a mathematical formula used for patients who suffer from concerns with their livers. Using their blood results to test the liver and other factors, a doctor can easily find a number to put on the “integrity” of the liver on a 1-10 range. Doctors want the number to be around 3. Brian’s previous number was an 8. He truly believes that with a few more pounds and inches in the bad belly fat area and continuing to live a healthy lifestyle, Brian will easily be able to get his number lowered and be on track to a healthy liver.

He has an appointment with his Primary Care Physician at Carle next week to discuss these findings and to get a plan together to continue to monitor his liver functions, this number assigned, and how to proceed from here.

What was all that pain about before? Is the mystery solved? Did we find the missing piece to the puzzle we’ve been waiting for since the end of August? Perhaps. We think so! He has a problem with his liver. It’s been compromised and its “congested”. It was enlarged and he also had an enlarged spleen to boot. This man, who is in the best shape of his life and in much better shape than most, still had organs that weren’t as healthy as they could have been. One too many fatty meals or a night of a few drinks or some Tylenol overuse and it sent his body into a terrible downward spin that has proved to be the longest, hardest health journey of our lives and the longest 4 months as well. His liver was contracting and causing the terrible attacks he suffered. It was unable to filter and control with was being put in and was mad about it.

A few better choices, a life without Acetaminophen and monitoring from doctors along the way and we hope to have a much healthier 2011 than we had in 2010. There is still some pain and a few tough days but there hasn’t been an attack in over a month and Brian feels better, inside and out, each day.

We’ll continue to update you on anything new we discover but for now, we hope to put this to rest for awhile- what a wonderful early Christmas gift. Thanks to all of you for your constant prayers and love and support along the way. We’ve still got work to do but I can’t tell you how happy we are to feel like we finally have answers and a plan!

Thanks again!