Roy Report 04/17/2019

Today we took a run up I-45 to Baylor Scott & White’s Liver Consultants. We were a little bit late in spite of leaving early this morning because we hit some sloppy wet mist-rain-fog that reduced visibility but we still got there and back safe and sound.

Above are the models that decorated the windowsill in the consultation room today. The segments second from the right on both show representations of a cirrhotic liver.

Dr. Asrani and his team decided to treat Roy’s illness as if his liver is cirrhotic because his platelets continue to be low. This means that Roy will be monitored somewhat closely – long term they will see him at least every six months and Roy will have labs and an ultrasound done every six months to keep an eye on his liver. The latter will be done because a liver with cirrhosis has a higher risk of liver cancer. Since Roy had an ultrasound in January, he will have another one in July and go back to see the Liver Consultants in July (3 months from now for a follow-up). They will also be watching him to see if varices (varicose veins but inside the esophagus or other parts of the digestive tract) develop. Because he just had an endoscopy he won’t be scheduled for another for about two years. They did take a vial of blood today for his standard metabolic panel. We should get those results tomorrow, or if they are delayed by any holiday closings, next week. He’s still got a bit of discoloration on his legs but very little swelling (unless he stops the diuretics, then he gets a little puffy).

Roy is back at work and going to the swim class at St. Joseph’s regularly – when the pool is open and not suffering from a mechanical problem or being closed for religious holidays. He has some fatigue after a full day at work but is generally feeling better each week. He can’t stand sweets and is still craving watermelon and tomatoes. We finally looked that up today and found out that watermelon is a bio-available source for the antioxidant lycopene (more than tomatoes!) and is high in vitamin C and vitamin A. We speculate that one of his medications is making him low in one of these items and the craving is countering it (but we have no proof thereof).

When it wasn’t misting, raining, splattering on the way to Dallas and back we saw a lot of yellow flowers (coreopsis, roadside daisies, and the like), buttercups (Missouri primrose) and Indian paintbrush. There were some bluebonnets too, but the yellow, pink and red blossoms greatly outnumbered them.

Essentially, we are currently in a follow-up phase that means one of us is going to see specialists for follow-up two out of every three months – at least we’ve spaced out these appointments, right? Laura has her last every three month follow-up for the breast cancer in May* and then goes to a six-month interval. Roy will be in the three-month follow-ups for a bit longer before going to six-month intervals. All in all, we are working toward greater health for both of us.

*We are pleased to have survived a breast cancer recurrence scare (plaguing our thoughts throughout March) with an oncologist-found palpable lump that ended up being an ugly-sounding “fat necrosis” according to Laura’s MRI at the end of March. She is back on medication only with continued follow-up.

Roy’s summary for the day, “Be good to your liver and your boobies.”