Roy Report 3/3/2020

So you thought we were all done thinking about livers? No way! We just took a hiatus to get Roy’s dad situated and we’re back on track. Essentially, “no news is good news.” In spite of the huge gap in our postings here, this is still good news.

Roy did what every person knows you aren’t supposed to do – he put his Dad’s situation ahead of his own health and missed his check-ups with the liver consultants in July. The summer went toward cleaning out, listing and selling the house and car in Fort Stockton, and August/September went to getting Roy’s dad moved from Abilene to Bryan. Roy’s dad is now living in Bryan at assisted living; he is still doing rehab from his fall to try to get strength in his legs so he can walk again. His dad’s health isn’t great so most of the doctor visits that Roy has had since August have been for his dad and not for himself (all with a completely different set of doctors in a different hospital system just to keep things interesting, right? ).

Putting our attention back on Roy’s liver as we opened this year, Roy got to do his blood work and we took a field trip to Dallas yesterday to see the liver consultants. The very good news is that his labs are stable. The Alkaline Phosphatase is minimally elevated.

• Total Bilirubin 1.2 (normal range 0.3-1.2) – Yes! In the normal range!
• Sodium 137 (normal range 132-146)
• Potassium 4.8 (normal range 3.5-5.5)
• Alkaline Phosphatase 137 (normal range 46-116)
• SGOT (AST) 34 (normal range 0-33)
• SGPT (ALT) 30 (normal range 10-49)
• Total Protein 7.0 (normal range 5.7-8.2)
• Albumin 3.5 (normal range 3.4-5.0)
• Creatinine 0.74 (normal range 0.70-1.30)

Roy gets to have an ultrasound here in town and then we’ll get an update from the liver consultants after that. Essentially, he is on a check-up every six months going forward – labs and ultrasound – as they continue to monitor him for cirrhosis. Roy is continuing to take some medications that support liver function and has a wonderfully shiny medical alert tag around his neck to avoid penicillin and its associates. Hopefully, the ultrasound results will be good and you won’t see another post here about Roy’s liver until mid-September.