Pat & I traveled to Effingham today for blood work and seeing the dr. I am still not feeling 100%....but mostly ok. I have not been sleeping well....maybe due to napping during the day some and also due to just not being able to sleep.
A couple of days ago, I started getting small bumps on my body (waist to neck mostly) and I thought I had chicken pox although I didn't have all the symptoms. The dr put me on an extra antibiotic (Bactrim) for a Staph infection (I do not have chicken pox after all). I asked several times to make sure I wasn't contagious and they assured me I was not.
Then, the blood work is finally in. It is better....much better...but not within normal range YET. I told Dr. DY I thought I was dying...he assured me I am not dying yet...I have a very angry gallbladder/infection and it has made my liver function tests come back high...WAY HIGH. Let me explain. The normal range for my alkaline phosphatase is between 34 -104. Mine crept up....in leaps each week to 634. My AST should be between 13-39...mine jumped gradually to 235. Then there is the ALT that should be between 7-52....mine slam dunked each week raising to 559! The ALT & AST are the ones we were most concerned with. This has all happened over a period of about 5 weeks. So...yeah, I wondered if this was "the time." Before my numbers started creeping, they were Alk Phos 111, AST 23 and the ALT was 34. So....to compare to their highest....they were moving in a direction I wasn't ready for....but are you ever ready for THAT to happen. Today, the numbers were Alk Phos 373, AST 57 and ALT 138. They are still high but going down a lot in one weeks time! I return in one week to re-check as Dr. Dy is keeping a very close eye on me.
I thought my liver was failing. I was even laying on the couch in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep and I saw my Gram (my mom's mom) and she smiled at me and waved. I have heard people saw their loved ones (in Heaven) as they were preparing to die.....was I going there? Was this IT?
Well, I am here to tell you I am NOT going anywhere until God says it is my time....until then, I cling to, I cherish, I praise The GREAT Physician, God, for every minute, every hour, every day!! I AM BLESSED!! I am the longest living cholangiocarcinoma patient Dr. Dy has ever had.....it's not really something to brag about but I just feel in my heart, things are going to settle back down for now.
Believe me, I have thanked God for the people who pray for me, for my best friend, Debbie Weiler, that prepared a meal for Pat & I, for my sister Sarah who came and wrapped my presents with me. I praise God for my husband, Pat, as he is always there with me....right beside me~picking up groceries, fixing meals, getting scripts filled, folding laundry BUT most importantly always assuring me I was going to be ok.
No matter what happens....no matter when "IT" happens, now or in 2 years or 20 years....I praise God for this life. The here and now that I am experiencing with my family as the road starts to smooth out and the bumps in this journey start to flatten out and the dust starts to settle.....I AM BLESSED!!
No comments:
Post a Comment