Your friend sounds like a fighter - and she has a great role model for that in you!
Don't overdo this weekend and do have a great time performing!
Blessings to all!
Pat
Thanks for your concern my friend. She is going to have an ultrasound, and although the Obama Care came out, she has to pay $697 PER MONTH health insurance, and over $1000 out of pocket for the ultrasound. I find this to be high, but I for one don't know. She's a waitress in Lincoln, NB and is also caring for her husband, who has serious neck problems and has been on Methadone for years. He is awaiting surgery and must travel to Boulder, CO for it.
Only in America do we have these high insurance prices and have to fight tooth and nail to get coverage, and forget it if you have an outstanding malady, regardless of the Obama Care disaster, as some feel is to blame for the high costs. In spite of all this, her spirits are high, as I pick them up often, telling her to study my case of which so far I have become victorious after walking several times through The Valley Of Death..
As for me, well now, I'm doing two performances this weekend (without my doctor' knowledge), but should be taking it easy, as I'm still healing. Can't keep me down when people have to be entertained, especially if they're in a funk, like many of us are or have been.
I hope you get on the next treatment and put an end to the guesswork, and get cured once and for all. With best regards...
Magnum
Sorry about your friend. I hope that she gets the attention that she needs..in time.
With that said, what are some of us to do when there are not any fibroscans available... the only one's in FL are hours away from me, expensive as they are not covered by either my primary Medicare Advantage Plan (an HMO), or my husband's insurance. My doctor is being hesitate on biopysing me again any time soon, because he says that are rarely done anymore. It's been over 5 years since my last biopsy. All he's doing at this time is upper abdominal ultrasounds and the blood work (MELD and Fibrospect), that's it. I don't think I have cirrhosis.., but can I be 100% positive that it hasn't progressed any?? Nope. I have no way to know that for sure. Finished my last treatment in Sept. 2014, that was the Sovaldi/Peg/Riba and as you know I relapsed. The good thing is that with all the treatments I've done over the years, I like to think that it's kept everything from progressing.., up to this point. I have had 5 biopsies over the years. 2 of them showed bridging fibrosis. However, the last one 5 yrs ago, did not show any bridging. The sono's do show steatosis on some of them, but it's not like major in what they're showing. Anyhow, this is about your friend. I hope that she's also managed to have a fibroscan as an added 'tool' to their treatment plan? She is very fortunate to have a great friend in her corner, like you, Magnum. How are you doing by the way? Have you recovered from you last spine surgery? Still undetected and SVR, I am guessing? Susan400
Sorry about your friend Magnum. I believe this is one of those cases of a sampling error on biopsy. That needle just could have hit the one spot in the liver that was clear of scarring. Sounds a lot like cirrhosis to me, as well. While it is possible she progressed quickly to cirrhosis, I doubt varicies would have formed quickly. Sampling error is my best guess.
Total agreement with everyone Magnum. Your a good friend making sure she's in the hands of a Hepatologist. Every sign is indicative unfortunately of Cirrhosis.
.....Kim
I wish that those who are on the fence about treating would read this post. Once Hep C decides that it is no longer content to just annoy you a little bit, it attacks with a vengeance.
One never knows if their station will quickly devolve into the one that your former GI shared
I would not wish cirrhosis on any one and good on you, Magnum, for getting your friend into the hands of a competent doctor
I would agree with Hector that she has Cirrhosis.
As you mentioned, some people advance rapidly from a lower fibrosis stage to Cirrhosis. That has happened to a couple of people on the forum.
The other thing is that biopsies, although the gold standard, do not biopsy the entire liver. Therefore, it is possible that her biopsy just happened to take a piece of liver from a site that was not Cirrhotic yet. The liver does not become totally Cirrhotic all at once. It becomes Cirrhotic piece by piece until the entire liver is Cirrhotic. So it is possible to have one piece of the liver appear to be stage 3 and another piece (or most of the liver) be stage 4 (Cirrhosis). They may have just happened to get a biopsy sample that was still stage 3 fibrosis. After all, the biopsy specimens are very tiny.
If one has an elevated ammonia level and needs lactulose, one's liver is definitely not working appropriately and one has Hepatic Encephalopathy. In addition, varices do not occur unless one has liver failure. Both of these conditions can occur with Cirrhosis.
It is good that she is now seeing a Hepatologist.
Sounds like Cirrhosis to me. If I were going to trust what anyone said about this....it would be Hector over just about any doctor.