Long Time No Hear

[Brendi]

Hey Dr. T & Mikesmon, Brenda & Bob hear.  I haven't written in a while so I'll try to make this update quick..  Bob continues to do well.  In this past year he went from almost dying to getting his body well enough to receive a total hip replacement.  Although the surgery did compromise his liver somewhat-the Dr. said his levels were low after surgery-we are following up with that now.  There has been a change in his Dr. also.  We had Dr. Pratt but when Bob needed the hip(the VA had missed diagnosed him for 5 years and said it was his knees-he was bone on bone with the hip) we were unable to get a referral for Mass Gen. Ortho as his 3rd Primary care was associated with Beth Israel.  So..we had to get a new Liver Dr. being Dr. Gerond-Lake Bakaar(I hope you know of him too).  This way he had a liver Dr. present for the surgery.  Everything went great as far as the hip but our most recent visit showed that he will eventually need a liver and Dr. Bakaar feels as though he should try to treat his Hep-c now before the transplant is needed.  So that's where we are-working to get his blood levels up so he can give treatment a shot. Again I want to stress to people Diet, Exercise, and Rest and listen to this man cause he was all I had for the most important 3 months of my boyfriends life and we made it so far!!!  Of course Bob did his part by staying sober and really doing great on the salt issue(that was harder for him than putting the beer down).  So again Dr. Schiano I thank you and your support team-Brenda & Bob

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

Good to hear from you.  Dr lake-bakaar is an outstanding physician and i think that attempting to try and treat the HCV is prudent.