Last week Wednesday, I got a bunch of blood drawn for a battery of tests that were ordered by the Gastroenterologist and we have some good results!
First, the alk phos was up to 2032 which was expected but makes the drop to 1780 this last Monday a bit better than I had originally thought. I am negative for Hepatitis B and C which is good but I was positive for actin antibody and I don't really know what that means.
I tested positive for the hereditary hemocromatosis which is the gene for iron overload. It does say that I am likely an unaffected carrier since I only had one of the three mutations but it states that "a small number of people who may have a single copy of H63D ar actually affected. The Diagnosis of HH should include other clinical clinical findings and ... serum ferritin studies." The next test in line was serum ferritin and it was 2084 with an expected range of 30-400.
These results, along with the drop in markers when I stopped taking the iron almost certainly mean that I have iron overload. This is wonderful in that we can get my liver back into shape by removing the iron from my daily meds. The down side is that I was on iron because of the anemia caused by my kidney disease. I don't know how we will balance this but at least now we know what is going on and can formulate an attack!
With these results, I can expect continued improvement in the liver markers and that means I will be talking to Dr. Boudreaux in the next couple of weeks and can hope for surgery in late May. It is such a relief to know the end is in sight. These last weeks of continued uncertainty have been quite brutal and I am optimistic for the first time in quite a while.
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