Brad's doc visit

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

Brad had the colonoscopy and gastroscopy and appointment with the new

doc today so lots of birds, one stone.

He made it through the morning with a smile on his face which was

surprising because I thought he was going to punch someone if he had

to go without food for much longer

The doc was super helpful with all my questions, I only wish he had

given some nicer answers.

On the bright side, his colitis is 'inactive' so that's good.

However, he does has varices but they are not bad enough to need

surgery so he wants to check them again in twelve months. He said

that this means he does have portal hypertension. That sounds freaky

to me, does anyone have any info/advice on it? I've looke dit up a

bit over the last few days and it looks pretty scary.

His small ducts are affected which one of you guys said was usually

less aggressive than large duct, if I remember correctly? That's a

bonus, I guess!

I asked the doc about all the different scores and stages etc and he

said Brad does have cirrhosis so is at Stage 4 PSC and has a MELD of

11, the latter not sounding too bad, I think?

He wants to keep him on Urso, review his bloods in a couple of months

and he will scan him for cholangiocarcinoma every six months.

And just to sum it all up he has said that he doesn't expect his

liver to last the next ten years. Holy crap. Talk about delivering

it with a smile though. It wasn't until we left his office and his

cheery disposition that all this sunk in.

So here I was thinking I was exagerating the whole situation and just

reading more into it than I should have, but not so.

The doc reckons the PSC has been slowly simmering for years but has

been flying beneath the radar until now so it's had time to take hold

without being noticed. That contradicts what the other doc said last

week but...meh.

I'm sorry if this sounds too point form, I'm so exhausted from the

city trip and all the info...just wanted to share the info.

At least Brad is relatively optimistic at times. At others, he just

talks as though he's doomed to die within ten years. He has a few

days off and I will try to cheer him up during that time.

Thanks for reading. Any advice on cheering techniques or magical

cures would be appreciated

Cheers,

Kate

Wife to Brad UC 1998/PSC 2008