As I alluded to on Facebook last week, I had to see a liver specialist at the Liver Institute in San Antonio.  My liver enzymes have been elevated that past two times I’ve had labs drawn and the new MS therapy the MS neurologist wants me to go on affects the liver.  So, they need my enzymes to be in the normal range and not elevated.

My GP (general practitioner) already had me go through a liver ultrasound, adding to my gazillion other diagnoses by showing that I had a fatty liver.

This hepatologist that I saw has plans for my liver – good, bad or indifferent.

First, he had the phlebotomist draw nine vials of blood.  Owie!  He said that he wanted to test for a number of things that involved the liver, including my emzyme levels.  These were not the be-all, end-all of his plan but he needed to make sure I didn’t have some other liver issue that was causing my elevated liver enzymes.

Next comes a liver biopsy, scheduled for August 11th.  THOSE results will then be considered as the be-all, end-all of my liver situation.

And then the MS neurologist will have to decide if it’s safe for me to take the new MS therapy or not.  It could be that my fatty liver is what is causing the elevated enzymes.  If that’s the case, I should be fine to take the drug.  Or it could be that there’s something wrong with my liver…which means I could not safely take this last-ditch effort at the MS therapy.

Thus far, it’s been quite a year – I have been on NO MS therapy since January.  Am wondering what (if any) damage has been done to my brain thus far, without a therapy.  I know that with the four failed MS therapies I have already been on, there continued to be lesions in my brain.  I also know, based on the last MRI, that the lesion that sent me to the hospital on Christmas day in 2010 has finished desalinating but the white spot it left behind (dead brain matter) continues to grow bigger.  And since it’s in my left cerebellum, I continue to have problems with the right side of my body…with dizziness…and with my balance.

I fell again over the weekend.  No warning.  Just fell.  And it woke three of my daughters up as it was late at night.  I am fine from the fall, only a little rug burn on one knee.  Balance issues are a big deal these days – I fall a lot.  No fun for me and it breaks my heart that my children have to see me and/or help me up when I fall.

Guess we’re still in a wait-and-see position.  So, I shall wait and see what the liver results will be.  But, in the meantime – I do have this red solo cup to remind me of my visit to the Liver Institute!