Laying out the options

So, with two tense months of test behind me- we have come to some conclusions.

Test No. 1- Liver Function

Was just the standard blood tests, which we repeated twice.   Depending on if you are in the US or UK it often just called a Liver Panel or a Liver Function Test (LFT). 

My liver enzymes had been chronically elevated most of my life, through many different weights and circumstances- but we never really had much reason to find the source once we ruled out the major issues.   Generally speaking it was easier to blame the chemo. 

So, I saw my first specialist in years- a Consultant who is one of the UK’s top experts.  

Test No. 2 Enhances Liver Fibrosis Serum Test

So my new consultant decided that to go straight to a Liver biospy it was safer to try a relatively new test called  Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) test, the first CE-marked, standardized non-invasive blood test for assessing the status of liver fibrosis.  It was invented by Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics in 2007.   It was a good test- but the catch is that it takes up to 4 weeks to complete the test!   So four nervous weeks of waiting.

In the meantime we started to think of what else could have gone wrong.   My new consultant never accepted the premise that it was just the chemo.   He also was brutal about my total BMI being a signifigant risk factor.   So I had to start to address this as well.

Test No. 3- Well thats the Biopsy.   So off we go.

At this point I dont know whether I am more sad, confused, angry, or all of them at once.   I think I am really scared that my lifestyle may have been the cause of all of this- but yet there is a part of me that says I could have been screwed no matter what.  Either way, I am accountable for today.   From today, I have to do the things to make myself better- even though there are no gurantees that I will improve.   

That is the thing with liver issues.   Unless you have serious Cirrhosis, there is no true, literal, linear progression that you can follow to predict where you will be.   You may not be able to predict it- but you know that you can try to change the outcome.