Love Your Liver

The liver is probably the most under-appreciated organ in the body. You don't realize how much it does until the liver stops working right. Paul's liver disease is odd - the doctors we've seen so far don't know the origins of his liver problems. All the usual causes of liver cirrhosis: viral hepatis, alcoholism, even fatty liver have been ruled out. That leaves a couple of genetic disorders - hemochromatosis (where the liver absorbs too much iron) or Wilson's disease (too much copper). Hemochromatosis and Wilson's are about the only other 'usual' (for lack of a better term) causes. Blood tests don't seem to indicate either of these though. We're waiting on genetic testing for confirmation.

The only thing all the doctors we've seen agree on is that the chemo exacerbated/accelerated whatever process is going on that damaged Paul's liver. So for now Paul's being treated for the symptoms of the disease, not the cause. We hope some of the blood tests provide some definitive answers when we go back to the liver center next week.

When the liver isn't working up to par a person might become jaundiced, fatigued, nauseous, even mentally confused and the list goes on and on. Paul is fatigued and jaundiced. We're both watching for other signs that the liver disease might be progressing. So far it's not, thank goodness! Hope we get some good news next week.