Tough Times

The first week of May was rough week.

With Kristina staying in Gibsons with her parents, I had to make an unexpected entry to the Emergency Department at Eagle Ridge Hospital early Tuesday morning. I was soon admitted and a host of doctors and nurses took a multitude of blood tests, x-rays, and ultra-sounds. As a result of the tests, I was told I needed to be transferred to Royal Columbian Hospital for further tests, specialist consultations, and procedures.

For those of you who are unaware -- which is most of you, since Kristina tells me I have a tendency to hide this kind of stuff from most people -- I've been experiencing a substantial amount of abdominal and back pain over the last two months. Well, as it turns out, I developed a troublesome little liver disease known as Sclerosing Cholangitis. It is a slow, incurable, and progressing disease, which attacks the bile ducts causing obstructions both inside and outside of the liver.

At this point, the main problem I had was with the main bile duct connecting the liver to the duodenum (small intestine); so my doctor inserted a stent to open up the duct and allow bile to pass through as it should. The bad news, as I said, is that it is a progressive disease and will continue to create additional pinches and obstructions. In end, therefore, a liver transplant will be necessary. On average, this will happen ten years from diagnosis.

Granted, this is all unexpected and unhappy news, but I'm still happy with everything else in my life. Kristina & Katelyn both give me endless happiness, and my friends and family all continue to be the wonderful people in the world. I look forward to seeing you all soon and spending some fantastic time together.

For those of you who may be interested, the doctor who put in my stent gave me a CD of the x-rays he made. Here are a couple of shots that illustrate the problem well.


Friday, May 4, 2007: Diagnosis - Before stent. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)


Friday, May 4, 2007: Treatment - Stent implanted. (CLICK TO ENLARGE)