How it all Began

I've been staring at this blank piece of paper for a while now. The black cursor keeps flashing, waiting for me to type a letter. It brings me back to mid-November when my life abruptly flashed before my eyes.

It all began on August 20th, I went in for an appointment with a random family practice doctor for my annual physical. I told the doctor I felt great, exercise regularly, and eat pretty healthy. All in all, I didn't have much to complain about. The appointment ended and I walked down the hall to have my blood drawn. A few days later, I called the office for my results and was surprised to see that a few of my liver tests had elevated results. They were as follows:

BUN/Creatinine Ratio: 23 (normal interval 8-20)
     *kidney damage, temporary liver problems, dehydrated
Alkaline Phosphatase: 116 (normal interval 42-107)
     *liver damage
ALT: 50 (normal interval 0-32)
     *liver stress/damage

The doctor was concerned, but said I didn't need to get on any medications and to come back in two months for another blood test. It they were still high, he'd look into putting me on meds, seeing a specialist, or having a liver ultrasound. 

I started to do a little research online and came across some information that listed symptoms that I actually had. The article was in reference to having an iron storage problem. The symptoms were the same: elevated blood tests, minor headaches, chapped lips, and a whooshing sound in the ears. Those were all symptoms that I had and I was actually a little surprised to see them all lumped into one category. I never knew they could be related. I was actually encouraged by this and thought it would be nice to get all of those minor problems taken care of.

Life went on as normal.

Fast forward to November 5th. I went into the office and had more blood drawn. This time, I was a little nervous to get the results. Was something really wrong? I remember sitting at the kitchen counter when the doctor called a few days later and said my blood work was still high.

ALT: 65 (now 15 higher than it was initially)

The doctor told me he ruled out hepatitis A, B, and C and that my iron levels were fine. The next step was to go in for an ultrasound to see if there was anything going on with my liver.

On Monday, November 11th, Erik's mom came over to watch the kids while I went to the imaging center for my ultrasound. Erik had left the day before on a business trip and was going to be out of town all week. I wasn't expecting anything to result from this appointment so I wasn't very nervous. I was more anxious about how much it would cost. I went back into the room and the ultrasound tech said that if she only did an ultrasound on one side (where the liver was), it would be cheaper than a full abdominal scan like my doctor had requested. I thought it was so nice of her to look out for my financial well being and thanked her for letting me know. The woman began the ultrasound and everything appeared to be normal. That is, until she wandered over to my left side. She discovered a large 10x15 centimeter cystic area near my left kidney, but wouldn't tell me anything else. I was annoyed, but knew she couldn't jump to conclusions since she wasn't my doctor. Shortly after, I left the office and anxiously awaited a call from my doctor with the official results.

This was the beginning of the worst week of my life.