Test results

First, still no word from my brother, so not sure how he's doing.

I got my test results from the ultrasound:

• I have "gallbladder sludge" (what a pleasant name).  The doctor tells me that sludge is a thickening of the gallbladder contents that may turn into stones.  The doctor says that if I behave (no red meat, no alcohol, no caffeine, and exercise and a low fat diet) it is possible that the sludge will not turn to stones
• I also have a fatty liver which she says is not good and could lead to cirrhosis.  She scared me to death.

So we did followup blood work and I got those results today.  They are as follows:

Notify patient of labs: Her muscle and liver enzymes are normal, and her lipids have improved greatly from previous. LDLs are still a little on the high end, but much improved. We could consider a very low dose statin to try to get her LDL closer to 100 to decrease her risk for heart disease. Her HDLs are much lower than previous, this means she needs to increase her activity/exercise level. Her lipase is still normal, no need to follow-up on this. Recommend she adhere to the low-fat diet to help prevent further problems with her gallbladder. Carol Oakleaf, PA-C

That sounds very upbeat to me, so I feel better.  I go back to see her next week for one more visit and while I'm there she's going to do a test for Hep-C -- after all, I am a Baby Boomer.

However, I still haven't heard from my cardiologist and he's the one who ordered the ultrasound.  You'd think he would have called me by now.  I will be interested in hearing how he interprets these tests.  I sure do feel better, though, so the pancreas has settled down.

Oh, and by the way, the doctor told me that the cause of the pancreatitis is idiopathic.  She says that means they can't figure out what caused it.  But it was a very mild episode and she says if I behave it may not ever happen again.   There's that word "behave" again....

The cardiologist also needs to give me the results of the sleep study.  Wait-wait-wait.....