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The never ending bad news...and my farewell post!

Well Loren It's all been said before but I will say It again, keep your chin up young man. Good things come to good people and you are one of the best IMHO. I will pour a glass tonight and smoke an AF Double Chateau while I think of you, I will ask the gods to smile down on you.
I hope good news comes soon.
 
I will drink several IPA's for you tonight. Good luck to you sir, and always look to the bright side.
 
Loren, tonight at Oktoberfest I will drink a liter in your honor!
 
That's some heavy stuff you got told Loren, good to hear you squeezing everything you can out of life. :thumbs: My man!
 
You go Pops!

Hang in there Loren... hopefully the damn Doc's get their shit together and get you fixed up proper :thumbs:

I look forward to our next smoke together. :cool:
 
A friend of mine's son, who was in the Army, was exposed to something that caused his kidneys to fail over a 5-7 year period. It was a long road, but once his Father stepped up to donate a kidney, Billy was back to normal. His energy came back, the color in his face, even his positive attitude towards Life returned as well! The biggest challenge right after the transplant was to constantly monitor (twice a week through blood tests) the large amount of medication he had to take...everything from vitamins to anti-rejection drugs. That was the only struggle right away...but that was easy compared to what he was going through prior to the transplant.

With the proper care, you'll be fine...keep the faith Loren, we're all pulling for you!
 
Good luck, Loren.

My father passed away in 2009 from NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) also known as "fatty liver" disease. I tested positive for precursors of the disease when I was 18 and they've put me on cholesterol-lowering medication. PM me if you need to talk.

Best,
Marc
 
Good luck, Loren.

My father passed away in 2009 from NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) also known as "fatty liver" disease. I tested positive for precursors of the disease when I was 18 and they've put me on cholesterol-lowering medication. PM me if you need to talk.

Best,
Marc

My Cholesterol is great. Its the Triglycerides that is a killer. They did put me on a medication that has lowered it to a safe level aka under 150. Its called Fenofribate or something like that. It has worked wonders for me but they have me on 145mg a day tablet. So it made a huge impact on the Triglycerides. They suspect I also have the Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease but since they have never done a liver biopsy yet, they can't say what the cause is. My Doctor said once the Ultrasound was done, they would decide what the next step is going to be. So I have to wait for my consult with the GI Department who does the Liver biopsies and yes, I've asked for me since they would have tissue to test.

It means a lot of changes will be taking place. I have a Dietician appointment in Dec. I was going to cancel it since its just a generalized class where they talk about eating healthy. But I will go again and then I will set up an appointment for a one on one sessions so I can get help for the changes that will help me and my poor liver out.

And thank you all for the prayers and support. I won't get down and I'm a fighter so I won't let this beat me.
 
It is a bumpy road we travel! I hope yours flattens out for a while. Good luck Loren.
 
Well I landed in the ER today with severe chest pains on my left side and my left arm. I was cleared after blood work and a EKG. My muscles in my shoulder has a pretty nasty inflammation going on right now. Good news is they are doing my CT scan on my Liver come Nov 4th. Hopefully I will know more by Nov 15th. The VA finally assigned me to a Prime Care Specialty Team in the GI Department which I will met them on Nov 30th. No idea if its about doing a Liver biopsy or what.
 
Loren,

I know I dont have to tell you to keep you chin up ( hard to smoke an Opus looking at the ground, right)

Cp is pulling for you.

I will be in and around Houston for Christmas, hope to find the time to meet up with some of you knuckleheads

Tim
 
Here is some good news. They did the shots in the Operating Room and all went well so far. I feel like Superman right now. I was listening to them talk and it was interesting. The main Doctor was training a new Doctor in this type of procedure. He said the traditional treatment doesn't apply to my case and was explaining how she needed to do the injections into the spine and what not. So far the pain is subsided and on a new NSAID aka Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory drug. Hopefully for the next 4 months I will get some decent sleep and now the waiting game to see what else they have planned for me. In short, I'm doing pretty good considering things. Thanks again for all the prayers. Appreciate it a lot.
smile.gif
I had some x-ray guided shots for my spine, too. I'm glad yours was beneficial. I got more long term relief from back therapy exercises but every back problem is different. Many benefit from swimming, too.

Best of luck and hang in there.

Steve
 
The shots give me some relief. Mainly from the bulged disc that is hitting a major nerve root to my right leg. I get the shot again on the 30th of Nov. The PT department refused to do any therapy on me. They said I should walk 30 minutes which is a mile at my pace. I did try swimming but it didn't help me at all. Of course any back injury is different from person to person and so does how one responds to treatment differ from person to person. I can't wait till the CT scan on Friday. Hopefully they will know more about my Liver and so will I.

Now if they could get whatever is going on in my shoulder under control, I'd be able to get some rest. The pain over rides the pain in my back. LOL!!! I always do hang in there Steve, :)
 
Wow, just seeing this for the first time.

Sorry to hear that you're going through all of this Loren. I'm sure it will all turn out fine for you. Just try to keep a positive outlook, even as hard as that will be.
 
It will take the VA over 2 weeks to look at my shoulder. I get to live in pain and not sleep much till then. Gotta love it, :(
 
The shots give me some relief. Mainly from the bulged disc that is hitting a major nerve root to my right leg. I get the shot again on the 30th of Nov. The PT department refused to do any therapy on me. They said I should walk 30 minutes which is a mile at my pace. I did try swimming but it didn't help me at all. Of course any back injury is different from person to person and so does how one responds to treatment differ from person to person. I can't wait till the CT scan on Friday. Hopefully they will know more about my Liver and so will I.

Now if they could get whatever is going on in my shoulder under control, I'd be able to get some rest. The pain over rides the pain in my back. LOL!!! I always do hang in there Steve, :)

Have you taken their advice and tried the walking for 30 minutes? I'm in physical therapy right now as well and usually, the PT folks know what they're talking about.
 
The shots give me some relief. Mainly from the bulged disc that is hitting a major nerve root to my right leg. I get the shot again on the 30th of Nov. The PT department refused to do any therapy on me. They said I should walk 30 minutes which is a mile at my pace. I did try swimming but it didn't help me at all. Of course any back injury is different from person to person and so does how one responds to treatment differ from person to person. I can't wait till the CT scan on Friday. Hopefully they will know more about my Liver and so will I.

Now if they could get whatever is going on in my shoulder under control, I'd be able to get some rest. The pain over rides the pain in my back. LOL!!! I always do hang in there Steve, :)

Have you taken their advice and tried the walking for 30 minutes? I'm in physical therapy right now as well and usually, the PT folks know what they're talking about.

I have walked here and there but my main concern right now is my shoulder. Just driving my car to the grocery store has it inflamed enough that I can't use my left arm at 100% capacity. When this happens I get a lot of pain just below the left collar bone and it shoots down to the elbow. And it shoots from the middle of my spine to the left shoulder blade. Thus walking is on hold as it irritates my left shoulder. I do love how they said walking 30 mins will help me when they have never seen me nor asked me any questions. Once my shoulder feels better I will be walking a few times a week. The PT department doesn't know for example my toes are numb most of the time. They also don't know I can't pick up my feet while walking aka striking the heel first and then the toes while walking. This is really bad in the right foot. Yet at the same time they have said exercising can cause me injuries. Its a catch 22 in my eyes. They want me to walk yet they don't want to work with me so I don't injure myself. LOL!!!
 
I can sympathize to some extent. While playing college football I tore my rotator cuff and continued playing for the remainder of the season. And I never expected my upper body to hurt so much when running. I hope you feel better, shoulder pain is awful. My thoughts have been with you while following this thread. Get better, it seems like you deserve a break!
 
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