High liver level tests
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Patty, Your oncologist is absolutely right….you don’t have to have one of the “known” hepatitis viruses to have hepatitis. About 5 years ago, my husband (not a CC patient) had night sweats, which he didn’t tell me about right away. When I found out, I marched him to the doctor for testing. He was negative to all known varieties of Hepatitis, but his liver enzymes were through the roof. They did a lung x-ray and found nodule on his lung. ACK! Did a biopsy…and collapsed his lung in the process….no malignancy there. All tests came back negative…no cancer they could find. Eventually, his GP sent him to an infectious disease doctor who told him that since everything had been eliminated, he had what was an unknown type of viral hepatitis. That is….it wasn’t one of the usual…A, B, C….etc. There is no test to see if it is a hepatitis variety…because it is as of yet, “unknown or labeled.” He told my husband that people get these more frequently than you might expect, but unless they re getting a blood test for some reason that just happens to show the elevated enzymes, most people never know that’s what’s wrong with them. Most cases are fairly mild….my husband just happened to have some stronger symptoms that were very scary. When we looked back….I had had a “mild” illness just before he got sick…and it well my have been the same stuff…it just hit his system harder. This isn’t telling you something else it “could be”, but what they are telling you sounds reasonable to me.
Appr. two weeks ago, all was stable. My CA 19-9 has been 9 for two months. My white count is good. Platelets are good. ALL numbers were good and I have been off all treatments since November 2013. OK…I will back up and give a brief overview of my journey thus far. I was diagnosed in Feb. of 2011 with IHCC. I am treated at MD Anderson with Dr. Javle. I have had different chemo’s and two separate rounds of radiation. My tumor is mostly necrotic although on my last scan in October of 2014, they found “suspicious nodules” in the lung. So small they cannot measure or biopsy them. So, I was sent home to enjoy the holidays and rescan in Feb 2015. Fast forward to the last few months…..I still do monthly blood work with my local oncologist and all had been fine until about a month ago. I noticed my liver panel levels started going up. Slowly at first, so I did nothing and the dr didn’t even mention it to me. A week later, the enzymes were up even more. So, I asked to have them re-checked in a week. They were higher…then higher. I had a CT scan from chest to pelvis last week. All was clear. Blood work and dr visit yesterday shows levels are higher yet (into the 600’s for the Alk Phos. The ALT and AST are high, also (and are rising). You might think bilirubin? It is .3 The dr believes I may have viral hepatitis or some sort of virus making these levels raise. I do not have any forms of hepatitis but my dr states I do not need to have one of the forms to have the VIRAL hepatitis. I am itchy at times…and a little pain in the liver area (it is rare but has happened a few times). They believe the pain is due to the liver or gall bladder being inflamed from the virus. My local dr talked to Dr. Javle per a phone conversation yesterday and he totally thinks my local oncologist is spot on and to NOT send me to Texas for an emergency visit. I am looking for anyone who has had this experience or any suggestions that it might be something different. I take lovenox due to blood clots when I first got cancer, I take a multi vitamin….and that is about it. I used to take milk thistle, selenium, etc but stopped when everything became so stable. I juice a lot and eat mostly vegetarian diet. Just unsettled and looking for ANYONE who has had anything like this happen. Yes, I trust my doctors…but I also know there are thousands of heads on this site….so that is even better than 2 heads!
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