Update

Wednesday I heard from my doctor about the blood tests I had done the week before. She said my liver enzyme levels were much improved in the 2 weeks since I left the hospital (I am now 3 weeks and 4 days out of the hospital). She said my tests in the hospital were truly impressive! The normal bilirubin count should be below 1. Before I left the hospital (the count went up while I was in the hospital) it was 8.8! Now it is down to 2.4 (I think) so I still have a ways to go. My other numbers have fallen considerably since I left the hospital, but again, have a ways to go. One of the numbers has kind of plateaued.

She said my energy will probably not improve much until the liver numbers are back to normal. And she said that there is no way to tell how soon that will be -- she said that Hepatitis A should be considered more like Mono and it could be another couple months before I was back to normal. She was talking about me still being here in State College in October or November. She also thought it was ok to ignore my gallstones as long as they are not bothering me. I also now have some numbers to go by to monitor my low fat diet, which I need to stay on till the liver numbers are better. That would be harder to monitor in Haiti!!!!! She said there was not anything I could do to speed up the recovery time -- just avoid fat and other things that adversely effect the liver like Tylenol and alcohol. She also said that even once the liver numbers are normal, it might take a while to get the yellow stain out of my skin -- and that the 2.4 bilirubin number is accounting for the continued yellow around my eyes (see the photo).

Dr Cherry also recommended I see a new doctor in their group -- he is in infectious diseases as well as internal medicine. She thought he would be better able to guide me through my recovery and maybe have better answers to my questions. He would also be able to let me know when and if I should get more blood work. I have an appointment with him August 30th. So that is where things stand at the moment.

Thanks for your prayers and encouraging communications.