Liver rescued - tapering off prednisone and CellCept



My immune system started attacking my liver at the beginning of the year which resulted in my liver enzymes (ALT, etc.) increasing. My doctors put me on a heavy dose of steroids (80 mg of prednisone each morning) which usually will bring those liver numbers down. the normal range is 0-40 U/L but the numbers kept rising and after a month they were over 1000. My Hepatology team decided to put me on CellCept, an immunosuppressor often used to prevent rejection of organ transplants.  That did the trick, 80 mg of prednison a day and 2000 mg of CellCept slowly lowered my LFTs (liver function tests) to the normal range in a month.


For the next two months I will taper off of the prednisone (lowering the dose by 10mg each week for 8 weeks) and then we will taper off the CellCept!


In the beginning of April I'll get a brain MRI and a CT scan of my chest, abdomen and pelvis and monitor the metastasized lung cancer tumors.  If they are stable or shrinking then we will continue to monitor every 2 months.  If I have new tumors or some tumors are growing, then we'll try something else, probably a targeted oral chemotherapy.


I'm getting stronger every day and walking an average of 1.5 miles/day. I still have quite a bit of fatigue and need to nap once or twice a day, but I think that is just my body healing itself.  Life is good and I have much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for all of the support I get from family and friends.  My wife Yas is my main support and I'm glad that she is finally able to go back to work full-time.  I have full mobility (walking 1.5 miles/day) and I can take care of myself if I need to. My kids are all doing well. Caitlin is in Paris with her boyfriend on a business/vacation trip visiting a DJ equipment manufacturer and taking in the sights!  Ryan stops by every Saturday afternoon to have dinner with us and catch up on the week.  Shaye has fully moved into her home in New Orleans after about two years of working on it; her home is very beautiful and it is all the work of her and her girlfriend Kyndra and many of their friends. We're watching Caitlin's dog, Fezco this week, and its nice to have him keeping me company! I have much to be thankful for and I'm optimistic about the future, but I'm most thankful about being alive and relatively healthy an surrounded by loving family and friends1  Life is good!


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