Lincoln

Recently Lincoln went to have his regularly scheduled colonoscopy and was told everything looked good.  A few days later the doctor's office called and said that they needed to have him come in and talk to the doctor.  When he went in the doctor said that after getting his bloodwork results he thought Lincoln's Wegener's disease may have been misdiagnosed and his bloodwork indicated that there was issues that showed up in the bloodwork which indicated problems with his liver.  He was then scheduled and went in for an MRI on his liver.  Again the doctor had him come in and this time he indicated that he actually has PSC (Primary sclerosing cholangitis)  According to the article it results from an immune attack on the small bile ducts in the liver, resulting in leakage of bile acids from bile ducts into the adjacent liver tissue.  These bile acids can be toxie to liver cells and cause injury to the cells, which may then trigger an additional immune response aimed at the damaged cells, resulting in further damage to the liver.  

Right now Lincoln is getting more blood work and has been referred to a hepatologist which is a liver specialist.  He is also applying to the Mayo Clinic here in Arizona as part of a clinical trial for people with the disease.  The doctor told him that eventually he will need to have a liver transplant but hopefully that won't be necessary for about 20 years.  Lincoln seems to be handling everything really well and I suspect he is glad to have some explanations for some of the issues he has continued to be dealing with.   The good news is that he has a very good doctor who recognized the problem right away.