NASH and Thrombocytopenia-(low platelets)

[coachy71 5]

Bummer news... Went in yesterday for my pre-op because my surgery was schedualed for March 20th. Diagnosed that I have NASH-cirrhosis of the liver and Thrombocytopenia (my blood doesn't clot normally) I go back in 3 weeks to meet with a liver guy and he will do a CT scan and ultrasound. Pretty nervous and disappointed right now. Anyone else have one or both of these.

I did ask my surgeon what the chances of me having surgery, ever and he said there was a 5-10% chance I would not have surgery. Surgeon seemed very bummed about having to break the news to me, which made me feel better but uneasy.

Thank you in advance!

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Sorry you have such bad news, hopefully the specialist can offer some hope and maybe there are treatments that will only postpone your surgery and not cancel it entirely. I wish you good luck and prayers.

[frust8 962]

Hi Coachy I am always a medically curious individual so looked up N.A.S.H. on Wikipedia, quite an interesting article. One bright gleaning: NASH improves in 80% of cases with weight loss surgery and it usually resolves it. So do not abandon hope, the best may be yet to be!

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[Mattymatt 491]

6 hours ago, coachy71 said:

Bummer news... Went in yesterday for my pre-op because my surgery was schedualed for March 20th. Diagnosed that I have NASH-cirrhosis of the liver and Thrombocytopenia (my blood doesn't clot normally) I go back in 3 weeks to meet with a liver guy and he will do a CT scan and ultrasound. Pretty nervous and disappointed right now. Anyone else have one or both of these.

I did ask my surgeon what the chances of me having surgery, ever and he said there was a 5-10% chance I would not have surgery. Surgeon seemed very bummed about having to break the news to me, which made me feel better but uneasy.

Thank you in advance!

Your feelings are very understandable. Let's look at the bright side of things because imagine if this had not been caught and you had undergone surgery with serious complications or even death. I am pulling for you but I truly believe things will work out in your favor.

[RickM 1,747]

It's a good thing that your surgeon is very positive about being able to work with this, as the weight loss is the major treatment for the problem. You may have to jump through a few more hoops to get to surgery but it still looks reasonable.

If, after investigating things further with the liver guy, your surgeon has reservations about surgery, look further afield for a surgeon who has more specific skills or experience - for instance, the surgeon that I used is also a liver guy (does transplants in his "spare" time) so dealing with heavily diseased livers is routine for him.

Good luck, may this just be a bump in the road.

[frust8 962]

The hepatologist may be just the Load Leveler you need for your Bumpy Road. Hope there is a good research hospital near you with one on staff. Do you have a hematologist on board for your blood problem?

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[coachy71 5]

@frust8 not sure if a hermatologist is on the case but my surgeon did talk about this as a possibility. I’m sure blood work on the 30th will tell them more. @rickm it is good he is positive. Will see what happens on the 30th and maybe see about a 2nd opinion, hope it doesn’t come to that.@mattymatt thanks for the optimism!

[Mhy12784 423]

Just a heads up neither of these things are big deals. The overwhelming majority of obese people have fatty livers. WLS fixes or improves it in most.

The thrombocytopenia thing doesn't mean much either. As far as having a fantastic medical problem goes, that's not a serious one (unless it's severe in which case you would have figured it out a very long time ago)

People get bariatric surgery with thrombocytopenia all the time, they just give you platelets the same day (this isn't even always necessary). None of this would disqualify you from having surgery (or honestly impact you, though anemia could be a concern if you were having a bypass) , they would probably just postpone it to confirm this new onset diagnosis.

I know it sounds and feels stressful, but I can assure you this is no big deal and will have little to no impact on your life.

[frust8 962]

So coachy71 how are things going for you? Miss seeing your postings, guess I like to keep all Bariatric Ducks in a row.[emoji213][emoji625]

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[coachy71 5]

I got some good news today...I think. I went back and met with a liver doctor 2 weeks ago. They wanted to do some further tests of my liver. The problem was that I can't get an appointment for 4 weeks so I was becoming a little impatient. I messaged the Dr. today and got a response by one of his colleagues. She said that my liver enzymes are now in the normal category. They also did a fibroscan on my liver that showed it had some damage but did not have cirrhosis. The Dr. is out til next week and booked until my next appointment and she said she would put me on a list if there was a cancellation. They will want to do a ultra sound of my liver at the next appointment and hopefully I'll get good news moving forward with weight loss surgery. I haven't had too much good news, so I'm grabbing on to this for a little bit!

[frust8 962]

Did a cancelation come through or are you still waiting for the doctor to return? Hate it when we don't hear from you. I want everything better so you can go forward with your surgery.[emoji40] Please continue to keep us updated, okay?[emoji44]

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[coachy71 5]

No cancellation and no other contact from dr. Guess I’ll have to wait it out until the 27th. Thanks for wondering! Helps to know I’m not on the ride alone!!!

[frust8 962]

Bummer-I was hoping good things were starting to happen for you. The old line is "It's for the Best" not certain of that but at least you're stable and not worsening. The 27th you'll know more? That's only a little over 2 weeks but it seems like forever, doesn't it? Well I'll always be anxious to hear how the story plays out. You've always got me as a friend. Keep me updated.

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[coachy71 5]

Bummer-I was hoping good things were starting to happen for you. The old line is "It's for the Best" not certain of that but at least you're stable and not worsening. The 27th you'll know more? That's only a little over 2 weeks but it seems like forever, doesn't it? Well I'll always be anxious to hear how the story plays out. You've always got me as a friend. Keep me updated.

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Vey much seems like forever! Just have to be patient and trust the process and realize that a few extra months is nothing compared to the rest of my life