[Magdalen] Keith update & thanks for prayers

[Sally Davies]

Thanks, everyone for supporting us in prayer, it's been a very peaceful day
with little of what might have been a lot of pointless anxiety. We took a
trip out to the kids' school to watch Donal practising for this weekend's
riding show, stopping off at a small town that has a "farmer's co-op" to
buy some dog food that is only sold there. I'm hoping  it will settle
Gryffin's constantly upset tummy, he is not getting on well with either
Royal Canin or Hills. Expensive does not mean its the best...!

This evening my medical sister phoned with Keith's test results...not what
we expected and we're still trying to figure out what it means. We're in
good company, she says the Radiologists have also been discussing it all
day and still haven't resolved the question to their satisfaction.

Bottom line - his liver lit up the screen with many little "spots" that the
doctors think  (though can't be 100% sure) are "haem-angiomas" (this is
Linda's firm opinion FWIW).  Spots have a rich blood supply but not likely
to be malignancy especially as there are no other markers of cancer in the
blood tests and CT scan shows everything else is clear. Also no infection
so we can rule that out and stop the antibiotics he's been taking.

The less-good news is that he has a damaged liver, with fatty infiltration
and indications on the blood test that all is not well. So instead of being
referred to a surgeon, as we were fully expecting, he will have to go to a
physician for more tests and for treatment to improve liver function and
hopefully prevent further harm.

This kind of liver disease is associated with excess alcohol but the weird
thing is, Keith doesn't drink to obvious excess, nor is he obese. He was on
Doxycycline for quite a while a couple of years back when he had to go to
Nigeria, and at the time felt very unwell on it - but perhaps that was his
liver not coping. In general he's been very healthy his whole life, with
little need for medical treatment. We're also going to call our doctors
back in Somerset West to see if they have some previous results we can use
for comparison, as Keith thinks he did have a Liver Function Test for some
reason back then.

It's so strange that we've been talking about Anglicans over-using and
abusing alcohol, and how it creeps up on you because of cultural
acceptability - and also strange that last week on Sky we watched a news
insert about liver disease which has increased 400% in Britain.  But, short
of another explanation for the damage, it seems that wine has been doing
Keith no favours; and that the fact that he never feels "drunk" is just
another way of saying that his liver has been taking a massive hit without
him knowing it.

Keith has a very "irregular" life - spending days and weeks on end away
from home in guest houses and eating out, and most of the time he's home he
sits at the dining room table working on his laptop. A glass of two of wine
in the evening...a simple pleasure it seems but not a safe one for him, and
perhaps there are others like him who, because their drinking isn't a
social problem in any way, think it's not a health problem either!!

There is a very good physician in town who treats many liver patients (I
think that in America that would be an "internist" as doctors in general
are called physicians, here it's only the specialists in internal
medicine). So we'll call him tomorrow and Linda will also have a word with
him, hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the second to next step.
The next step's already happened - no more alcohol!! Regardless of what
caused this or didn't cause it, that poor liver needs help and protection.

Keith says that he doesn't drink wine (his preferred alcoholic drink) for
inebriation, since he never feels much of an effect from it, but
rather because he likes it. I agree with him - other drinks are boring, too
sweet, too bland, or not enjoyable with food (like tea). We are going to
have to get creative and find the elusive "comparable quality" drinks that
the Church Guidelines are talking about.

I really hope that this has been caught in time to prevent complications or
further deterioration. Linda's saying the CT scan should be repeated in a
month's time just to make sure the spots, whatever they are, haven't
changed in size or number. If they do change, a cancer scenario would be
revisited, most likely with an attempt to take a fine needle biopsy in the
X ray department. It's good news that this is unlikely but it's not going
to be an easy few weeks for Keith.

Sally D <feeling relieved and sad at the same time>