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I've just been through my latest bout of cholangitis, the fourth in 10

months. I knew this one was coming and I battled low grade fevers,

jaundice and all the rest for 10 days while trying to get in to see my

doctor. One cancelled appointment after another and I finally ended up in

the ER this past Saturday, entirely worn out, and as it turned out, a bili

count of 7, nearly double my previous high. I felt better after a night of

fluids, had my stent changed on Monday afternoon and left the hospital on

Tuesday evening, a total of 3 days in the hospital. I'm still slightly

jaundiced and itchy but it is getting better as the day progresses. One

change in my treatment this time was the use of a wide spectrum of IV

antibiotics. I had almost continual dosage of Cipro, ampicillin and flagel

while in the hospital. I have not had ampicillin or flagel previously.

Now that I am back home I am back to just levaquin by mouth.

The biggest irritation in this hospitalization was that it didn't have to

happen. If my doctor had responded when I called the office to say I had

the initial fever, and not cancelled subsequent appointments, the ERCP

could have been scheduled before it got bad enough to require

hospitalization. The second biggest irritation is that neither he, nor

anyone else from the transplant team, came to see me while I was

hospitalized. They just gave orders to the residents (who were all very

good). Thankfully, my normal ERCP doctor was in town so that part went

without a hitch. After I recover I think it is time to check the other

transplant program in San Diego. I've seen less of my doctor since being

moved into the transplant clinic a year ago than I used to see in a single

appointment in the liver clinic. Since it hurt my health this time, I have

to start checking elsewhere.

I expect to take a month to recover fully from this. It came at a bad

time, with a big crunch on at work and I should be writing papers for

classes between midterms and finals. But it ain't all going to happen.

I'll let you all know when something else changes.

It was a rather sobering note on Tuesday morning, when I woke up from the

sedative from the ERCP at 3am and decided to watch some news. The lead

story was Walter Payton's death. But as a friend of mine says, " It has

everything to do with me, and nothing to do with me. "

Not enough time yet on the SAMe to know its effects.

Take care, everyone.

Russ Askren

San Diego

(UC - 2/73, PSC - 12/96, listed - 12/98, status 3)