An overcast day today which suits me just fine.  If I am honest I would have to admit that I prefer overcast days to sunny ones.

We were fortunate that last Saturday morning, Brian , the floor guy,  was able to rip out and dispose of our basement carpeting and underlay.  If you read my last two posts you will know that we had a flood disaster in our basement the weekend of March 18th.  Thankfully the wet carpet was disposed of before it started to smell.

On Monday March 20th we went out to shop for new flooring to put in the basement.  We decided on a somewhat new product; vinyl.  It looks like hardwood and even though it is put right on the concrete basement floor it has a bounce to it.  Actually it is a very nice product.   It is also water proof and in case of water damage the planks can be lifted off the floor to dry out. Now I will have to organize the basement and hopefully get new furniture.  Whether the furniture bit will happen is any body’s guess.

I am somewhat concerned about some of the symptoms that have gotten worse or new     ones that have popped up.  As you probably know I have been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver.  CT scans and blood work every six months are very important.  Cirrhosis of the liver can lead to liver cancer which we all know is a death sentence.  I still find the diagnosis of cirrhosis hard to believe since I do not drink alcoholic beverages.  One thing I cannot abide is drinking an alcoholic beverage since they give me migraine headaches from hell.

According to the Mayo Clinic and I quote,  “a wide range of diseases and conditions can damage the liver and lead to cirrhosis.”  The most common causes are:

• Chronic alcohol abuse
• Chronic viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and C)
• Fat accumulating in the liver (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease)
• Iron buildup in the body (hemochromatosis
• Poorly formed bile ducts (biliary atresia)
• Inherited disorders of sugar metabolism (galactosemia or glycogen storage disease)
• Genetic digestive disorder (Alagille syndrome)
• Liver disease caused by your body’s immune system (autoimmune hepatitis)
• Destruction of the bile ducts (primary biliary cirrhosis)
• Hardening and scarring of the bile ducts (primary sclerosing cholangitis)
• Infection such schistosomiasis
• Medications such as methotrexate

The likely causes for my cirrhosis of the liver would be autoimmune hepatitis or/and fatty liver.  Sadly, having one autoimmune disease usually leads to more.  Becoming a Beluga whale after the powers that be destroyed my thyroid with Radio Active Iodine certainly played a part in my developing a fatty liver.  Oh to be able to turn back the clock.   If I could go back in time I would not allow any one of those space cadets in their space suits to come near me with that lethal drink in a lead cup.  If I could do it over again surgery would be my choice of treatment.  I can not reiterate the following often enough; do not choose Radio Active Iodine.