Lab results, help?

Posted by laurie on August 17, 2007 at 23:30:20:
In Reply to: Lab results, help? :) posted by Tina on August 16, 2007 at 19:14:25:


As far as your lab values: I will start out with a qualifier - I do not know what is considered "normal" for someone who has gone through the surgery you have so take what I write with that thought is mind. But.....

in a "normal" person (ie not post-op from pancreas surgery with the ICT to the liver)....these LFTs are not considered significantly raised. The rule of thumb for normal people are that values that are 1.5 to 2 time above the high cutoff point are considered to be significant. Those that are >2x but less than about 5x are looked at as somewhat concerning. Those that are 5x to about 10x are followed-up with a little more urgency; those that are >10x the high end of normal are considered alarming and can be "critical" in the right context.

Slight LFTs elevations like yours can be normal due to personal differences like body weight, diet, medication etc. In your case, I am just guessing here but I would suspect that they are slightly up due to your recent surgery - you are sill recuperating from the anesthesia and the insult to the liver from the islet cell transplant. You most likely have some inflammation that needs to heal yet. Or some of the meds you are taking (any tylenol?) could cause this.

As far as your BUN - again, I could be wrong but it is a high BUN that is cause for concern. A low BUN is nothing to be worried about and may even mean your kidneys are super efficient by clearing your urea better than "normal"... but again, I do not know if in light of your surgery if it has other significance that may not be seen in "normal" people.

Speaking from experience with abdominal surgery that involves the pancreas (but I did not have the exact surgery you had so again, interpret this cautiously)...I can say that pain-wise it can take some time to stabilize. That there will be ups and downs for quite a while. I honestly feel it took about a year, maybe more, for me to feel even half-way recovered from my surgery. It may be too soon to be thinking about going back to have the rest of your pancreas removed. Give it some time yet and if you have to use your pain meds again don't feel like you have taken a step back. By becoming comfortable you will speed up the healing process and make it that more likely to have a successful outcome from this one surgery alone. Of course all of my "advice" is nonsense if your symptoms get worse....

laurie