Let me fill in a little on the time line, bear in mind I’m a UK boy so your mileage may vary.

End of 2004 felt unwell, Early December 2004 confirmed as having Hepatitis C, April 2005 first appointment at hospital for blood tests etc and arranging of ultrasound scan [more on that later], biopsy in May 05, results a few weeks after and then treatment arrange to commence mid-September. Just a note on the starting treatment date, I delayed the start date so that I could get organised it could have been sooner as far as the hospital was concerned.

So, the biggest step in the process is probably the Liver Biopsy, they need to take a piece of your Liver and pop it under a microscope to see what damage has occurred [if any]. Blood tests, ultrasound scans don’t really give the Doctor’s that much information from what I have experienced, its the Biopsy that is the main event.

The liver is a pyramid-shaped organ that lies within the upper right side of the abdomen. In a typical liver biopsy, a needle is inserted through the rib cage or abdominal wall and into the liver to obtain a sample for examination.

Source

Let me tell you about mine, what it is and what it isn’t and what you can expect based on my limited experience.

I imagined it like drilling an ice core in the Arctic. Its nothing like that at all but thats the picture I had in my mind, rusty drill bits, BIG rusty drill bits being twisted about to extract a core of my liver. Luckily its NOTHING like that :)

I arrived at the hospital, was directed to a bed in a room with just 2 other beds and just laid down and chilled for while. I aways grab a newspaper and this time took my ipod with some comedy stuff on it, Chris Rock if you must know very funny and probably quite offensive to a lot of people. The comedy may have been a little mistake because I was soon giggling to myself and getting a few strange looks. I sort of decided to have a pain killer before the biopsy, must admit I didn’t really think about it much but it seemed the right thing to do.

So lets get it on…..you lie on your side and get a little injection of a local anaesthetic about midway up your torso and over to the right [as you look down], it stings a bit but nothing to write home about. So the consultant has a feel about and marks the spot he is going to go in at, then he pulls out a mobile ultrasound machine [on a trolley] just to confirm he has the right target!

Now I don’t know if its just me but something funny, as in amusing, happens every time I visit the hospital or doctors. I think its partly that I exaggerate such events in my mind to make them seem funnier but I digress. Let me digress a little more to the night before. I had been having a look on the world wide web, or t’internet as it is known locally, about Liver Biopsy’s. Now it really is a very simple and risk free thing but has a fatality rate of about 1 in 10,000, less than crossing the street so I gave it no more thought. On to the funny…to break the ice I said to the consultant “was your guess right?”, to which he replied “yes, it should be I have done almost 10,000 of these”! :) I found that funny anyhow, managed to stop myself asking if he had “lost” anybody to establish if the 1 in 10,000 had already be accounted for.

So, on you side and he gets the needle. Now I didn’t look too closely but its big, not huge but bigger than a normal needle. You breathe in, he pushes the needle in and the most you can feel is somebody pushing at your side, no pain at all, he withdraws, has a look at the tip of the needle I assume at the tiny sliver of liver he has [and it really is a tiny little bit] seems happy and thats it, done. As easy and as smooth as you like, over very quickly with no pain apart from a little sting with the anaesthetic.

Don’t hold me too exact times but afterwards you have to lay flat for an hour, then sitting up in bed for another hour, then walk about for 20 mins and they will let you go. On goes the ipod:)

There was some pain after, no biggie and probably dulled by the pain killer I had prior. Here is the strange thing though, as least it threw me, the pain is in your right shoulder, freaky or what! Must be the old knee bone connected to the whatever bone type thing. Perfectly normal but still feels a bit strange.

Off home I go, bed rest for the rest of the afternoon, day off the following day just to be on the safe side and then back to normal the day after. The only thing to show for the “ordeal” was a small blood spot were the needle had gone in.

So, to sum up, and bear in mind this is my experience and hopefully yours too. Quick, almost painless [the shoulder pain after could make you wince a little if you aren’t as tough as me ;)] and back to normal very quickly. If you have to have a liver biopsy don’t worry too much about it, its a walk in the park. Well a walk in the park while somebody sticks a needle in your side :)

Conclusion: No big deal.

Results take a week or two or three to come back, more of that later.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 16th, 2005 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Hepatitis C Treatment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.