Chapters Transcript Video Ally Video I had symptoms probably for about 10 years prior to being diagnosed. Um, but there were some times that you would never or think about um when they're separated, um, I was always tired, but I was a single mom. I had two kids. I was working full time. I was going to school two days, um, a week, two nights a week. So when I was complaining about being tired, the doctors and my family were like, well, of course you're tired, you're a single mom, You know, and you're working full time, you're supposed to be tired. And then the second symptom that I had, um, could always be um traced back to dry weather or being sweaty. But it was always the teachings of your poems and um, soles of your feet. It is an itch that is indescribable. There's no way anything takes it away. Fast forward to. Um, My husband and I had physicals and um, I remember the doctor said to me, well, you're a new patient and you just turned 40 so I'm going to do a baseline liver panel. I do it on everybody. I didn't think anything about it until about two weeks later my doctor called and I said to me I need to ask you a sensitive question why? He said well your liver enzymes show the profile of a drinker. And I'm like well I really don't drink. Um Well now what he said, well I think you have something called fatty liver but I'm gonna send you to a specialist just to rule out um other possibilities. So I sent me to the specialist and the specialist also thought it was fatty liver. And all of a sudden I get a call from my doctors, physicians assistant said to me um I need to schedule you for a liver biopsy for next week and I need the um local pharmacy that you use. We need to start doing some medication right away. Like wait a minute backtrack here. What I didn't think there was anything I could do for fatty liver except for diet change. She says, oh no honey, you don't have fatty liver, didn't the doctor tell you have PBC? So our whole world was turned upside down in that moment when I was diagnosed, uh the doctor started me on medication right away. There was only one medication that currently that treats PBC. It's really important to take it. It's important to get your LP tested all the time and they have a lot of liver, other liver enzymes in there that they test as well. Um You need to be the best advocate. You can be for your health for PBC, for any serious illness. I've had PBC for 11 years and as a mom and as a woman, I think we all tend to do too much for everybody else and not take care of themselves. It's something that most women need to learn how to do say no, I can't do this right now. I need to take care of myself first. The thing that I'm looking forward to um for a future is um having grandchildren, expanding my family and riding on the Harley and the sunset. Published June 2, 2021 Created by
