Good news: Livers grow back!

Cirrhosis is no joke, but man, some times I thought my liver was swollen. Sometimes I could see it sticking out. It was getting bigger, I swear.

"When someone engages in heavy drinking over a long period of time, the liver becomes swelled and fatty."

Swelled and fatty! Then the liver cells die and it becomes scar tissue. Gross. I wonder what my liver looks like after 17 years of drinking, and at least 7 years of that in black out drunk drinking. Man, I used to drink so much I would wake up on the metro somewhere in another state and have to turn around to try and stay awake enough to make it to my stop. Then I would stumble the half mile home, sometimes in the snow or rain, just trying to stay sober enough to walk.

I've had some friends complain that they think their liver sticks out. I really want one of those whole body scans. I want to see what it looks like in there, especially since my meds work through the liver. My therapist was reminding me that caffeine isn't so hot for the liver, either, and I need to be careful.

What's really cool is "When a portion of a normal liver is removed, the remaining liver can grow back (regenerate) to the original size within one to two weeks. A cirrhotic liver, however, cannot grow back." So as long as it's not scarred, my liver might be just fine.