Day 77

What a weird day. I woke up this morning, turned on the television and discovered that Terilli's had burned down early this morning. Jeanie Terilli is a neighbor and I know how many years she spent making sure the restaurant had one of the best reputations in Dallas. It's sad to see how quickly someone's dreams can literally go up in smoke.

I was getting ready for breakfast when I remembered that I couldn't eat breakfast today because of the blood tests I had scheduled in the afternoon. Damn. I hate to miss breakfast. It's my favorite meal and often the best part of my day. There are a lot of liabilities to being your own boss, but one of the perks is being able to eat a big, hearty breakfast while everyone else is fighting traffic on Central Expressway.

My regular doctor wanted to go over the results of the Endoscopy I had in late January. He wants me to give up drinking entirely. I certainly don't drink that much, but I do enjoy a glass of wine or two with dinner and the occasional Martini or Scotch. Giving up alcohol entirely is going to be even harder for me than the day I had to give up eating bacon. Life is stressful these days and a glass of wine can be very relaxing.

So, what's so terrible about a glass of good wine with dinner? Ordinarily, nothing at all. I have Hepatitis C however, and both my regular doctor and my hepatologist tell me that some people have no tolerance for alcohol whatsoever if they also have the virus. Just my luck. I was really hoping to avoid the peginterferon and ribavirin combo because of the bad side effects. My first hepatologist told me that my viral load was increasing so slowly that I would most likely outlive any damage to my liver from the disease. Now, I'm not so sure. Even though I drink in moderation, I apparently have the esophagus of an alcoholic. That's what all the blood tests were about today. They want to see which is worse: the disease or the cure.

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