Big Words in the CT Scan Report

I was in the ER (for 12+ hours, but that's a story for another time) on January 2, trying to figure out why one month post-hysterectomy and three antibiotics later I was still in pain and showing signs of infection. Doctors tossed around words like "possible abscess" and "get extra tubes (of blood) in case we need them (to prep) for surgery to drain" said abscess. I drank oral contrast and they shot me up with IV contrast that made me feel like my whole body was being microwaved and like I was peeing my pants. Which, given all my recent UTI issues, wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility. 

Turns out, there was no post-op infection (other than perhaps a particularly nasty, drug-resistant bacterial UTI, courtesy the catheter inserted during the four-hour surgery). There wasn't much remarkable about anything on the abdominal scan, according to the report I read in my patient chart online the next day. Except three words written in the findings summary. 

Severe hepatic steatosis. 

I'd heard my liver described as "fatty" when I was in the hospital for kidney stones a while back. No one seemed extraordinarily concerned. Although docs told me to lose weight and exercise, which is what I'd been doing for five months pre-stones when I started a KETO diet. And that diet is primarily what caused the stones, they decided. Actually, it's what I've heard every doctor say to me at nearly every appointment for most of my life: You need to lose weight and exercise. Exercise and lose weight. Joints hurt? Trouble sleeping? Depressed? High cholesterol and triglycerides? Lose weight and exercise. Exercise and lose weight. 

I get it. I've tried. I've been skinny (nevermind the first time I got skinny by SMOKING in my early 20s; so much for healthy habits). I stopped smoking around 1997. I had a baby in 2003. I've gotten older. I've had a mental health diagnosis. I'm no longer skinny. And neither is my liver, I guess. 

So what is severe hepatic steatosis? I did the thing docs tell you never to do: I Googled. But no doctor has ever explained those words to me, and I don't have my annual physical until February. So, left to my own devices, I pick up my device and search. 

It seems that these words are med school speak for fatty liver disease. In my case, SEVERE fatty liver disease. No, I'm not an alcoholic. There's a special type of this disease just for those of us who don't drink much: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (no one said it was a creative name). The gist is, my liver's 25% or more fat, which could lead to inflammation and scarring and cancer, same as a person who slams back a handle of vodka on the regular. 

Guess what WebMD says I need to do to help stop the fatty liver madness? 
1. Lose weight.
2. Exercise.

If these were your answers, you win a carrot stick. Because a cookie's out of the question. 

Image by Freepik