i had a liver ultrasound appointment at MGH gastroenterology at 9:30am followed by an appointment with my GI doctor bahn at 10am. i was told not to drink or eat anything 2 hours before the ultrasound. i left the house at 9am, heading into boston on my utility bike, planned on visiting chinatown and haymarket afterwards, do the whole circuit.

there were easily more than 2 dozen people in the gastroenterology waiting room, but i only had to wait a few minutes before my name got called. a hispanic technician brought me to an exam room, where i was asked to lie down on the exam table and lift up my shirt so she could take some measurements with an ultrasound wand. when i found out she was dominican, i told her i went to the parade last weekend; she told me her husband was there to do some audio stuff.

i was getting a liver elastography (fibroscan). unlike a regular ultrasound, this one made repeated thumping noises on my stomach (like the sound you get from tapping a watermelon). i was staring at the ceiling initially but then craned my head so i could see the monitor, where there was an image that looked like tiger stripes.

afterwards i saw doctor bahn. he told me the fibroscan looked normal: my liver was soft (a damaged scarred liver would show up as hardened) but with an elevated fat content that points to fatty liver as the cause of elevated iron levels in my blood, nothing more serious than that. he did dangle the idea of a biopsy to be 100% sure, and would've ordered one if i insisted, but in light of all the evidence i agreed with his diagnosis, and didn't think it warranted further testing. he said i was borderline overweight, and if i lost just 10 lbs. it might very well reverse the fatty liver.

when i told him that back in july i weighed as little as 138 lbs. he was shocked; when they weighed me today i was 150 lbs. i'm convinced that having a roommate actually makes me snack less, because i don't eat indiscriminately when others are around. but once i start living alone again, all pretenses are gone and i eaten whenever i want, which includes snacking. i left after making an appointment a year from now, a followup to see my progress.

my upstairs neighbors came back in the early afternoon, but not the ones i was waiting for. instead of leon and his family, it was steve and paul back early from wherever they went. i figured they'd be here temporarily, before their tenants returned, but the more i waited the more it seemed like they weren't leaving, or staying around until their tenants returned, which seemed like a strange thing to do. maybe something happened to the house and they wanted to speak to leon, who knows, but my imagination was working overtime trying to figure it out. i could've easily just intercepted stevepaul and asked them, or send leon an e-mail, but decided to let it play out.