Amyloidosis hiding in plain sight

Thumbelina sent me an article, Amyloidosis hiding in plain sight, by the College of American Pathologists. The article discusses the issues faced by doctors and pathologists in discovering amyloid in a patient.

It's a lengthy article, and contains a lot medical terminology, but if you are interested in the tests used to find amyloid.

I was very thankful for a number of reasons:

• To have a nephrologist who knew what amyloidosis was
• To have a nephrologist who was suspicious enough to order a renal biopsy
• To have a nephrologist who suspected amyloidosis, despite the improbable chances
• To have a pathologist who knew what to test for, and how to test it

In my case they used the Congo Red stain test (discussed in the article). I don't know any more about my biopsy results, as when I my nephrologist sit me down on that fateful day in May to tell me the bad news, I remember being so upset that I left my copy of the biopsy results there in the office.