138 Days Sober: My Liver and Life Thank Me

138 days ago, I got my lab results back from a routine work incentive screening. I wasn’t worried—I felt like the same happy-go-lucky, “healthy” guy I’d always been. But then I saw the numbers:

🔹 AST: 180
🔹 ALT: 78

Way out of the normal range. And worse? The ratio screamed alcoholic liver disease.

For 20 years, my weekends were a blur of 10-40 beers, hard liquor, and whatever else was around. I was a textbook binge drinker, but I told myself it was fine—I exercised, I excelled at work, I was "functioning." Until my liver told me otherwise.

I quit drinking that day.

Now, 138 days later, my follow-up results just came in:

✅ AST: 17
✅ ALT: 15

WOW. I immediately texted my family and friends with the good news. But I also told them: I’m still not drinking. Because the second I saw those numbers, the little devil on my shoulder whispered, See? You’re fine now. You can drink again.

Nope. Not falling for that.

And it’s not just my liver that’s better. Other things have also improved:
✔️ No more hangovers wrecking my Mondays and Tuesdays.
✔️ My head is clearer, and I’m way more productive at work.
✔️ No more racing heart, night sweats, or anxiety. OK, still some anxiety but working on it.
✔️ And my bowel movements are amazing after years of not great

I made it through the holidays and a wedding in New Orleans sober. If I can do that, anyone can.

I’m sharing this because if you're on the fence about quitting—even if you think you're fine—your body might be telling you otherwise. If I had waited until I “felt” sick, who knows how much damage I would have done?

IWNDWYT.