Update Overdue

Well when we went to Stanford I took down some notes as I always do, and wouldn't you know it, I can't find them. For what it's worth, there really isn't a whole lot of change. The CA-19 count is down in the 400's again which is awesome. The tumor, on some scan, appeared to be larger, but the metabolic activity of it has not increased. My understanding is that the apparent increase in size could just be scar tissue or something similar. She has a fluid build up around her liver. It doesn't sound like anything to be overly alarmed about at this point. I may be drained in the future if it presents an issue. It may be caused by something as simple as not having enough protein in her diet, which apparently may allow excess fluid from the blood vessels out because the molecular structure is actually smaller than normal and is therefore allowed to slip out of the vessels and into the interstitial fluid area. Or something like. This is all of the top of my head from two weeks ago, so I get a little slack here. The other possible cause of the fluid build up may be simply that the ducts from the area of swelling are simple pinched/clogged/blocked by something, possibly the tumor. Let me see if I can remember from anatomy class... Basically you organs are surrounded by a very thin sack. On your heart it's called the pericardium I think (I may be way off here, I'm sure my heavily overeducated, overachieving East coast family will correct where needed). Anyways, between the given organ, in this case her liver, and the "sack", there is a layer of viscous fluid. This fluid is basically lubrication so that the layers don't rub together. I'm sure there is much more to it than that, but I'd have to turn all the way around to get to my old books, it's too late, and it's really not an anatomy lesson. So, you get the point. The fluid in this layer is generated on a regular basis. As it is made, the old stuff needs to get drained and done away with. If it doesn't drain away, it just pools up because your body keeps making the new fluid. For now it isn't a problem with mom. They could drain it but that doesn't fix the underlying issue it only relieves the symptoms. For now it's not bothering her.

The other minor issue is a new abdominal hernia. Anyone who knows my mom knows that she would never let a little pancreatic cancer, or the plague for that matter, slow her down and keep her from doing everything she would otherwise normally be doing. The hernia is probably from doing a little too much and tearing part of her incision from her exploratory laparotomy she had when first diagnosed over a year ago. Of course there is nothing they can do about this and it should heal over time. It kinda goes without saying that it is really the least of her worries right now.

Other than all this, things are good. She continues to somehow go to work, clean the house, and everything else she always does. She is looking forward to Matt coming home this weekend and is excited about me getting ready to close on my first house.

Shameless plug time. If you are in the area, click here.

Thanks for all the continued prayer and support for mom. She appreciates it always.

Latest round

Mom had her latest round of IV chemo today at Dr. Stampleman's office. It doesn't seem like it's been three weeks since her last round in the hospital when we were all so humorously entertained. I had put in a request to the doc to get her all drugged up again so I could make my debut on YouTube, but it didn't work. They did give her the Benadryl again for the reaction and she pretty much just sat there and got some sleep while the infusion ran. It wasn't nearly as interesting as the last time. Sorry, no video again...but that's ok at least I don't have to sleep (not) in a hospital again while mom wanders around the room babbling like a 30 year person of the streets.

Dr. Stampleman did stop by to update us on her latest round of scans and she basically said that we are continuing to move in the right directions. One scan showed that there is no change in the size of the mass, and it actually may appear to be bigger due to scar tissue and inflammation. The other scan showed that the activity of the tumor has continued to decrease. That is the good news. So we continue to move forward one week at a time. There continues to be no metastasis.

She's home once again resting up and I'm sure she'll be feeling good again in a couple days. She is also still working. She's a tough one!

Thanks again for all of you kind comments on the previous posts, she does read them.

Mark

Mom's doing well. Went shopping for clothes that will fit her the other day and was having a bit of a hard time finding things I think. Her sister Nancy is in town again and they had some nice time spent together. Mom has been feeling pretty well still and seems to have quite a bit of energy lately and has been eating fairly well. She will have another round of chemo next Friday so I'll update after that.

Good News

Mom received some good news today at her doctors visit. Apparently her CA-19 count is back down to the 400's from the 900's. She started a new chemo a while back, you can read the details here. This is really amazing news and has mom very excited. She called me right away to share the great news. Now, this doesn't mean that she is in the clear yet. Normal CA-19 counts are down in the double digits. But, when the other chemo she was on stopped working, her count had gone from the 400's back up to the 900's, so in essence we're right back where we were when the other chemo stopped having it effectiveness. So this is great, it means that this new chemo is working and seems to be working well. As I wrote before, she may be able to have another round of radiation at Stanford if the chemo continues to be effective.

Please continue to keep her in your prayers. They are working.