Ascities

Heather –
I must have missed your earlier post, I usually try to chime in on these. I wills ay that IMRT can make people sick no matter what the docs say. My husband finished up 25 doses the middle of April although he did do it with a continuous chemo infusion but he was REALLY sick, weight loss of almost 50# and his feeling bad lasted for three weeks after he stopped. I can’t sort through which was the chemo and which was the radiation.
Portal hypertension and ascites are almost always a side effect of liver disease including tumors. It is caused when the liver becomes unable to filter the blood coming fast enough so fluid leaks from the blood vessels into the abdomen. It can be due to stiffness of the liver or tumors pressing on blood vessels. My guess is that his is the later and as the tumor/tumors die off things will work better. If/when the ascites become uncomfortable they can be drained off periodically. I would hope that will dropping tumor markers and probable death of tumors that this should clear up over time. One thing to help with ascites is to increase his protein intake as this will help draw the fluid back into his blood stream. Meats, eggs, cheeses, cottage cheese, whey protein drinks, protein shakes, etc.

Hope this helps.

KrisV

Heather……. There is much positive news in your posting re: the significant drop in tumor markers as well as Gordon’s great response to the diuretics. Please know that we try to be as responsive as possible to questions posed by members however there are times when postings are left unanswered. You may want to repost and/or choose to enter the key words in the Search function for older threads on the required subject.
Hugs,
Marion