Going to New York today
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Kris, I wouldn’t expect any symptoms from removing parts of the liver. After my resection (took about 50%), I had no symptoms, other than normal abdominal surgery stuff (some soreness along incision lines mostly). Other than that , nothing remarkable.
Grover:
No. The pump is filled with glycerol/ine now. Has to be filled every 6 weeks. I only got to use it 3 times. Dr. Kemeny is worried that I had those health issues after we started using it. So she’s fearful about giving me that chemo again. It’s FUDR, which is really strong.
And wouldn’t the meal be a great thing for the insurance co. to cover?? Maybe we can figure out a way!
KrisCongratulations Kris on a good report. And glad you got to dinner with your friend. It seems that my wife and I visit a new restaurant in Indy after chemo. Like a minor celebration each time. Trying to figure out how to submit the meal bill to the insurance co. 😆 😆 😆
Keep moving forward with your battle, it’s really good that you are seeing shrinkage without any treatments being made. Are you using the liver pump at all? Just wondering.
Prayers to you and all others, Grover
Lainy:
I love your sense of humor. You can almost always give me a chuckle!!
To clear up my bingo card, here’s the link Grover posted a couple of weeks ago. It’s a great way to figure out what all the docs are talking about. I actually printed out the one image and brought it with me yesterday for my surgeon to draw on. His pictures are too basic and didn’t show me what I needed to know! Now I think I know too much!
I know, you can never know too much about your health.http://pedicardiology-bala.blogspot.com/2011/01/anatomy-hepatic-veins.html
Kris
Whew, Kris, I really don’t read BAD here at all! I think any of us would be a little scared of something we know nothing about but I have found the worry is usually worse than the procedure and after math. I had a biopsy done a month ago on a 2cm nodule on my Thyroid. When I heard they were taking 4 different vials of biopsy and they don’t sedate or anything, I almost freaked out. Boy, did I feel silly later.I told the Endocrinologist, “I would do it again tomorrow, it was nothing”. With all the numbers in your post it sounds like a numbers game, I almost wanted to yell BINGO! So glad the jaunt ended with an old friend and dinner. Let’s see what anyone has to say about your questions.
Thanks everyone.
I saw the doctors yesterday: sort of a united front. My onc gave me the good news that the tumor is STILL shrinking, although very little this time. To remind you, I haven’t had chemo in 3 months as of today. And the sack of bile is only about 3cm, down from 7! She wondered where my drain was. I said we hadn’t touched it. She was very surprised it shrunk that much without help. So good news all around!
My onc said things are stable and she’s afraid the sack of bile was caused by the chemo thru the pump, so no chemo again. She said the best thing to do is watch. She could give me Gemzar but my blood numbers, although in the normal range, are barely in the normal range after 3 months. And Gemzar alone probably won’t do much to the tumor.
My surgeon, on the other hand, had a lot to say. My tumor started in a bile duct and sort of meandered to the top of my liver. There isn’t anything noticeable in the bile duct anymore, but he feels that is what caused the sack (guessing games!). His course of action is surgery, but not right now. What he wants to do is to cut off the left side of the liver from blood flow by doing another embolization. If anyone has seen the image Grover linked to, I brought that in for Dr. Fong. There’s a large vein/artery (I always mix them up) coming up into the middle of the liver then branching out. He wants to close off the left side: into 2 & 3, with glycerin or something. That will cause the right side: 6 & 7, to work harder and “grow”.
My tumor is in 1, 4a and 8. And the sack is in 2 & 3. So after the right side gets stronger, he will remove lots of the liver. 1, 2, 3, 4a, 4b, and parts of 5 and 8. Leaving me with part of 5, part of 8, all of 6 & 7.
I haven’t looked yet: wonder if anyone else has had this done before resection? And what are the side effects I can expect? I’m figuring fatigue will be a big side effect, until the right side catches up and takes over.
Kind of scary, but at least this makes sense. I just don’t want to lose my “feeling good” health! I just keep saying this all beats the alternative.After the appointments, I had dinner with an old friend I’ve known basically since we were 8 or 9. She works in Times Square. Since I didn’t get done until 4:30, I went to her office and we stopped at a local place for dinner and “catch up”. Good times!
Kris
St. Patrick’s Day is big in Chicago too. I happened to attend a medical conference and was aghast when I saw the “green” river. Thought, how can they live with this kind of pollution?
Lainy wrote:Kris, NY!!! Let’s see. You are too late for the Christmas Parade and too early for the Easter Parade so what could be more important!!! I know, your own Parade. My thoughts are SO with you today and DON’T let them Rain on Your Parade!!!Ah, buts there’s St Patrick’s Day, a really big NYC deal, but crap, us CC patients can’t drink!!! What fun is that.
Kris, I saw your FB posts and glad all went well. Is the left side liver where the pump connects?
Hi Kris,
I hope it all goes well today and that you get me great news. My fingers will be crossed for you and please let us know how you get on.
Hygs,
Gavin
Kris-Good luck!!
Byron-Glad to see you posting, was kinda worried we hadn’t seen amy from you lately!
Lots of prayers for both-CathySurgeon and Onc have different stories? I hate it when that happens.
Here’s hoping you have a great visit with them today.
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