Replace of Stent
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I have had a permanent metal stent (it can’t be removed) for a year and a half now, and have never had any problems with it. They say it could clog, and then they would go in an clean it out, but that hasn’t happened to me.
Mayo recommended this stent after I couldn’t have a whipple. and yes, the ERCP’s are very hard on you, causing much inflammation and it seems to get worse every time they go in. This stent has eliminated those problems.
Good luck to you.
Molly
My husband had the plastic stents and it was awful-we could barely go three weeks without an infection and emergency ERCP’s. He has had two metal stents for nearly 3 months now with no infections (I don’t want to tempt fate) and this has really helped with maintaining weight etc. My 2 cents from our experience.
Hello Aroha,
Thank you for joining this forum and sharing your story. Congratulations on your marriage. The more patients and caretaker, the better we understand this condition and more effectively we support one another.
I can understand the frustration with stents. My mom had plastic stents for about a year and were supposed to last three months, but after several months realized the life span of the stents were shorter. It seemed to create more sludge and increase the bilirubin and jaundice and would need replacement every two months. The more I understood stents the more I realized it probably inflames the area and increases liver enzymes, but there was no way around it. The GI doctor recommended the plastic stents since he thought metal stents would be harder to remove. I don’t totally agree with his point as now that I have more knowledge telling us that metal is for shorter term survival (again this is his point of view and I have read studies that this is not the case) Regardless of survival, better methods and studies need to be implemented for better quality of stents to last longer as they get occluded quickly and require hospital stays which was our case. It got so bad that plastic stents were no longer effective and she has a percutaneous drain to drain the bile. Those repetitive stents exchanges were hard for her body.
Also, to address the weight loss, it seems to be a symptom of this condition, since it is in the GI area which has to do with bile and digesting food. She did not have chemo or radiation and still lost an extreme amount of weight which is difficult to regain.
Hi Mary, thank you for your response my chemo is cisplatin and gemcitabine, the process is 6hours long as i always have sodium potassium give before and after (2hours each side) in between the Chemo, had my second chemo Wednesday gone i get to have a week off than back to 2 weeks consequetive than a week off, after the 9th treatment a CT scan will be given to see the results hopefully the chemo is working if not my only option is radiation. The effects having been too bad ive been writing down my temps, eats, meds, mouth washes etc etc i can feel a little lock jaw coming on, fatigue will settle in soon in a couple of days so when i have energy I get out there. The stent is ok im not taking any pain killers and was told by a nurse to clean the stent drink some coke, it works cos it makes me burp every 4 days i do this. In NZ there is only one dietian so im waiting on them to make contact with me to see what how I should be eating. My apetite is too good…. eating eating eating. but i ate something last night and had pain in the chest this morning hopefully it was the stent and not my liver. My tumor in the liver has grown 22milimeters since being diagnose oncologist said that not fast growing?!!??? Ok il take that. The think about Chemo is im now down to 53kg and it seems this chemo doesnt let me put on weight so hopefully with the week off I can.
Sorry about the spelling mistakes too. I will go into the forums to see if others have problems with weight lost. Thanks ArohaHi Aroha,
Thank you for the update. What a whirlwind of events! Big congratulations on your marriage – such happy news – and on fitting in a terrific family trip.
I hope your stent has settled down and your chemo is going well. Which chemo drugs are in your treatment?
It is usual for doctors to make adjustments and new recommendations along the way so patients feel their best. Each patient reacts differently with this cancer and its treatment, so sometimes it takes a few tries to get everything right. Hopefully you and your doctors are closing in on the best approaches to diet, liquids, etc., so you have a way forward that works well and meets your needs. As you find things that work well for you, please post this as the information may be of help to other patients.
Take care, regards, Mary
Hello ALL
**Update** (sorry I have not shared anything in the last month)
On 24th Jan I was admitted to hospital as i having servere pain in my tummy area, It was finally discovered my plastic stent was serverly infected, of course the cancer unit did not know this until a scan was required, unfortunately my kidneys were not in a good state so it took three days of meds, pain killers, pain, sleepless nights being on a “liquid only diet” to get my kidneys in a “better state”, finally a the scan confirmed the stent needed replacing. On the 4th day I finally had a metal stent incerted, funny tho the procedure was so succesful they sent me straight back to my ward, no recover ward, stink really as I wanted to talk the surgeon. Finally I was allowed to eat on the 5th day but of course by then eating was hard, took a while for me to eat normally again. The experience of going through this was enormous for me as i havent been in hospital for a long period of time ever and my emotions were up and down, mental toughness was breaking down, (no disrespect to anyone i know there are worst cases than mine). I was released on Sunday 28th Jan.
I planned a overseas trip with my family prior to this and was lucky enough to be able to allowed to go. Only had to two days to prepare as I flew out on 31st Jan. Had a wonderfuly 9 days away and got married during this time (was a suprise for my family too). Unfortunately I got serverly dehydrated a day prior to leaving and brought it home.
So the key is for me keep up the fluids drink 2litres of water a day – eat at least 4-5 little meals a days. With the new stent i have been told to go onto a “low residue” diet so another diet change this must cause weight loss changing foods all the time.
I also started my treatment yesterday as well (Wednesday 14th), the chemo only took 2hours but I also needed fluids (4 hours) and bloods (1 hour) was in stuck in the day ward from 8am to 6pm a very long day… My cycle is: (21 day cycle just means that we repeat the schedule every 21 days, That is chemo day 1 day 8 then a rest until day 22 which is the new day 1, we would give 9 weeks ( 3 cycles) before making a call about success).
Thank you if you reading this. (sorry for the spelling mistake and bad grammar).
Much Love……
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