michelle

Thanks to all who replied and gave information. Dirk has extrahepatic cc (klatskin tumor) the really frustrating thing is that it never shows up on the MRI. He just had one right before Thanksgiving and nothing – no mets (we know they are there because the surgeon saw them at Mayo when performing a pre surgery laporoscopy) The original tumor is now hidden because of the metal stent. His bili is great .6 so the stent is helping but he does have some mild dialation in the biliary ducts of his liver. All of the other organs look good according to the MRI. His labs all are pretty good too. His albumin was 3 which is a little low. Anyway, 11/27 he had another 4 liters drained at the hospital, they left in the drain and sent him home. Today a home health nurse came to change the dressing and drain him again. She took off 5 liters. He didn’t look like he had that much in his abdomen. I made him drink a Boost and will be pushing the proteins as much as possible. I am going to learn how to do this procedure myself so that we can drain it as necessary. One of the things that bugs me is that I don’t know if we should just keep up with the Gemzar chemo treatments, as the MRI’s and labs seem good or if we should try something different because the ascites tells me a different story. I think I’ll bring it up with the oncologist as he seems to be in a rut!