A Slight Wrinkle

Went to my next to the last radiation treatment this morning at 7:30 a.m. Jeff drove me since we also had an appointment with the oncologist. Blood work was before the appointment & this was a fasting blood work (or whatever it's called) since my glucose was a bit high last Thursday. When we saw Leigh Howard, the nurse practitioner who works with Dr. Zafar we discovered that my bilirubins had doubled. This was quite disappointing to me since they had been going down and last week was 1.5 which was getting close to normal. This could be due to the chemo pills or the stint collapsing. So, the chemo pills were stopped today and I was sent for an ultrasound to see if the bile ducts in the liver had changed any (or something like that - Jeff can probably remember & write it better!). I go back Tuesday morning to have more blood drawn to check the bilirubin count. We knew that the stint might collapse and that it might need to be replaced. So right now this is what we will be dealing with. Hopefully, it was just the chemo pills (which we were told could run the bilirubins up). If it's the stint, well.......look for an update to see when that will be replaced (outpatient service).

I was all excited that my treatment was ending tomorrow, so this was like that unexpected bump in the road, but once bumped around I'll just settle back into my seat.

**Note from Jeff** The ultrasound was to see if the stint had possibly moved/dislodged or become blocked. Another possibility was that the glands next to the bile duct were blocked...all things that could happen.  As Joe says, best case scenario is that the increase in his bilirubin (and slight jaundice appearance, again) is a reaction from the chemo.  Worse case is that they have to go in and move/replace/unblock the stint, an outpatient procedure just like he had to begin with.  However, even the worse case scenario would not be all that bad, just makes him feel crappy for 24-48 hours. (Easy for me to say, huh?)  Joe is very disappointed however and it's obvious to me how much this "bump" is bothering him.  Guess I'll have to put on my best happy face for him
  J