Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday March 30th
Cold and rainy today--not much change in my status--just waiting for the moment to come.
7.00PM Daughter dropped by to say "Hi"--she brought 17 "Get Well" cards made by her schoolmates in the after-school progran.
11.11PM heart rate 122, respiration 18
7.00PM Daughter dropped by to say "Hi"--she brought 17 "Get Well" cards made by her schoolmates in the after-school progran.
11.11PM heart rate 122, respiration 18
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Something's changed
I fell asleep at about 11.00pm Saturday night and something must have worried the nursing staff as they called my sister at 1.30am on Sunday. They noticed that I was sleeping with my eyes open and did not respond to stimuli or calls to awake. My sister called one of her brothers who lives an hours drive away--he hit the road within 10 mins.
The next few hours were spent with my sister and a good friend each caressing one of my hands and reminding me of the good times we had together.
3.01AM The nurse tells my sister they want to take me downstairs for a brain CT scan--I guess they want to know if the central computer's still working and just in "hibernate" mode.
Brother arrived at 3.18AM--went down for CT scan at 3.35AM--back in room at 3.56AM.
10.30AM results show some brain atrophy and a brain cyst along with a 6 cm growth on one of my lungs (not good!).
1.35PM Son and Daughter dropped by to say "Goodbye"
Rest of day spent in bed in and out of sleep.
The next few hours were spent with my sister and a good friend each caressing one of my hands and reminding me of the good times we had together.
3.01AM The nurse tells my sister they want to take me downstairs for a brain CT scan--I guess they want to know if the central computer's still working and just in "hibernate" mode.
Brother arrived at 3.18AM--went down for CT scan at 3.35AM--back in room at 3.56AM.
10.30AM results show some brain atrophy and a brain cyst along with a 6 cm growth on one of my lungs (not good!).
1.35PM Son and Daughter dropped by to say "Goodbye"
Rest of day spent in bed in and out of sleep.
I've been here nearly 4 weeks!
I've been in hospital for nearly 4 weeks!My picture shows me on the morning of Tues March 3, 2009, when my brother-in-law picked me up and took me to the walk-in clinic. We were there almost three hours while several tests and xrays were done. The doc said we should go immediately to the ER at the local hospital as he suspected possible pancreatic cancer.
Off we went on our next adventure to the ER, where more imaging by CT showed a growth in my abdomen along with other tests showing severe infections in my blood and urine. I was admitted after two hours and my brother-in-law thought I was in such bad shape that he called my wife and children in. Shortly after getting in my room, I started throwing up a black liquid but settled down after a couple of hours. The pain in my abdomen was pretty bad and I got some strong narcotics to aleviate the pain.
On Weds, March 4th I had an ultrasound guided paracentecis during which almost 1500 mL of fluid was removed from my peritoneal cavity which contained ascites.
On Fri, March 6th I had an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (try saying that after a few beers!) in which a probe was put down my throat and into my stomach to get a look at the biliary system. My stomach looked pretty good but the probe could not be advanced past the second duodenum (I didn't know I had TWO) due to a blockage
March 11th was a liver biopsy day. CT guided needle biopsy yielded some liver tissue which was sent for pathology. Also collected was some peritoneal cavity fluid which was also analysed. the liver tissue was found to exhibit normal pathology (not cancerous) while the peritoneal fluid showed elevated levels of CA19-9.
The next ten days were spent on a mainly liquid diet while the docs tried to get me stronger by defeating the infections.
Monday March 16 was a big biopsy day. The surgeons thought I was strong enough for a laparascopic abdominal biopsy. No food by mouth for two days prior to the procedure (that sucks) but everything went well and I came out of the general anaesthetic after three hours in the recovery room ( a LOOOOONG time). Pancreas could not be reached laparascopically but a sample was obtained from the abdominal mass (4.5 cm round) and was sent for pathology and cell staining. Abdominal mass was found to contain necrotic fat tissue infiltrated by a differentiated adenocarcinoma. Immunoperoxidase stains show infiltrative tumor cells to be positive for cytokeratin 7 and cytokeratin 20 with an increased proliferation rate of 80%. All consistant with diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
Monday March 16 was a big biopsy day. The surgeons thought I was strong enough for a laparascopic abdominal biopsy. No food by mouth for two days prior to the procedure (that sucks) but everything went well and I came out of the general anaesthetic after three hours in the recovery room ( a LOOOOONG time). Pancreas could not be reached laparascopically but a sample was obtained from the abdominal mass (4.5 cm round) and was sent for pathology and cell staining. Abdominal mass was found to contain necrotic fat tissue infiltrated by a differentiated adenocarcinoma. Immunoperoxidase stains show infiltrative tumor cells to be positive for cytokeratin 7 and cytokeratin 20 with an increased proliferation rate of 80%. All consistant with diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.
March 25th--not feeling too good! No poop for 5 days, so what's going on. Docs worried about bowel blockage, so down we go for xrays on Weds and Thurs. Possibly looks like just impaction, but tough to tell.
Friday March 27th--after two days of being NPO (just ice chips) and being fed Miralax, I managed three movements today--look how happy I am!
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