A Little Tension Yesterday

It is now Sat. AM, my birthday March 17th and I'm glad to be home celebrating it.  Wasn't so sure yesterday.  They say that cancer is a long roller coaster ride with ups and downs, Yesterday I hit a small bump and seem much better today.

Thursday was a normal day, and my best friend Mike was sitting on the porch with me, we had taken a walk and enjoying the day of 81 degrees and sunshine.  My wife returns from errands and she says why do your eyes look yellow?  I looked at her and said, "What the heck do you mean ?"  I mean we fought this liver cancer all the way from beginning to end and never any signs of jaundice which is one of the signs to look for with this cancer.  I just couldn't believe it.

She immediately called one of those emergency phone numbers they give you when you leave the hospital.  And they weren't too concerned, but since we were going to be at the Hospital to see our friend Cindy ( also battling this disease ) they said to stop by for blood work.  There was no vomiting or temperature so again, calm down.  Obviously we tried to keep the worst thoughts out of our heads, but we sure didn't want an infection, or anything to set us back with another stay in the hospital.

We saw Cindy around 11AM and then went to Surgical Outpatient for blood work.  While there they then decided that they wanted to do a x-ray of the bile ducts and they used that tube that had been left in and extending from my side. So we just waited and waited for the result to come back. Don't ask me how it is used, guess I'm glad it was still there.

Finally, we saw Dr. House, our surgeon, at around 3 PM and learned the results.  One of my bile ducts had a small constriction ( or kink ) that was allowing bile to leave the liver but not fast enough.  And therefore it was backing up and causing the jaundice look. So they hooked up another drainage bag to the tube extending from my side to free up the flow of bile.  Have another appt. next Weds to check on the progress as the bile duct inside my body un-kinks itself and becomes normal again during the regrowth of the liver.  Last night I regained my appetite, eating the most food between the hours of 4 PM and 10 PM since the surgery.  My wife, nurse, emptied about 475 cc's of bile fluid from the bag last night and early this AM.  It appears to have slowed some now.

So I think we have turned that corner and proceed forward again.  So Happy Birthday to me " 65th" and only good things for the future.

Thanks to the healing hand of God for continuing to be with me, the Drs. and there fast responses and knowledge.

God Bless you all and thanks for the prayers,  Captain