Tuesday 26 April 2011

Happy Easter!!

We had a lovely Easter, blessed with glorious weather & good friends. Thank you all. My sister (I'll give her a name now, for those who don't know - Susan) got lots of eggy things & I got none - serves me right for telling everyone I want to lose a bit of weight!! Still, she's a generous soul & shared some of hers with me - other bits I managed to nick when she wasn't looking, but please don't tell her that ;-)

North Mid A&E didn't find any infection on our last visit & sent her home, but when we saw the Onc at Guy's Hospital a few days later, he put her on more antibiotics, ordered an ultrasound scan & told her it was probably good ol' Krebsiella Pneumoniae again :-(

She had the ultrasound 10 days ago & the diagnostic medical sonographer (as Yahoo Answers tells me is the correct title of the technician who performs ultrasounds) said her ducts showed increased dilation on the left side of her liver, which could be the result of (a) stent movement (b) tumour growth or (c) tumour shrinkage, causing other organs to shift & prevent bile drainage.

He said she has a good blood supply to the liver & not much fluid in the abdomen, both of which are reassuring signs.

When Sue went for Chemo last week (Cycle 6; Day 1), a doc came to see her & told her not to listen to anyone other than an Onc, as the dilation shown by the ultrasound was actually exactly the same as last time ...

The bloods taken at A&E showed a bilirubin reading of 66 - clear jaundice level - but her pre-Chemo bloods showed Billy has dropped to 10 (which is far lower than mine & I'm supposed to be relatively normal!!)

Since last week's Chemo she's had a rough time & is feeling the effects of the prolonged toxicity. They drip more poison through her veins tomorrow - another 5 hours' worth, poor thing - & the added "insult" is that tomorrow's her birthday!! The Onc was brilliant & tried to change the day to Thursday, to give her a chance of having a nausea- free birthday, but with all the Bank Holidays over last week, this week & next week, there's no room in the Chemo Unit for her on any other day than her designated one. So we'll join her at the Unit tomorrow & we'll all celebrate her BIG birthday (yes - it does end with a zero!!) there :-D

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