We've bee asked by family to start a site for dad to keep all of you in the loop on what seems to be happening out of no where!
Dad arrived at Thanksgiving with jaundice eyes. He's bee slowing down a bit and meeting with the pulmonary doctor in October to shed some fluid off is heart/lungs. He doesn't feel all that crummy so insisted he would call the doctor Monday and figure it out. However, a couple more days of that and Joe and I felt we were done waiting. I took him to Lakeview Sunday night Nov 26th. In the doctor's words, "His liver is "very sick" and the kidneys were not very happy either; all his numbers were out of whack. " They kept asking if he had any abdominal pain, "No". They ruled out a few things and sent him to Regions for what they said would be a liver biopsy and visit with the Oncology and Kidney Doctor.
We had hoped to update immediate family Tuesday morning once we met with another doctor and had some real information, but instead, we waited a good portion of the day as dad has no pain and presents well. I told him, "Dad, your insides don't agree with your outside smiles and humor". He napped some and by 4:30p.m. on Tuesday they finally took him down for an MRI to determine a road map and plan for the EPRC they had in mind for Wednesday. This test:
https://www.medicinenet.com/ercp/article.htm Wednesday Nov 28th :
Doctor and PA met with us to explain they type of cancer they think dad has - "Cholangiocarcinoma" or a tumor in the liver which is blocking the bile doc and what looks like a cyst on his pancreas too. The surgeon for the EPRC will put a stint from the GB to the liver to clear out and let things drain and take a sample of the tumor for biopsy.
After being fully prepped for the procedure the doctor determined that he's not been off his blood thinners long enough to start messing around in there and have more bleeding occur. SO, now we wait until Thursday morning to the biopsy/ stint. This has pushed our meeting with an oncologist out along with any more real details until we have results back from the biopsy. So, if we go silent over the next couple days, be patient and send up prayers. The good news, dad is not in any pain, has his delightful humor and easy going demeanor which makes him a prize patient. Visitors welcome, especially today which will be another long day of nothing but waiting for him. I've requested a pulmonary doctor to join the team as he has now been off his Lasix for 3 days (keeps the fluid off his heart) which keeps the kidney's happier but not the heart. As always, lots of pieces to dad's puzzle and right now they are all over the table and we need some experts to put them together to tell the whole story We love all of you and feel the support and love. Thank you cousin Joannie for your knowledge and suggestion to start this site for everyone!
Flo, Corinne and Joe
