It’s January 13, 2024 as I write this. A year ago on this date, as I was getting ready to be discharged from Brigham and Woman’s Hospital after a nasty bout with sepsis, I was given the news that no evidence of my cancer could be detected. I went home to a few weeks of recovery and on to get my pre-cancer life back. And I got nearly all of my life back, I got back to playing my bass with my band and at church and accompanying the New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus, I got back to Gate City Bike Coop, back to riding my bike, back to many other things that did not involve chemotherapy or weekly rides to Boston for appointments with my oncologist.
On this January 13, I am again sitting in a room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, unsure of my discharge date but still with no detectable cancer. I was admitted on Thursday morning. Very early Thursday morning. And had I listened to Tina it might well have been a late Wednesday night admittance. I can convince myself that symptoms such as chills and fever are of no real concern, and I can be stubborn. I can also be quite frightened by yet another stay at BWH. It’s ridiculous I know but it’s also easy to feel that the next hospital stay will be the one that I won’t come home from.
As for why I’m here, well, that is the question and one that the good doctors and staff here have not figured out. I had chills and a fever of over 101. Two calls to my oncologist and a midnight run to a downtown pharmacy by Tina for a thermometer, convinced me it was time to go. My oncologist informed the hospital that I was on my way. She informed us that things at the hospital were a little crazy with colds, flu, Covid, and the normal emergency room situations. I don’t know what she said but we got right in. Tests began immediately, and imaging, and questions from the doctors and staff. Results were inconclusive but I did have elevated liver numbers. That, along with my history of liver/ bile duct issues led things in that direction.
Yesterday I had an ERPC procedure (endoscopy from the top) to check on my bile duct stent, but it couldn’t complete it because of the replumbing to my gut. So the doctors will cogitate on the next steps to take. I continue to respond well to antibiotics, which means I will be discharged soon, hopeful that the infection has been resolved.
With no detectable cancer.
YAY!
