MDA Saturday part 2

The doctors evaluated him and they don't consider the fluid an emergency, so he'll get the procedure done on Monday. They will first go in and drain the fluid on his stomach and then drain the fluid surrounding his lungs. Right now his oxygen is a little low averaging around 90 with 100 being the best. They feel like his breathing issues and cough are directly related to the fluid on his lungs. To be clear, the fluid is on his lungs and not inside. The doctors also feel the fluid around his stomach is the source of the fluid everywhere. It is likely the IV fluids he was given when first admitted caused all of these problems. There is no way to be sure though because cancer cells also produce excess fluid. When he first entered the hospital his belly rubin was at a 4 with 1 being on the high side of normal. Right now his belly rubin is teetering at 1 so they have him on IV antibiotics to keep them normal. Today all he has eaten is the diabetic version of Ensure mixed with sugar free icecream. Hopefully after the procedure he will be able to eat. Oh, and in case you were wondering he won't be able to return to work as soon as he was hoping.

MDA-Saturday

It looks like he won't be going home today either. He has fluid on his stomach and his liver enzymes are still high. They are hoping to do a procedure today that drains the fluid off of his stomach. When that happens they hope his cough minimizes and maybe he won't be as nauseous. The rumor is yesterday he only ate pudding. Hopefully the procedure will make him feel better.

MDA-Friday

Well, he was hoping to come home today, but it turns out he'll be staying at least another night. His liver counts are back up and he still can't keep food down. I'll let you know when he starts feeling better and is able to come home.

The Diagonosis

Today he finally saw his doctor and she was able to interpret all of his scans. Let me warn you, it's not the news you were hoping for. The original lymph nodes that were swollen months ago and had shrunk are now back and bigger than ever. The lymph nodes actually keep pushing up against his liver and kidney causing his bile duct to close which led to his stint. Also, his spine does have cancer. Right now that's not the primary concern, but they will eventually do radiation. The last bit of news he found out was he has 2 spots in his lungs now. His cancer has always been very aggressive and it's obvious the 4 drugs he was on are no longer working. On Wednesday he'll begin chemo with a new drug and hopefully it will work. He should come home Friday or Saturday. Please pray for peace and comfort for my family. Also, that my dad starts to feel better and is able to eat. I feel like he'd do better with chemo if he had good days in between. Thanks.

MDA-Wednesday

I really don't know much, but I'll tell you what I do know. They did a biopsy on his spine today and he'll find out the results in a few days. Also, they did a 3rd catscan today. All three have been a bit different and today's involved adding contrast through his IV. He still hasn't seen his doctor so nobody has been able to read any of his previous scans. My aunt did talk to another family staying in the hospital and they reassured her that this is very normal for MDA. He said the last time his daughter was in the hospital after several days of testing she was released with no answers. Days later she had an appointment with her doctor and he reviewed all of the tests and started treatment. My only assumption is that while in the hospital they do the research, try to get you comfortable/stable and then release you to continue treatment. The doctor will then have more information than before and decide what to do. Lastly, he is still not able to keep food down. They are trying a new nausea medication hoping to get him to eat. Oh, and the Lasiks did successfully drain the fluid off of his body. I'm not sure if his lungs look better but I do know his swelling has gone down. Thanks for the prayers.

Tuesday at MDA

Today could have been a bit better. Mark/Dad started feeling worse and was experiencing tons of swelling and coughing. Mid-afternoon they found blockage in his bile duct and put a stint in to open it up. The procedure caused him some pain because they went through the liver. From my understanding he spent the majority of the day vomiting. They still aren't sure what caused the blockage and hope to find out soon. There are a lot of theories but all of the specialist haven't met to discuss their thoughts. They also did a chest X-ray and discovered he has fluid on his lungs. They started giving him lasiks and that has relieved some of his pain. Tomorrow he hopes to see his doctor because she's the only one authorized to read his full body scan and able to update him on the status of his cancer. Also, they didn't do the biopsy on his spine today and hope to do that in the morning. He won't know the results of the biopsy for about 3 days. Hopefully tomorrow he will have more information after meeting with his doctor (if she stops by). I'll update you if I hear anything. Prayers are good!!

Prayer Request

Hi. This is Tiffany, Mark's daughter. I just wanted to give you a quick update on his progress. The last couple of weeks he has been in a lot of pain. On Friday he ended up in the MDA ER. He is still in the hospital and they are trying to figure out what's wrong. He's gone through many tests and there are several different possibilities. They did find some "spots" on his spine yesterday. Today around 2p he'll have a biopsy done to see if it's cancer. Also, he will be having a procedure done to see if there is blockage in his liver. Overall, it's a pretty stressful time. The good news is he seems to be feeling a bit more comfortable. Please pray all is well. I will try to update you when we know something. Thanks.