The doctor came late last night to let us know the results of the 2nd CT scan. There are nodules in the muscle along the back, upper left thigh. This is the area that bothers Brian the most, so it isn't surprising. These appear to be connected to surgical clips (which means they may not be cancer), and the doctor contacted the surgical team to consider draining these. There are also some subcutaneous nodules that appear to be cancer. and actually probably are. The left hip joint is also full of fluid. The right hip has a nodule on the bone, and there other nodules on the pelvis. He will have a bone scan to clarify this issue, although our options are limited on how to deal with this, other than trying to control the pain...maybe some radiation, but that would more be to alleviate the pain, not to get rid of the cancer.
The roller coaster ride continues.
Brian was in a lot of pain through the night. They upped his PC pump in the evening, and now have done that again this morning...both how much he is getting without pushing the pump and how much he can give himself. Hopefully that will help. He has been restless, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he seems to be feeling better from the infection, so he is more aware of how much his leg hurts.
The surgical team came in at 4:07 a.m. to chat. Nice. They ran through the whole gamut of history yet again, and said they would talk to the boss and get back to us. The head of surgery stopped in around 8ish to look him over. They have decided it is not the best option to cut him open, obviously, and they are going to work with radiology to have a CT guided insertion of a drain tube in the inner left thigh. There is a tube-shaped pocket of fluid that needs to be drained. They also planned to put a drain in his left hip to alleviate that, but have since discovered that the two pockets are communicating (connected), so one drain can take care of the whole deal. This is a minor surgical procedure, and Dr. Gill just stopped in to say that radiology has him scheduled for this tomorrow morning.
In the meantime, we are trying to really get his pain under better control. The surgeons are pleased and feel it to be a good sign of how much better his leg is doing, and that this is a good step toward him feeling better. The swelling is down significantly, and it is not hot and red anymore. His body is obviously responding well to the antibiotics...always good when you are dealing with a staph infection!
Brian himself...not so great. He is very scared. We are trying to spend some time talking through some things and just loving each other. It is devastating to see him this way. He still wants to trudge forward with the ipilumimab if we can, so we'll see how the week unfolds.
Many prayers for a normal Sunday full of loving family memories,
Jenni
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3 comments:
I have been praying extra hard for your whole family. I am so sorry that you're having to go through this. I hope that the team of doctors caring for Brian are able to alleviate some of his pain. I also hope that you're able to find peace, Jenni. Hang in there. I will continue to pray for miracles.
Godspeed...
I will try to send you a picture tomorrow. The boys (Trace and Tye) were able to see the buck Dallas got and have their picture taken with it. Trace wanted to sit on it and Gordy thought he would be the future deer hunter. Tye didn't really want to touch it, just look at it and everyone saw another part of Brian as he never was to sure about deer hunting either. We love you and are enjoying Tye today!
Jenni,
I have been keeping up with you and Brian since I found your blog. I like you are a wife of a wonderful man suffering from this horrible disease. I have keep ya'll in my prayers and will continue. You have a strong faith, lean on it at this time. We send our love and support from Georgia.
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