Brother Dan and wife Sue with their daughter Christy and her daughter Gracie and Great Grandma Shirley all stayed with us as originally planned for one week, but it turned into two weeks. Christy developed autoimmune reaction and lost the function of her kidneys when she was 17 years old. She received her mother’s kidney after a period on dialysis and it lasted nine years. A repeat transplant occurred after receiving her father’s kidney, which seems, even until present, to be functioning very well. However, because of all the anti-rejection medications she’d been subjected to over these many years, they have now caused her to have liver issues. She had been sick since January but rallied for this trip and made it out here to Seattle!! Unfortunately, starting Saturday after her arrival, she developed relentless headaches, fever, and difficulty in breathing. She visited Harrison ER on two occasions and was finally admitted to Swedish Hospital as an in-patient by Dr. Koval last Thursday 22 June. The work-ups yielded no definitive diagnosis, but finally settled on non-specific FUO (fever of unknown origin) with severe Headaches. Happily she has recovered sufficiently to be able to board a plane home tomorrow. Dan and Sue rearranged their flights to accompany her and Gracie on the same flight. It has been difficult but Christies’ attitude is superb, enjoying family as much as possible even with unyielding HA’s. Hopefully in the future looking back, this was an unforgettable adventure trip.
My health status had been a steady and constant progression towards normality. Taking advantage of the weather and his presence, I play 4 rounds of golf with Brother Dan, twice at Discovery Bay, once at Meadowmeer, and yesterday at Highlands in Tacoma with 6 year-old grand nephew Rocket who recently won the tournament among ages 10 and below golfers in Columbus, Ohio.
Today I returned to VM for my two month follow-up CT scan exam. First the nurses accessed my Power port and drew blood for studies. I am still anemic, but the WBC’s are adequate to continue Chemotherpy. The blood protein and albumin are still below normal. All liver functions are now normal. The Cancer marker also improved from 76.7 to 43.7, (normal being 37 and below). The CT scan showed no new lesions, no lymph node involvements, and improvement of the R lung cavity pleural effusion. Of the two golf ball size lesions in the R lobe of the liver; the smaller one appears dim to absent, the larger one remains much the same but not any bigger. There are no visible new lesions noted.
Clinically I am improving. Per Dr. Picozzi’s physical evaluation, he seemed unconcerned. Lab test values are all heading towards the right direction. The only real question is why the large metastatic lesion remains unchanged? Great that it has not enlarged, but is there any progress subsequent to the Chemotherapy?
Plan is to continue 4 more sessions of every other week infusion and re assess in two months.
I’ll try to give weekly updates as they develop.
Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is mystery, Today is a Present.
Thanks sincerely for your visits and encouraging comments. Keep your prayers and good vibes coming.
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