Hail to the Victors!

Sorry for the delay in posting lately.  Everything has been pretty calm lately, but I have appointments to go to now, and things should start picking up in the news department.  But first:

Hail! to the Victors valiant,
Hail! to the conquering heroes,
Hail! Hail! to Michigan
the leaders and the best!

Hail! to the Victors valiant,
Hail! to the conquering heroes,
Hail! Hail! to Michigan
the Champions of the West!

Say what you want about University of Michigan athletics, their hospital systems can't be touched. They have been so fantastic throughout this journey.

I went for my first Urological Oncology appointment on Friday. I actually left on Thursday, and Rocky and Keegan were kind enough to put me up for the night, so that I didn't have to leave at 5:30 Friday morning. Keegan made me one of the best casseroles I've ever had. It was comfort food on a whole other level.

I made it to my appointment, and as some of you may have seen, I spent 2 hours in the exam room before I was seen by the doctor. Dr. Hafez is a really cool Urologist, very matter of fact, but in an encouraging way. He wants to do a partial resection of my right kidney, but wants to wait and see what happens with my liver first.

The last week or so, I've been considerably uncomfortable due to fluid building up in my abdomen again. I explained this to him and he consulted with my Medical Oncologist, Dr. Khan. They share a clinic together, and Dr. Khan is on the floor that I was on when I was diagnosed. She was en route to be at the floor, and together with Dr. Hafez, decided that the best course of action was to admit me, so that she could see me right away, and I could get tapped again.

What's one more night at the Hospital? So, they admitted me again, on the same floor that I was on previously. I was seen in radiology right away to get tapped, which was awesome. 3.5 Liters this time! Holy crap. No wonder I was a grumpy and miserable bastard last week. I was done with this around 4:30, and spent the rest of my night confined to my bed with an audio book.

I woke up this morning at 5:30, and had some more blood drawn around 6. These were labs looking at my liver function, to make sure that nothing had gone south. The residents came in around 9:30 to check me over, and let me know that the team would be in around 11 to fill me in on the results, and start the paperwork to let me go home.

Dr. Khan came in and let me know that my liver functions were better! Holy Chuck Mangione. I'm definitely not out of the woods yet, but after just one injection, my liver is getting better! With this knowledge, Dr. Khan wants to start treating things a bit more aggressively, and wants me to start by trying to get involved with a trial at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD. She said that there is one drug, that's shown to stop tumor growth, and in around 15% of cases actually shrink the tumors, but she doesn't want to start me on that right now because it could potentially disqualify me from a trial. Hail to the conquering heroes, indeed.

She wrote me a prescription for a diuretic, to try and reduce the fluid build up in a more conservative manner. She's worried that each time they tap my abdomen, there's always a slight risk of infection, and thinks that it might be managed better with a pill. Some more good news, is that I can take over the counter pain relievers again! I was told to avoid all of them before, because they're either processed via your liver or your kidneys, but with the functions improving, I'm OK to take any of them.

I have another appointment on the afternoon of the 25th, which will evaluate how the diuretics are doing, and to reassess my liver functions. I have another CT scan scheduled for March, which will be the first look at how the tumors are responding to the octreotide injections. I'm excited for that. Oh, I got my second injection today as well, so if you see me in the next few days, you'll know why I'm limping. Man, that hurts.

I think that's all I've got for now. Thanks everyone for your prayers, and thoughts, and good vibes, and notes, and hugs. You are all my inspiration for fighting this thing, and those types of things help me to fight harder.