Finally heard back from the U of M

I finally got a call today from the U of M. The liver tumor board approved Radiofrequency Ablation for Brian liver lesion. They will be calling me within the next week to set up his appointment for the procedure. That means it will be another couple of months break from chemo. Brian is very happy about that:)

This is a one time procedure that they are hoping will take care of the lesion in his liver.

He has been feeling quite good the last few days but the few days before that he was not feeling good at all. He also has an appointment to have his stent checked to make sure it's still working properly.  That is something that has to be done every 3 to 4 months. 

Thank you all so much for all the blessings and prayers!  We will take all of that we can get. 

New scans and treatment plan

Both the tumor in the pancreas and the lesion in the liver are stable, meaning they have not grown or shrunk at all.  His CA 19–9 has gone from 200 to 336.   The oncologist is taking this information to the tumor board to talk to them about starting radiation on the lesion in his liver.  We will find out by Monday whether or not they approve the radiation. Otherwise he will begin chemo. 

Break

It has been two weeks since Brian's last chemo treatment.  It is so nice to be on break from chemo because now he seems to feel better and better every day, aside from mild pain and being a little tired here and there.  We are really going to enjoy the next couple of months!  I know it will go by so fast..

Finally..

So after a full week of brian being sick and in pain and three er visits I finally have him relaxed and pain free and he slept good last night!  

Im hoping that it stays this way! 

No complications

All tests look good. So we are not sure why the pain is worse. Brian thinks its gas. He has thought that all along but the doc wanted to make sure it wasnt something else..  Now, to figure how to pass it consistantly.  Ugh. Nothing seems to work..

Update:
 I think that having a procedure done and chemo in the same week may have been too much for him.  The chemo affected him worse this week than it ever has.  He was throwing up Monday and Tuesday.  We called the oncologist and Brian is officially on break from chemo.  We will be going back to the
U of M in November to get new scans and blood work and find out when he will start chemo again.

Complications

Brian’s pain has been worse since the procedure.  He has been in the er 3 times over the last week. He has an appt tomorrow for a new ct scan. Hopefully we can figure out what the issue is.  

Post Procedure & Beginning cycle 6

The next couple of days after the procedure were rough and Brian ended up in the er Saturday night, but last night he slept good and he doesn't have any pain this morning!
He is in a pretty good mood but is not thrilled about starting his 6th cycle of chemo today.  Although we are both thrilled for the break that is coming so soon!

Surgery went well

Its 10:00am and he is in recovery now. Everything went really good. They replaced the stent and it was plugged. They also deadened the nerves around the tumor. A pretty successful morning. In another hour I will be taking him home and he will probably sleep the rest of the day. 

Changing the stent

This Friday the 21st Brian will be going in to have his stent changed out.  We are waiting for the go ahead from his oncologist, if we get it, they will also perform-

Celiac Plexus Neurolysis

Reasons to perform the procedure:

The celiac plexus is a group of nerves that supply organs in the abdomen.  A celiac plexus neurolysis may be performed if you are experiencing severe chronic abdominal pain from cancer or persistent pain associated with chronic pancreatitis that is not relieved by medications or other conservative measures. It is expected that the neurolysis will provide long-term relief of your pain.

Brian is set to start his 6th cycle of chemo the following Monday the 24th.  We are waiting to hear back about that too because he is having some "sensations" in his fingers and toes so they may have him either start his break sooner or take away the Abraxane and only do the Gemzar Chemo for his 6th cycle.  

End cycle 5 & new scan

Yesterday was the end of the 5th cycle of chemotherapy. Today we are in Ann Arbor, we just finished up and are getting ready to head home. The main tumor in the pancreas is stable which they say means it's size hasn't changed. The mass in his liver is quite a bit smaller. His CA 19–9 level is at 200. The new plan is to finish his sixth cycle of chemotherapy and then take a two month break then take a new scan and restart chemotherapy. 

We asked the oncologist some tough questions today. He informed us that even if the CA 19–9 number hits below 100 Brian will still not be eligible for surgery because of the way pancreatic cancer spreads.  He may be eligible for radiation in the future. And if the chemotherapy stops working he will be able to get into a trial. Those are our options for the future when and if chemo stops working.

Mini checkup

We had a mini checkup with one of Brian Brookmans oncologists and we found out that his ca 19-9 number has gone down from over 10,000 to 265. The numbers getting smaller indicates that the tumer is getting smaller. A normal person has a ca19-9 of 37. They want it under 100 to even consider surgery. We will have more information later next week. 

Week off before Cycle 5

After that couple of good days from the last post, Brian ended up in the ER from pain.  We ended up changing his patch again.  It seems like the 75 mcg is too much and the 50 mcg isn't enough.  The 75 has been working really well the last 5 days but the last 2 days he has been sick and throwing up.  He thinks it is because of the patch so he went back to the 50 mcg today.  

I don't know if its the patch or the chemo..  

Good few days

The last couple of days have been really good.  His energy is up and he has been to work and to his man cave to work on my dads car a little bit.  We are both looking forward to the next week and a half without chemo before he has to start his 5th cycle.

Medications & Quiencenera

We finally received the lower dose of the medicine patch on the 10th.  We took the higher dose off a few hours before we put the new one on.  I am so glad we had the dose lowered.  He is already more alert and not as loopy.  He is still sleeping more than usual though.  After doing some research I found that hot baths, hot tubs, saunas, jacuzzis, and heating pads are all bad because they cause the patch to release high doses of medication all at once instead of slowly over a three day period.  That may have been another part of the problem.  I'm surprised that wasn't a warning on the label... It sure should be.
Brian slept most of the day.  He missed the Quiencenera ceremony.  He got out of bed around 3:30 and was ready to go to the reception dinner.  We were there for about an hour and a half, he was very tired and threw up.  I took him home and he slept in his recliner for awhile more.  He was awake for a few hours tonight and had his usual pump house and PB&J dinner.
On the bright side, he still isn't having any pain.

Medication update

It has been a week since the oncologist changed Brian's medication for pain and it's been good.  He hasn't had much pain at all but he does feel loopy and sleepy all of the time.  He is wanting to nap a lot.  He's wanting to lower his dose a little bit and see if that helps the loopy/sleepy issue but still takes care of the pain.

Cycle 4

Yesterday was the start of the fourth cycle of chemo.

We had a visit with the oncologist today to go over all of Brians medications and we made some pretty big changes because of how much pain he is still in.  We have high hopes that the changes work!

One good change so far is that he has been sleeping better :)

Good Day

Today was an really good day!  Brian slept great after his ER visit.  He woke up feeling good.  He went to work for about 4 hours then came home and was tired so he took a nap.  We had dinner with The Needhams.  Later that evening we went for a walk around the block and went to the pump house.  Afterwards he went to home depot and then cleaned out the front gutter!  I haven't seen him do so much in a long time!  He was playful and in a good mood most of the day.  I treasure days like this. :)

Blood sugar

It's 7 minutes after midnight and Bri is being released from the ER. His pain has been up and down all day. He is doing good now and he will sleep good tonight.. It's one of the  good thing about the ER visits.  We have to follow up with his PCP because his blood sugar is high at 348. 

Home

We made it home safely from Illinois. It was a very nice visit but it will probably be the last one for awhile. The trip was hard on Brian and he is exhausted. 

Father's Day

This is Brian's week off of chemo so we decided to drive down and visit our dads for Father's Day. It was a long drive and Brian slept most of the way. The drive wore him out and he has needed extra pain meds tonight. He did get to have dinner with his dad on Father's Day though:)

Jurassic World

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  We finally got to see Jurassic World.

Today started off good.  Brian went in to work for a couple of hours.  He started having pain where his tumor is while he was at work.  He had taken several pain killers through out the evening but they did not help.  We ended up going to the ER and they gave him some pain meds that helped.  We are back home now and he is feeling better and in bed for the night.

Nauseous

Brian was up most of the night last night.  He finally started feeling better around 5 - 6 am and then slept till noon.  He woke up feeling much better and went into work for about an hour and a half.  Then had some father daughter time at the pump house.  We made plans to try to go watch Jurassic World but on the way to the movie Bri started feeling sick and threw up so we went home.  He slept in his chair for a few hours and then woke up wanting oat meal and is now ready for bed.

End of cycle 3

• Today Brian finished his 3rd cycle of chemotherapy.  His mood has been pretty good today although a little emotional.  He has also been more nauseous today than usual.  
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• Tonight is the first time I have given Brian his vitamin C infusion by myself, but I did it perfectly!
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