The doctor came in to report on Dad's MRI and get my drilling (he's sweet and always says I'm asking the right questions even when he can't answer them--I think they're told to say that).
So here it is:
The MRI showed no change in the liver. This is slightly disappointing because they thought it had shrunk some. They did not find any blockages, which they were hoping to find in order to bypass it with a tube through the skin and help his liver get all the junk out of his system. And it looks like his spleen is slightly larger. Things can still change though.
This is the timeline:
Dad finishes chemo tomorrow. In normal patients, after 7 days is when they reach the lowest counts of blood, but since Dad's extra sick, it may take longer. After about 10 or so days they expect to see Dad's lowest counts. It could easily be that long until they know if the liver is going to catch on. After that they watch to see if the blood counts start going up.
Once Dad's blood is back up, I think the doc said about 10 days after the lowest low, then they'll do another bone marrow biopsy and see what the marrow is doing and if there is any more cancer.
If there IS more, then they evaluate the situation, in his case it's mostly dependant on the liver, to see if he'll go through another round of chemo.
If there ISN'T more...he comes home--at least that's what I assume, funny, I forgot to ask.
If the second round doesn't work, that's when they look into bone marrow transplants.
Again, all of this is dependant on the liver responding. He's NOT a candidate for a transplant, for many reasons. His own liver has to start working itself...and the liver IS an amazing organ, so if the cancer cells would just die then the normal cells could get busy!
I asked about quality of life even if the liver started up again. The doctor, without having read my blogs, said, "Let's start with his head." It was funny.
From head to toe, Dad can recover fully...no lasting effects anywhere. That was very encouraging to me because I didn't want Dad to recover just to suffer. He said he's not in pain. I thnk he's just tired, but he's so cute and wants to stay awake today...it's like now that he's back he doesn't want to miss anything.
His OWN encouraging words for the day are, "People get better all the time."
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Our thoughts and prayers are with you.We are glad to see things are looking better. You and your family are in our thoughts.
ReplyDeleteYour freinds and co-workers at Wells Frago
"People get better all the time." How true and how wonderful to hear. That's the spirit Jeff.
ReplyDeleteBishop Grua
Jeff would laugh because he alone would understand that his brother and I could spend such a long time come up with comments and only to find that they went nowhere because we do not know how to push the right buttons. We are on the wrong day to leave this comment, just know how we Love you all and constantly pray for all of you, Love Aunt Gail
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