Gary update 10/28/10

I started day 1 of chemo seemingly without a hitch. I casually mentioned to the doctor during my doctor visit that Cindy had noticed a yellowing of my eyes so the doctor decided to recheck my bilirubin levels. He said they were normal two weeks before so he wasn't overly concerned.

Wednesday, we showed up for day 2 thinking it would be just a routine day 2 infusion. We went to head back for infusion when we were told that the doctor wanted to see us first. That left us worried and confused.

The doctor had checked the bilirubin levels and they were significantly up from 2 weeks prior. The doctor's suspicion was that one of the bile ducts was blocked which may or may not be cancer related. He ordered a liver and gall bladder ultrasound which I had this morning to see what we could find out.

The ultrasound came back inconclusive; however, they noted a "thickening" of the liver itself. This has led the doctor to believe that I have either "intrahepatic" or "extrahepatic" metastatic growth, meaning that either tumors are growing inside my liver and pressing on a duct or perhaps tumors are outside my liver pressing on the organ itself and compressing a duct. Either way, this doesn't sound like good news to me.

I go in in the morning for a CT scan to see if we can get some more information. If this is the case, the doctor feels it can be addressed by a change of chemo. I'm just concerned that the chemo I'm getting is supposed to be shrinking the tumors and now we're talking about tumors growing.

I'm discouraged to say the least, but still optimistic. I know the battle is the Lord's and He has the victory! This is hopefully just one more bump in the road to healing. I appreciate your continued thoughts, prayers, and support and for all of the cards I've received. We've hung every card up in my room to look at whenever I feel discouraged or am tempted to give up.

God bless you all!