It has been a little while since I have updated everyone.
I had to go the ER two days ago because I had been feeling quite lethargic for a few days. Not eating much, puking some bile and blood, and having various pains around my abdomen. They gave me lots of fluids as well as some dilaudid and IV zofran.
I finally had a creatinine level that I could convince the ER doc to get me a CT with contrast. My creatinine had been slowly going down (this is good) so my kidney function has been slowly improving since finishing chemo.
CT scan shows the liver lesions have taken off like gangbusters. I'm no good at reading CT scans but even I could see there were LOTS of lesions and they were all sizes from small to huge.
So, new timeline. Now I am looking at 3-4 months. Our Cancun trip was wonderful! We had to cancel our Italy trip. We thought I had a couple more months before I started having symptoms that could mess up our trip.
Shifting other things around to adjust to the new schedule. When I was working, I had a habit of coming in under budget, over revenue, and ahead of schedule. I was kind of hoping to be behind schedule on this particular adventure.
As the saying goes, you play the cards your dealt!
Lots of folks are planning visits so I'm going to be pretty busy.
I am feeling great other than some kidney pain and the occasional puking. My doc says my attitude is keeping me in better condition than I would be otherwise. I have no plans to change my attitude.
My appointment with Pathways Hospice is next week. I start palliative care with that and then they transition me right into hospice when the time comes for that.
The good news is that you only need 20% liver function to survive. The other good news is that once the liver fails, it shouldn't take so long.
I probably won't be posting a lot as I have to cram a bunch of financial transfer activities into a much smaller period of time and I have a lot of living to cram into however long I have before I start having bigger problems.
Liz will post for me when the time comes. My love to you all!
Mike
Age 54
10/31/06 dx CIS (TisG3) non-invasive (at 47)
9/19/08 TURB/TUIP dx Invasive T2G3
10/8/08 RC neobladder(at 49)
2/15/13 T4G3N3M1 distant metastases(at 53)
9/2013 finished chemo -cancer free again
1/2014 ct scan results....distant mets
2/2014 ct result...spread to liver, kidneys, and lymph...
Topic Author