Surgery today

Surgery to have Curtis' perforated gallbladder removed is today around 3:30pm at the University of Utah Hospital. Dr. Glasgow will be doing the surgery and is hoping he can do it laparoscopically. He thinks he has a 50% chance of doing it this way versus open. If it is done open, Curtis will be in the hospital all week. I will update when we know how the surgery went. Thanks for all the love and support :)

Many Updates

Last week Curtis noticed his port looked red and puffy and was having some pus discharge. We went to the clinic and we noticed on our way there that his eyes looked a little yellow. When we got to the clinic, they looked at the port, and had a nurse from surgery come and take a look at the port as well. It was decided that his port was infected and needed to come out immediately. We went over to the U of U hospital and saw Dr. Nelson (who originally put the port in) and had it removed. Labs were done to see why his eyes were looking yellow. They labs came back with an elevated level of bilirubin in Curtis' blood. We were scheduled to get an ultrasound at 8am the next morning. The ultrasound showed an extremely enlarged gallbladder with normal findings on the spleen, liver, and kidneys. We went back to Huntsman to review the results. The surgeon decided they needed additional imaging and sent us to have an MRCP done which is: Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, in medical imaging, a technique to visualise the biliary tract and pancreatic ducts. This was a 12 hour day by this time.. The following day we came back to Huntsman to get the results and the preliminary report looked like there was tumor in the gallbladder. They decided they thought it would be best to put a stent in his common bile duct to try and drain some of the bile into his intestines. Here is a pic of the gallbladder and biliary ducts:


We were called back that afternoon and told we needed to come to the hospital immediately to get started on antibiotics because the final report from the MRCP came back and the gallbladder has ruptured. A ruptured gallbladder untreated can cause peritonitis, sepsis and death. We came to the hospital and they decided to go in and put the stent in the common bile duct to release some of the pressure of the gallbladder and avoid further damage. The stent was put in around 6pm Monday evening, 1/25/12. Curtis was in severe pain before the procedure starting several days last week. Once the stent was put and the pressure was released, the pain and his bilirubin levels started to drop. He is still in the hospital and will be released this morning. The plan is to have Dr. Glasgow due surgery to attempt to remove the gallbladder laparoscopically, if possible on Monday 1/30/12. The gallbladder will be biopsied to confirm cancer, and if all goes well, we are hoping that he will be able to start his new chemo folfiri and cetuximab two weeks following surgery. His last PET scan 3 weeks ago showed growth of the tumors in his lungs and new tumors growing in his lungs as well. We are not sure when the port will be replaced (Curtis refuses to get a PICC line) we are hoping they can do it with the gallbladder procedure, but it may need to be a separate surgery in the next week or so.

Last week we began to move back into our house that we had to rent out for a year following Curtis' diagnosis last December. It feels nice to be in our home again.. 

There hasn't been much work done on the Airstream as of yet, if Curtis feels up to it, we hope to begin working on it in the next month.

PET Scan Results

I just got the results from the PET scan from this morning. The tumors in his lungs are slightly larger and a little more active. There are also some additional very small tumors showing on the scan as well. His primary tumor is slightly more active as well. There are no other new tumors shown. We meet with the doctor on Wednesday to discuss a possible change in his chemotherapy and or possibly radiation therapy to his lungs or heat/cold therapy. I will update again after we meet with the oncologist.

Scheduled PET Scan

Curtis has another PET scan scheduled for Friday 12/28/11. He is having some symptoms of a kidney stone or urinary tract infection. They should be able to see any stones with the CT part of the PET scan on Friday. He is off the TPN now which was providing him additional nutrition for 12 hours every night. He has lost some weight since stopping the TPN but we are hoping he will be able to gain some and not have to go back on it. We had a wonderful Christmas with Tavner and our families. I should get the report Friday so I will update this weekend of the results.

Happy Holidays! (Here is a picture of Curtis taking a cat nap with our niece Zoie)

PET Scan Results

Curtis had a PET scan, I guess it's been about a month now.. Looks like he is responding to treatment. He has 3 small tumors in his lungs still that are actually getting bigger but they are less active. The doctors are not sure if these are actually tumors or if they are pneumonitis which is a nodule that is a side effect of the study medication he is on. The other tumors are no longer detected on the PET scan except for his main tumor in his colon/rectum.

The Jeep is coming along.. almost ready to drive! The airstream is pretty much the same mess, just a little more organized now. Work on the Airstream should start in the next month..

Here is our goal :)

IV Nutrition, Next Pet Scan update

Because of Curtis' "kink" in his bowel, he has lost a tremendous amount of weight the last 6 weeks. (about 20 lbs). We have decided to start IV nutrition. His port will remain accessed all the time and we will do a 12 hour feeding at home. Hopefully the feedings will help him to put on some weight. He is continuing to eat during the day what he can when he feels well. He actually has been feeling better and had more energy. He has been able to work on his Jeep this week and is installing the transmission today with some help from a friend. Here is a pic of his transmission he has completely rebuilt.

The plan with his chemo is to have another treatment tomorrow and one more in two weeks, and then they will do a new scan to see if they will keep him on the same chemo or change it to Folfiri. We see the doctors again tomorrow, so I will update if there are any changes..

Update

So, this time they are saying that Curtis has a kink in his small intestine just beyond his stoma. They are letting him eat "as tolerated". He is having some lunch now and we will see how he tolerates it. He is not in as much pain as yesterday and seems to be doing quite a bit better.