The New Normal (aka Nevermind)

The Friday before Thanksgiving, Rob and I met with the surgeon about the procedure to put a stent in my liver. We had quite a long discussion and she showed us the scans from September and last week. It turns out that Vectibix has been so successful at reducing the tumors that she did not feel that it was advisable to do the procedure (even though it was already scheduled for the Monday before Thanksgiving.) While the “before” shot clearly showed three big, ugly tumors that prevented her from accessing the correct bile duct in September, the “after” shot showed not only remarkable tumor shrinkage but the duct obstruction was almost completely gone. As a result, she felt that she would not be able to find the exact spot to place the stent – and evidently they have to be positioned rather exactly. Further, stents don’t last forever. They can themselves become clogged and require intervention and, on the average, are normally only good for 6 to 9 months. So, after some discussion with Dr. S, we decided to forgo the stent at this time and just monitor the situation. Hopefully, in the future, if we can catch a blockage earlier, I can do a stent then.


This Tuesday, I went in for another round of Vectibix, which went without a hitch. Curiously, my billies only fell from 2.2 to 1.8 mg/dl. In fact, there are a number of liver readings still out of whack but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything to do about it at this time. Maybe I will never make it back to “normal” but I suppose it doesn’t matter as long as I have no complications or turn yellow. As a result, I am declaring this fall’s little crisis over – this is the new normal – and I’m back to doing, you know, whatever it was I was doing before my “yellow” period. I’m going to just go on with life with only half an eye fixed on my blood work. And to prove it, here’s a photo of me waiting at a café on 53rd street while they mix my meds!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I’m sure thankful to have had one – and what a fine meal it was! BB