On Friday, June 9, Mom had an internal metal wire stent placed in her bile duct. The tumor at the head of the pancreas had blocked the bile duct, and the stent should keep the duct open so her liver and pancreas can drain like normal into the small intestine. Mom’s body didn’t react very well to this procedure, and they kept her in the hospital until Tuesday. On the 14th, doctors tested the bile duct and ended up inserting two additional stents. Mom went home later that day. She’s not feeling well, however, and we’re hoping that in a couple days her body will adjust to the poking and jostling it’s been getting and she’ll feel better.
After Friday’s stent placement, Mom ran a high fever for a couple of days, had a moderate amount of pain, and felt nausea and gastrointestinal discomfort (which makes sense since the stent is pretty much in her intestine). They had expected to release her on Friday night, but it wasn’t until Monday that she was feeling better.
They had a test scheduled for Tuesday, June 14, so on Monday, they decided to keep her in the hospital for another day. On Tuesday, a radiologist tested the stent by injecting contrast dye into the bile duct and using an x-ray to see how well the dye was able to travel throughout the system. Apparently
they felt like the single stent wasn’t working well enough because they added two more. Although she was in quite a bit of pain after this procedure, Mom felt well enough to go home on Tuesday night.
As of Wednesday morning, however, she’s still experiencing pain and continues to struggle with gastrointestinal discomfort and nausea. Hopefully her body will adjust in the next day or so.
We have an appointment with her oncologist, Dr. Diggs, on Friday, June 17. At this point, we’ll be discussing treatment options. We’ve been doing a lot of reading and research, but if anyone has suggestions or input, please contact me by the 17th so we can take your input into consideration as we look at treatment options.
That’s the update for now. Take care,
Althea