I am so frustrated right now!! Michael saw the doctor today and had some blood work done. His bilirubin is now up to 11. The doctor wants to do another CT scan on Thursday. He thinks one of the tumors in his liver has gotten bigger over the last few days and now he thinks that Michael can't continue with chemo. We are scheduled to see a doctor at Freodtert January 7. I'm just not sure he should go without chemo for 4 weeks. And now Michael thinks there's nothing left to do. I've done lots of reading and there are a lot of things that can be done and there is other chemo that can be tried...

It was a hard weekend. Michael's body just doesn't want to cooperate with the things he wants to do. Any simple task exhausts him and he has to sit down and rest...even taking a shower depletes his energy. Once again, both his legs are terribly swollen which means he can't do much walking around. I don't think the jaundice has gotten any worse but he's still pretty yellow. The jaundice makes him itch and he's constantly scratching. His INR is back up to 7 again and the excess scratching causes bleeding which is hard to stop. His appetite is good and he's eating well...I just wish he felt better during this break from chemo.

I was pretty excited to see that Michael was up to 163 lbs yesterday. He definitely feels better this week. I'm sure the break will be good for him mentally and physically. His eyes are yellow and his face is a little yellow. I'm trying to get him to eat as much fruit & vegetables as I can while he feels good in the hopes that it will help his liver function. If his bile duct is blocked they might need to put in a shunt for drainage. But for now we're going to enjoy the holidays & the break from chemo!!

Michael & his doctor decided that he should take this week and next week off from chemo. His tumor markers are down to 296 which is good. The scary news is that his bilirubin is up to 4. That's higher than it's ever been. The highest it was when we started was 2.8. The doctor thinks that the tumor in his liver is getting bigger. Michael is glad he's taking a break from chemo but it worries me that his bilirubin is so high. I'm going to make an appointment with another doctor to see if anyone has any other ideas.

They finally got his INR straightened out with the transfusion. He was down to 1.1 yesterday so he's back on the coumadin. Hopefully he won't have to go through that again! He's been plagued with stomach pains still. Not sure what that's about. Michael's friend Andy was kind enough to send us a gift certificate for 2 nights at the Chicago Marriott so we're planning on doing that after Christmas. I'm looking forward to it...we'll try and pretend for a few days that everything is perfectly normal...no doctors or hospitals!

Michael's INR is still way too high. He is in danger of spontaneously bleeding. So on Friday he had to have a plasma transfusion. He had 2 units of fresh frozen plasma, a Neulasta shot (for his white blood cell count) and a vitamin K shot so it was a very long day. The fresh frozen plasma is suppose to prevent blood loss by increasing the amount of blood clotting factors. He goes back in on Monday to have his INR checked to see if his blood is clotting or if he needs more fresh frozen plasma. He is very tired and weak. I hope the fresh frozen plasma has some secret energy boosting properties!

I am completely mentally and physically exhausted! My boss gave me a gift certificate for a 45 foot reflexology massage and I plan on taking advantage of that very soon. The thought of someone rubbing my feet for 45 minutes sounds sooooo luxurious!

Well....Michael's tumor markers didn't go down much this week. They went from 393 to 332 but at least they are still going down. In an effort to help with the nosebleeds, I set up the humidifier about a foot from Michael's head and I run it on high all night long and it seems to be working. The only difficulty right now is his back pain and his INR. Normal INR (blood clotting factor) is 2.4 and he's been up over 7 for a week which means his blood is really thin which also means he is cold ALL THE TIME. It probably has a lot to do with his nosebleeds as well. It's going to be a long cold winter.