The Long Week

The chemo treatment last week put Steve out of action throughout the weekend. On Monday, he rested some more while waiting for the bile duct replacement procedure scheduled for Tuesday. The procedure  was done at a local hospital in Vancouver and went well and we learned how different hospitals' care can be. We are spoiled by the attentive, informative, team based approach used at Virginia Mason in Seattle.  

Steve felt better on Tuesday afternoon but Wednesday turned out to be another tough day. Then Thursday, we were off to VM in Seattle for another chemo treatment. However, his blood labs showed a dangerously low platelet count. This is one of the vital clotting factors in the blood. So no chemo this week. In addition, his bilirubin levels are high which caused his doctor to think something might be wrong with the new bile duct stent. A CT scan was done. It showed the stent is OK but that the cancer is growing quite fast. His oncologist said it's good that we are pursuing it with an aggressive treatment. 

To add to an already fun day, Steve needed an emergency transfusion of platelets. He was admitted to the hospital for that and an overnight stay. We thought we would be home by bedtime. But going home will wait until tomorrow.