Biliary Drain Problems After VDC Chemotherapy

Our lives change daily and hourly but the majority of the time the changes fall within an expected range of possibilities.

With cancer, nothing is expected or unexpected. It goes back to my sister Kathleen’s answer to inquiries as to how Mathew was doing. “Which fifteen minutes are you interested in?”

The journal entry and texts messages in this post will represent 15 minutes, a few hours or a moment, a feeling, an event. This is life, specifically, this is life with cancer.

From Mathew’s Journal May 8

Dr. Donovan

Therapy - most helpful- least burdensome.

- 1 every other week

start there and then change

- goal

- give some thought into how your beliefs and intellectual pursuits

dovetail with being plastered to the chair.

-being plastered to the chair could be an opportunity for greater awareness

or it could be just an obstacle to pass to get to the good stuff.

TEXTS BETWEEN MATHEW AND MOM

(I needed to go to the grocery store and run some errands. My Mom came to sit with Mathew.)

Everything ok?

Sent May 9

Yea. I’m leaking out my bandages. I rebandaged.

Received May 9

How much leakage?

Sent May 9

Soaked the bandage.

Can I take more Dilaudid?

Received May 9

No. I’m on my way.

Need to call the doctor.

Sent May 9

Yeah. I don’t think it’s an emergency.

It may have been the way I was laying on it.

Received May 9

TEXTS BETWEEN ARPIE AND ME

We may be headed down to Moffitt.

Will know in about 5 minutes.

Sent May 9

Received May 9

The explanation for the texts is here in a text I sent to my niece Allison a few days later.

"They had capped the drain 3 weeks ago. He had his VDC treatment Thursday and Friday he started soaking through his bandage around the catheter.

He went in and they said there was a clog and they changed out some wires."

Both times he has had trouble with the biliary drain after VDC.

This becomes important because when they did this I remember wondering about his counts being low and them exposing his in the IR.

Replace the 3 Lumen Pic Line with a Port

Mathew's 3 Lumen Pic Line was replaced with a Power P.A.C. Both Mathew and I were given Medical I.D. cards to carry at all times. I have mentioned before that texting from the DRC is almost impossible. The staff told me it used to be the X-ray department so the walls are leaded. Again, the phone tree would have helped so much. I texted the following information to my niece, my sister and Mathew’s Dad and Stepmom. And probably Joseph and Carlos. I know that could have been reduced to two texts, three at the most. At the time I didn’t know about group messaging as my phone was an old Android. Texts Between me and Diane Hi. We are at the hospital early because Mat is in a lot of pain. We think the bill stent may have moved. Sent 3-31-14 Because he was NPO for other procedure they should be able to fix today. Sent 3-31-14 In the DRC sending texts is almost impossible so if you don’t hear from me for a while don’t worry. If ...

A Cancer Poem by Mathew Rodgers 2014

From Mathew’s Journal 4-5-14 “I lie awake in my pain bed metallic noises chirping from my strange computer companion”

Who is the Keeper of the Memories

Mathew and his twin Joseph had a teacher in High School, Brad Ash. He was a homeroom teacher, a counselor and eventually a friend and bandmate. The evolution of their relationship spanned six years. Brad eventually became my friend too. When I think of Brad Ash, I see him with long blond rock star hair! He regularly cut it and donated it to locks for love. Mathew soon followed his example. In 2010 Brad, an avid cyclist was struck and killed by an SUV. Mathew was allowed into the ICU to see Brad during the few days before he died. He never regained consciousness. If you listen to Adrian Told Me, the last verse is about Brad. "She said, did he leave his eyes open." https://soundcloud.com/confectionsforcats/adrian-told-me Brad's students and friends, were devastated by his sudden death. The young people organized a night of music in his memory. Now, as I continue to go through Mathew's paperwork, I find articles about Brad's accident. Mathew was one of the ...

Confections For Cats

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