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”

Thoracentesis to Remove Fluid on the Lung

2-28-15 From the Notebook Fluid on right side of lung Needs to be drained, done from the back Can be done bedside Send out for testing CAUSE? could be a bodily reaction - most likely this because fluid wasn’t present when he arrived or could be tumor has entered the lung. Mathew had been complaining about his right shoulder hurting (this was from the fluid on his lung). He thought it was from the previous October when he was taken by ambulance from work when they thought he was having seizures. He wondered if the EMT's had hurt his shoulder when restraining him. He will reference this in his music and writing. A local oncologist is brought in who says he will be starting Mathew’s treatment. More news on the diagnosis: -Neg for lymphoma -not traditional carcinoma -uncommon sarcoma -pancreas -looking for rare cancers Again my ignorance, I thought that a rare cancer would get more results. Backward thinking. Here is a photo of t...

Confections For Cats

Search This Blog