Last Tuesday I had a telemedicine “second opinion” consultation with Dr. Konecny, an oncologist at UCLA. He thought that my failing liver might not a metastasis, but instead a bile duct being pinched by tumors outside the liver. So on Thursday Bruce drove me down to LA for a more detailed scan, and lo and behold Dr K was right. The solution is a stint, which can be inserted endoscopically. We were having trouble getting the procedure scheduled as quickly as Dr. K wanted, so he asked me to check into the UCLA emergency room; my mom drove me back down Friday and has been staying at UCLA‘s Luskin hotel. The procedure was Sunday, and at least partially successful. The larger lobe, 2/3rds of my liver, now has a stint and should encourage bile drainage. I'm hoping to be released later today.
My room has a nice garden view, and a couple of days ago this nice young man came around playing the violin for all the patients! Jim came out for a few days to be with my mom and get the scoop from the doctors.
Dr. Konecny is hopeful about the potential for further chemo, but he didn’t want to start making a plan until my liver was taken care of. Right now I’m feeling really worn down and wondering if more chemo is worth it.
I’m looking forward to getting home with Bruce and Cooper (who has been sleeping on my favorite blanket), and into a more comfortable space. I’m so sore and weak from being in the hospital bed for the last 5 days!
I’m really not up for visitors. Maybe in a couple days, but right now I’m just too worn out. What I would love most is to have a big send off party but given Covid and how tired I am, I’m just not sure I can manage that. So if I "check my self out" in the next few weeks and I didn't reach out and say hi please know it’s not that I don’t love and appreciate all of you, my dear wonderful friends. Thank you to everyone who supported me the these last six years to keep me going.