Procedure and future appointments

 Our trip up to UCSF went without a hitch. We arrived on Monday and was able to check in at our Bed and Breakfast about an hour early. We headed over to the Mission Bay campus and Dennis had his CT scan. We headed back to the B&B, freshened up, and Naomi arrived about 6 pm. We headed to dinner at a fun and very chic Jewish/Italian restaurant, Che Fico. They make all their own salami and it was fun seeing it hanging in the drying room, which had glass windows. After dinner we headed back to B&B. 

We felt everyone's prayers becaue we were able to rest well. Dennis and I got up and headed to the Main hospital. Check in was 6:30 and we were staying less than 2 miles away. I got to go back with Dennis until they took him to the procedure, a little after 8 am. I went back to the waiting room and Betty joined me about 9 am. After 2 hours I got a call from the nurse who said the procedure was taking a little longer than expected, but, Dennis was doing well. The doctor called at Noon and said everything went well and Dennis was headed to recovery and then would wait for a hospital room. I want to clarify from a previous post about our understanding of this procedure. We thought they were going to leave a wire in Dennis's liver, but, we misunderstood. The wire was used to create a portal from the entry of the skin to the Portal vein. They then used a substance called Trufil, a super glue like substance that they used to block blood from entering the right lobe of his liver. Also, they are growing the left lobe of the liver, not the right.  Also, we learned that there is a very small, 1x1cm  tumor at the neck of the gall bladder. I'm sure they will remove the gall bladder when the liver surgery is done.

 We found out that the hospital was full, and there were no beds available.Betty and I joined him in recovery to visit for a couple of hours.  Dennis stayed the night in the recovery area. It actually wasn't bad since there is a nurse per 2 patients. A regular hospital bed was brought in for him to sleep on. 

The next morning he was discharged at 8 am and we were on our way back home by 9 am. 

During his ultra sound guided procedure, Dr Lehrman could see the stents that were placed on March 7th. He noticed that one of the bile ducts was a little distended around one of the stents. That could be bacteria build up. So, Dennis will have the stents replaced this Tuesday, May 16th at French Hospital in San Luis Obispo by Dr Meiselman, the GI doctor who placed them originally. 

Also,Friday, May 12th,  Dennis had a telemedicine appointment with Dr Spillane who is a local oncologist. He's ordering a PET scan to make sure that there isn't cancer anywhere else in his body. Though we don't have a definite diagnosis of cancer, they are treating him as if it is. (97% chance of cancer) The diagnosis they are using is cholangiocarcinoma or bile duct cancer. Dr Spillane will call up to UCSF and speak with Dr Corvera, the surgeon, and see about any chemo or infusions to be done before the surgery at the end of June.

We go back up to UCSF on May 24th for another CT scan and to meet face to face with Dr Corvera. 

I think that is all the news we have for now. Our lives are rapidly filling up with medical appointments. My boss, Dr Rarig and the other doctors along with Laurie, the biller, who works reception too,  is amazing and everyone is very supportive during this time. I'm so blessed to have this job.

I know this was a long post, thank you for reading it. Excuse any spelling and all my grammatical errors!

Blessings to all, please keep the prayers coming.

Sharon and Dennis