Unexpected Hospital Stay

I'm writing this as I sit next to Dennis at the hospital.  He was admitted 2 days ago....

Saturday, August 12th-

We were concerned that Dennis had fluid building up in his chest and abdomen,  it's called ascites. He started running a fever which can be typical after chemo treatment. But, with the concern of the ascites, we were advised to get it checked out at the hospital to make sure there wasn't any bacteria in the fluid and causing the fever. The fluid can be drained when it builds up. That's what we were expecting to happen. 

Dennis told the triage nurse at the ER that he has waves of pressure in his chest.  (this has been going on since he had the stents placed in his bile ducts, so, we haven't thought that much about it.)

The ER Dr ordered a cardiac blood panel and one of his cardiac enzymes, troponin, was elevated. Troponin isn't in your blood unless your heart gets stressed, so that is a red flag. Needless to say, Dennis was kept overnight for observation. An echocardiogram was ordered to evaluate his heart and an abdominal ultrasound was ordered to check if there is fluid in his chest/abdomen. These would be done the next morning. 

Sunday August 13th:

The on-call cardiologist came in and said he would wait for the results of the echocardiogram. He had some concerns that the immunotherapy Dennis had on the 9th might be causing the troponin to be in Dennis's blood. But, the numbers were going down and that is good news.

He also said that Dennis would be staying another night.

Monday August 14th:

The same cardiologist came back in and said Dennis's echocardiogram looked normal.  His concern is that the immunotherapy,  which retrains your cells to attack cancer like it would a bacteria, is attacking the cells in Dennis's heart.  This isn't typical,  but not uncommon. 

Later today,  Dennis will have an angiogram to make sure that they aren't missing any blockages in his heart. If needed they will place stents where needed. After that is done they will biopsy the heart muscle and send it to a pathologist. The pathology will help determine if it's the immunotherapy causing these problems.  If so, no more immunotherapy! But, Dennis can continue chemo. 

Dennis will most likely spend the next 3 days in the hospital.  He is not happy about this, but, is compliant. The window in his ground level room is locked,  we checked! So no going AMA (Against Medical Advice)  Just kidding....maybe 😉

The abdominal ultrasound showed some ascites. But, for now the heart issue override the ascites. 

It may be a few days before I know more and I will post when I do.

We appreciate your continued prayers for us. We know there is so much going on in the world and we are praying for so many in different situations around the globe.🌎 

In all of this, we continue to gather our strength through God's love and through His Word.

Blessings, 

Sharon and Dennis