Update to Brian's fluid aspiration from the liver capsule

Mazj
Mazj Member Posts: 42
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Hello everyone,
Firstly let me thank you all for prayers, kind thoughts and well wishes. I am so pleased and humbled to have found such lovely new, but unknown friends.
As you know we have been dealing with this accumulation of fluid in the liver capsule for some time now. It was first noticed in a CT scan on Oct 17 and had 'significantly developed' since CT scan on July 12. There was no free fluid in the peritoneum.

It had grown steadily and become more debilitating for Brian as his liver enlarged and hardened and both thighs, calves and ankles became swollen - sometimes together, but often separately - the left leg becoming painful and making walking really difficult in the past few days.

Finally this morning we headed off to have it aspirated under CT guidance. It took about 3 hours for all the fluid to slowly drain and totalled 2.3 litres. I took a picture but you wouldn't want to see it. The bag was full of pea green stuff! Although we won't have the pathology results until we see the oncologist next week, I would bet that the word 'bile' appears somewhere.

Brian already looks and feels better although he is extremely tired. We spent a few hours in the hospital ward just for observation, but they were very happy to release him late in the afternoon. His left leg is still swollen, but not as much and not as hard, and we hope that goes down soon. His appetite, which had diminished considerably, appears to have returned a bit - although by his own admission, he just couldn't be bothered eating before. There is definitely an emotional toll as well as physical.

On the emotional up side, I read my last post here to him as well as your responses and he had tears in his eyes. This is my therapy and my counselling and he sees how incredibly valuable it is for me.

So thank you all once again and I will let you know when we have more information about the next steps.

Marilyn

Comments

  • paul61
    paul61 Member Posts: 1,392 Member
    #2
    Glad this went well at the hospital
    Marilyn,

    It is good to hear that things went well at the hospital and that Brian is feeling better. We will be keeping our fingers crossed and praying for good news at the oncologist's office next week.

    Best Regards,


    Paul Adams
    McCormick, South Carolina

    DX 10/22/2009 T2N1M0 Stage IIB
    12/03/2009 Ivor Lewis
    2/8 through 6/14/2010 Adjuvant Chemo Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU
    Two year survivor

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