I am a huge fan of the members of the medical community that have continued to be so supportive and diligent in keeping this body moving forward.
Today I had a phone call with both Dr. R. (Oncologist) and Dr. M (Gastrointestinal). Such awesome doctors that care so much about their patients.
Feels like I have some good plans in progress.
They are both aware that I am in conversations with each other so I am maintaining my role as my own advocate. An important position if you are in position to manage it. I partner with Tracey on all of the management, advocacy, logistics and for good reason she’s heavily responsible for remembering what has been said as my memory is shot from so many surgeries, drugs etc.
The Oncologist realizes this is a GI led initiative but he’s suggested I increase steroid levels as this will help with inflammation. He’s also suggested I stay on my chemotherapy break (started October 1st) to reduce variables and gives me a bit more strength for next steps.
The GI doc and I had a long talk about all our options. In the end we decided to go in for another ERCP early next week. The hope is that we can get in and clean the stent out and have another look around. He also asked me to increase my creon enzyme intake before each meal to help with digestion prior to the procedure.
The increased steroid and increased enzyme intake are both attempts at providing relief prior to the next procedure.
The pain I am experiencing is enough to warrant using Hydromorph on the occasional basis, mostly just after a meal. Here’s hoping the procedure is successful as my desire to be on opiates is very low. I don’t like the side effects and the fear of dependency is high.