Nancy is resting comfortably after two procedures at MMC today. Early this morning (7:20 a.m.) she had surgery to place stents in her ureters. The first is to open a passage from her left kidney, which was blocked; the second is to prevent a similar blockage of the right kidney. This is the procedure that was originally scheduled for Thursday. Because Nancy's creatinine level (a measure of kidney fnction) was so high yesterday, her doctors chose to do the surgery sooner.
Nancy arrived back to her room in the Gibson Unit at about 10:15 a.m. She had not yet transferred back to her bed when they sent for her for the second procedure, paracentesis to drain the fluid (ascites) that had collected in her abdomen. This fluid was pressing on her internal organs and making her nauseous and weak. With the help of ultrasound, four liters of fluid was drained from Nancy's abdomen. (For those who are having trouble picturing how much that is, think of two full two-liter bottles of Coke!). As soon as the paracentesis was done, Nancy felt relief and was much more comfortable. While she was waiting to be transported back to her room, she got a visit (and flowers!) from her neighbor and friend, John Mullen. John works in the radiology department at MMC so he knew right where to find Nancy!
When I left the hospital this afternoon, Nancy was resting and looking forward to getting some sleep. Her old friend, Betsy Seavey was there with her, and Andrea was on her way in so it seemed like a good time for me to slip out. The goal of her treatment now is to get her strong enough for another course of Doxil (chemo) later this month. I'll continue to keep everyone posted through this blog.
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