Bronchoscopy Wednesday

On Monday afternoon, after reviewing Cheryl's x-rays and CT scan and listening to her breathing, Dr. Wumi determined that she has fluid infiltration of the alveoli. He heard some crackling in her inhalation and noted that her lungs are not filling completely with air. In English, that's fluid buildup around the air sacs in the lung. This can be caused by a reaction to the chemotherapy or by an opportunistic infection. If this is a reaction to the chemo, she can be given steroids to reduce the inflammation but if it is an infection, steroids are contraindicated and she would need to be given targeted antibiotics.

Dr. Wumi had planned to do a bronchoscopy with several biopsies but after consultation with Dr. Horesh, Cheryl's vascular doctor, they have decided to pass on performing the biopsies since this would require Cheryl to be off her Lovenox (blood thinner) for half a day and would require placement of another venous filter before proceeding.

Instead, Dr. Wumi will do the bronchoscopy coupled with a wash of her lung to get samples for culture to determine the cause of the inflammation.

The procedure will involve twilight sedation and should take about half an hour. If all goes well, we should have Cheryl home by mid-afternoon. She will be a bit loopy for several hours but should have no ill-effects from the scope.

No Chemo Today

Cheryl was scheduled to start her fourth round of chemo today but that has been put on hold for a bit. She started running a fever last Saturday of around 102. The fever would drop after taking a full dose of Tylenol bu as soon as it wore off, the fever would return. The doctor called in a prescription for Augmentin (antibiotic) which she has been taking twice daily since Saturday evening and her fever continues to return when the Tylenol wears off. She has also been having a dry cough when talking or during mild exertion.

When we arrived for her chemo appointment this morning, the PA took her back to an exam room and updated her vitals. She seemed to think that there is something going on with the pleural effusion in Cheryl's right lung cavity so she had a chest x-ray done at the Lewis Cancer Pavilion. Those results were inconclusive so they sent her over to the hospital for a CT scan of her chest and have scheduled her an appointment on Monday 7/25 with Dr. Wumi. He is the pulmonologist that gave Cheryl her initial diagnosis last summer. She was given a prescription for another antibiotic to take in the meantime.

After Dr. Wumi figures out what is causing the persistent fever and gets it under control Cheryl will be put back on the chemo schedule.

Please be in prayer that this problem can be resolved quickly and that it will not delay further treatment.

Celebrate the 4th with a 44.2

We got Cheryl's latest CA125 today. She has dropped from 89.6 on the test she had on 12 June to 44.2 on the test that was done on 1 July. We are very glad to see that she is responding quickly to the chemo and are encouraged that it has dropped so much after each round.

Overall, she is feeling pretty good and is able to get quite a bit accomplished around the house. Sundays after chemo are usually a down day for her, but by midday Monday, she is generally back to feeling normal.

Continue to pray that her count will keep dropping and that we eventually get a pronouncement of remission.