The lost week.

Photo by Jordan Madrid on Unsplash

I went into the doctor on Monday because I couldn’t stop leaking fluid out of my surgery wounds. By Wednesday my abdomen had swelled to 2x it’s normal size and the pain was unbearable. My oncologist left the room for a few minutes and when he came back he told me they were going to admit me overnight to get the aceites under control. Ascites is typically a fluid build up from the liver resulting from advanced liver disease. Basically I am so inflamed that my body can’t get rid of the fluid on it’s own.

My oncologist talked to the medical team and they agreed that the best thing to do was to admit me and get this under control. Once I was admitted I went in for another ultrasound to identify the fluid location and was then sent to radiology so that they could do paracentesis. Paracentesis is basically where they stick a large needle in my abdomen to remove fluid. I wasn’t sedated for the procedure and didn’t really know what to expect. Once the needle was in the doctor hooked me up to a vacuum and pulled over 2000 ml of fluid out of my abdomen. Given the amount of fluid and the risk of it building up again the doctors sent me home with a drain and a reservoir so I could track how much fluid was coming out. Since Wednesday I’ve lost between 1500 to 2000 ml per day. The swelling has gone down and is noticeably better in my lower abdomen but the upper part is still distended and extremely painful.

Everyone is telling me the liver swelling and inflammation will go away once I start chemo. I have no energy right now and none of the pain medication is working. The ibuprofen and acetaminophen are something I take daily to control pain and inflammation. The opiates do nothing for me except to produce side effects (like vomiting and hearing loss in my right ear). The cannabis has been moderately effective but I have developed an immunity to the strain that I bought so I’m now exploring 1:1 CBD/THC drops and a vape pen. At this point I’ll try anything if it lessens the pain.

Troy and I decided to take the weekend to go to our friend’s house in Santa Rosa. While I am physically here mentally I am in a different place. I’ve had a hard time keeping my eyes open because I am so exhausted from the pain so I’ve basically spent the last two days on the couch sleeping with the dogs. I know Frank new what was going on but our friends dog Roscoe also picked up something was wrong and hasn’t left my side. Both have been my napping buddies which is providing a little relief.

I start chemo on Thursday and I am praying that it helps and that I can get some relief over the next two weeks. I’ll take the side effects of chemo over how I feel right now any day.

-Brynn