Hi all, ERCP was moved up to 10:00 am this morning. I got there just as they began. It didn't last long. The doctor came out and told us the bile ducts were not obstructed. The tumor biopsy came back negative which is wonderful news. So, what we do know is that the blocked stent and/or tumor remains are not blocking the bile drainage in the duct. The old stent is clogged with non-malignant tissue. The new stent is working great. This leads the doctors to believe the issue at hand is with the function of the liver. We are going to consult with a hepatologist and find out what the next test will be.
Dad's fever is elevated this evening 100.8 again, so I imagine his pancreas is a little ticked off that they went back in there. He is not going home yet, but we expect some sort of release this weekend.
Thanks for the thoughts and prayers and thanks to Dr. Bacera for the right formulation of chemo drugs....thank you to Dr. Cho for the radiation to finish the job and thanks to the good Lord for giving them the wisdom to treat this disease.
Updates will follow as soon as I know something. Cherish

Bilirubin is down to 34 again today, however, they are still going in with another ERCP at around 1:00. They want to take some pictures and see if there is a blockage or not. If there is not a blockage, he will see a hepatologist (liver specialist) to see if there is some problem with the function of his liver. They may send him home for the weekend so he isn't continually exposed to hospital germs. I will update after the procedure and let everyone know what the verdict is on the stent function/liver function. Cherish

Dad's bilirubin is up to 39. I think that means more procedures. I haven't gotten all of the scoop yet, but I will let you know soon. C

Dad is in very good spirits tonight.....we are waiting on the next bilirubin test. Apparantly we had some blood go into the twilight zone of hospital bloodwork. He is not eating at least until tomorrow. Fever is gone. Frase came by today and that cheered him up.
Angela and I sat there knitting most of the time and I think it drove him a little crazy especially when we missed a stitch or forgot if we were knitting or purling. It is fun though....helps with stress!
I will update in the morning when we get bloodwork ...C

The bilirubin is down to 35 today. That is a 15% decrease which is fair. We had planning on 50% in 24 hours. The pancreas numbers are still not in yet for this morning. He is avoiding eating to keep that in check. Fever is 100.8 this morning. I think we caught the pancreatitis early so that will really help. He seems very optimistic and in a good mood. Maybe it's the morphine, but he isn't too stressed about the pancreas. More later. C

Dad went in for ERCP today. We spoke at length with Dr. Tang before hand. He seemed like a wonderful doctor. He said he tried to see what was wrong and apparantly one of his stents had done a 180 degree turn and was now shaped like a U or V rather than straight. The other stent was completely blocked with sludge or other material which he took brushings of. Around 8:00 they took blood and came back with a diagnosis of pancreatitis and no change in bilirubin. We had hoped it would go down.
We are all hoping the pancreatitis will resolve quickly and that they will be able to drain him by tomorrow with percutaneous stents or somthing.
Thank you once again for your faithfullness and kind thoughts and prayers.

Dad is very weak and very sick. He is going into the hospital tomorrow I am sure. I think he will have surgery this week for sure. His bilirubin is up to 40.5 now. It is pretty scarey. I am trying not to panic. I don't understand what is going on but there is some kind of blockage in his liver somewhere. I told Jeff to come home. I don't want him to be away for this. I may have jumped the gun, but I think I would want to be close by. We are praying for no pancreatitis this time and that we will get a clear liver quickly.
Please remember him in your prayers.
Cherish