As of early this afternoon, Ben is on the transplant list. He got the call from his transplant coordinator at 3:20pm and he's set up the whole list of contact phone numbers and which order they'll call which number and they'll be sending a pager too. It should be interesting to see the pile of phones and a pager next to our bed every night.
As for all the medical stuff, his levels actually improved some of the past three weeks so he now has a MELD score of 15, he was at 17 in early January (with an all time personal best of 22 in the hospital at the end of November). And two of his tumor markers came back ok, there's just one that the doctor has to review but the coordinator said that it looks like nothing (hopefully it's just the one that can be elevated by gallstones). Fortunately, if there is a problem, at least it's been caught very, very, very early. I don't think either one of us is too worried about it at this point but it'll be nice to be assured that it really is truely fine.
Next is another doctor appointment next Wednesday. They'll be deciding what to do about his current stent that's in his bile duct. Without a doubt, his MELD score would be higher without it in there. Of course, it's also likely that Ben would not be doing so well without it. Ben's a pro at the ERCP by now though, this will be his forth in five months or so. Maybe they have a "buy three get your next one free"?
So that's all the news we've got for now. We hope everyone has a great weekend!
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I love this!!!
ReplyDeleteJust asking: what's a tumor marker and how can it be elevated by gallstones? I'm really medical terminology-challenged.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and hope to comment (mostly question). I'll get an identity soon, but until then, I'll sign off as aunt, great-aunt, sister Linda