Jun 25, 2017 | Medical Updates
Quick update from Batson: Maggie is currently receiving the third drug (of three) of her chemo regimen – 5FU. This is the 48 hour infusion that will conclude tomorrow (Monday) around noon. For the most part, she has tolerated these infusions extremely well. In...
Jun 23, 2017 | Medical Updates
Friday afternoon from Batson: Maggie had her clinic visit with Dr. Collier this morning (more on that in a minute), and we came prepared for admission. Her pain and discomfort have steadily worsened requiring more strong pain meds to keep her comfortable. Through many...
Jun 17, 2017 | Medical Updates
We’re updating from the Residence Inn where we’ll be staying the night before rolling out early for home. Maggie was discharged around 5:00 pm after eating and tolerating breakfast and lunch. She’s taking it easy in bed – catching up on social...
Jun 16, 2017 | Medical Updates
We’re writing from MDAnderson Endoscopy. Maggie has specifically requested this update to ask for prayers. She will undergoing a procedure to replace her stent. At UAB this proved to be impossible without the help of Interventional Radiology and was not without...
Jun 15, 2017 | Medical Updates
We’ve hit a snag in starting treatment. In lab work today, Maggie’s urine showed signs of a UTI (which we suspected starting yesterday), but, more seriously, it showed signs that the biliary stent is not working (several components that should NOT be in...
Jun 12, 2017 | Medical Updates
We have a date for the official start of the clinical trial. Day 1, cycle 1 will be this Thursday. It took a little adjusting and explaining, but we were able to get the date moved from Tuesday. Now going forward, Thursdays will be the key days for treatments and the...
Jun 8, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie is feeling well and enjoying some relaxing time at home. We’re not at MD Anderson yet, but we did hear from the trial coordinator early in the week to find out when we might be going. It seems there are delays because necessary test kits had not made it...
Jun 6, 2017 | Medical Updates
During rounds this morning with the oncology team, we were given a surprise: Discharge. We are now home. Maggie’s liver enzymes continue their descent. The last hurdle was crossed when Maggie ate lunch and tolerated it well. So, around 2:00 pm we returned home....
Jun 4, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie was admitted to Batson through the (adult) ER here at UMMC last night. She had no complications from the needle biopsy, and we made it home early Friday afternoon. However, she awoke yesterday to serious nausea. After throwing up once she began to run a fever...
Jun 1, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie is recovering from her needle biopsy at our hotel. The procedure went off without apparent complications. We’ll continue to take it easy here tonight and return to Hattiesburg tomorrow. This was her first of three biopsies this month, and she found it to...
May 27, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie finished her screening tests Friday morning, and we drove home to Hattiesburg for a long weekend. As I mentioned in the last post, the trial team was unable to schedule the initial biopsy until she passes all screening. Interventional radiology staff called...
May 23, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie, Phil and I are in Houston. We drove over yesterday in time for a 7:10 pm CT scan. We closed the Mays Clinic down – last patient to leave. Today we were able to relax for the morning and only had a 3:00 pm consult in the GI Center with Maggie’s...
May 17, 2017 | Medical Updates
We finally have some real news regarding our plans for a clinical trial. Before that, I’ll share several test results from MDA. Maggie’s bilirubin was 1.7 – we’re getting close to normal. They also checked her CEA – the tumor marker...
May 11, 2017 | Medical Updates
Hello from Houston. I first want to clear up confusion caused by my sharing of a year old Facebook post. The post showed up as a memory last night and I shared it with an explanation that is was a post from a year ago. Somehow it is “showing up” without my...
May 9, 2017 | Medical Updates
It’s probably past time for an update, but we’ve been enjoying our home time and haven’t stopped to take a serious look behind or ahead. You know that’s not entirely the case, but we have been focusing most of our attention on the present....
May 2, 2017 | Medical Updates
She’s out – discharged around 2:00 after having her targeted therapy infusion. We’re settled in – FOR THE NIGHT – at the Residence Inn. No visit to the ER planned (or unplanned) tonight. We’re traveling home tomorrow morning. Maggie...
May 1, 2017 | Medical Updates
The short news was shared this morning on FaceBook. Here’s the full story: Maggie was taken to Interventional Radiology early this morning. The actual procedure was quick – less than an hour total although while waiting it seemed longer for two reasons: 1)...
Apr 30, 2017 | Medical Updates
What a difference a day makes… Maggie is feeling much better today. The blood cultures (24 hours out) are negative for infection, and she is pain/fever free. Cultures will be checked again at 48 hours, but it looks like the gall bladder was inflamed from the...
Apr 29, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie was admitted to the Oncology floor at UAB this afternoon after a 19 hour wait in the ER. This is what happened and what we know now. After the half-successful procedure yesterday, we returned to the Residence Inn for a night of rest before returning home. After...
Apr 28, 2017 | Medical Updates
Maggie was discharged after having her outpatient procedure, and we are resting at our hotel near the hospital. She is feeling ok and is ready for sleep. The procedure did not go quite as planned. We understood the priority to be internalization of the drain (with...
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