I have felt quite a bit better these last couple days. Relative to the last few weeks. I think getting lots of sleep is helpful. I can feel myself energized by a long sleep, and then gradually getting tired again as the day progresses. I should try to have more naps too, I suppose.
It looks like this anti-nausea drug combo worked again. To combat the cisplatin, I am taking ondanstetron, and 1/2 dose of the steroid that goes with it, and a commercial drug called Emend (aka Aprepitant). I managed not to vomit once so far since getting the dose on Wednesday, which is awesome. So, fingers crossed, I may have weathered cisplatin again without incident. I also suspect that not having the epirubicin in the mix has helped with nausea this last month.
And, even more good news: my tube change seems clean and uninfected. I didn't come down with a high fever with Cholangitus like last time, and the site itself seems to be healing well. I have one stitch there, but it looks clean.
Next Wednesday, I have another ERCP. He will be removing the left stent in the left side of my liver, since that side of the liver is not doing anything anyway. I assume he will also take a look at the right side and see how hard it would be to do ERCP stents replacements there. If it is possible, then it is possible that I could one day remove the external drain on my right side, which is currently capped off. I flushed the bile rube yesterday and managed to get the full 10mL in no problem, so it isn't blocked yet!
Having the bile draining again internally into my system will be useful for digestion of fats, which I certainly could use as I am pretty skinny these days. I am down to 138 pounds (measured in a hospital gown before my tube change). I try to eat as much as possible, honestly. I am also drinking Boost Plus (360 cal per bottle) as a supplement. Anyway, only 2.5 weeks to go before this scheduled chemo/radiation is done, and then I should be able to recover a bit.
Finally, my hiccups are still happening, but at a much reduced rate. They don't wake me up in the night, but when I do wake up to roll from my left side onto my back, then I often hiccup a few times before relaxing again. I can live with it.
