CT results good, HIT test positive

Dear Friends,

I thought I would blog out an update prior to the weekend.

Doc felt around my belly yesterday and was pleased to be unable to feel anything bad.

The CT results were overall good: lungs, no change; heart, no change; largest liver lesion decreased from 26x25mm to 20x17mm; another decreased from 18mm to 15mm; "...multiple additional smaller hepatic lesions are stable to slightly decreased in size. No new hepatic lesions..."; spleen, no change; gallbladder mildly distended (?); pancreas, adrenals, kidneys, bowel OK.

Thank You Jesus!

Now, those mm measurements may seem small, but if you consider the lesion as a 3 dimensional block, and assume the same proportional decrease, it means the first lesion decreased in volume (and presumably mass) down to 38% of its size last time. A similar math exercise yields a decrease down to 57% for the second lesion.

It also says the esophagus has thickened slightly, particularly at the bottom where it joins the stomach. Could be bad, yes, but it could be other things as well. Scarring, maybe new tissue growth, or a side reaction to the Nexovar, which can do all sorts of odd things--including (I recently found out) maybe causing the necrotic tissue seen on the last GE scope. It might even be part of the Heparin allergy we just found out about.

About a month ago, Doc had a hunch about this HIT problem, so he ordered a blood test, which we sent off to the lab. The results never came back from the off site lab, and the staff kept calling and finally got the lab to admit that they had screwed it up. Either they lost the sample, or forgot to prepare it correctly, or something like that. So we had to get another sample and try again. It came back positive.

Heparin is an anti-coagulant that we use to flush my IV lines after using them for chemo, feeding, blood draws, etc. After flushing the line with saline to clean it out, you then "pack" the line with Heparin so that any blood that backs into the line won't coagulate and clog the tubing. The next time you use the tubing, you flush it again with saline, which pushes the packed Heparin into your bloodstream. So I get at least one small dose of Heparin daily, sometimes several depending on what we're using the PICC line for.

When the Heparin gets in the blood, it attaches itself to platelet cells and prevents them from clotting. That's how it's supposed to work. But a small percentage of the population can develop an allergy to Heparin. When my antibodies check out my platelet cells, they don't recognize them as being part of my own body anymore because of the molecular alteration done by the Heparin molecule attaching itself to the platelets. So the antibodies do their job and attack the perceived "foreign" cell.

So we have good platelet cells being destroyed, and the immune system being distracted away from fighting cancer and other diseases.

This leads to platelet cells being destroyed, and can lead to, (ironically enough, since Heparin is used as an anti-coagulant) the formation of dangerous clots. Things like DVT, heart attacks, strokes, etc.

So, no more Heparin soup for you!:)

It's amazing to think of this strange fratricide event, this little war that we knew nothing about, raging inside of my blood for who knows how long.

So far the lines have not clogged even though they are being flushed only with saline now and no Heparin.

For this morning's blood check, all levels were still low. But the red and platelet counts were improved a bit. The white count was back down though, so I got a little booster shot for that.

Elizabeth is toughing it out in swim team. The practices are really kicking her behind--she comes home pretty much wiped out. They make them run and do push ups, crunches, leg lifts, and other stuff. But she placed pretty well in her first swim meet.

Deanna has a few so far benign cysts around her thyroid she is dealing with.

We have a signed purchase contract for the Florida house. The process seems to be on track so far, although the buyers' bank is making noise about being unable to approve the loan by the closing date. They want an extension. We're starting to eyeball houses in McKinney.

God Bless you all,
-Mike