Mick McKellar Update--Day +170

I have not been posting messages for a few days because I am back in hospital again. Marian drove me to the emergency room at Portage Health on Monday. I woke at 3:00 AM with a slight stomach ache. At 8:00 AM I took some of my medications with water and a few sips of green tea. At 10:00 AM I threw it all up. However, my temperature was 97.2 degrees, and my medications have caused nausea before. By early afternoon, my temperature spiked to 102.3 degrees and we called my oncologist who ordered: "Get thee to the emergency room, pronto!"

A couple of hours and several blood tests later, it was clear that I had a major infection in my gall bladder, an inflamed liver, and pancreatitis. Apparently, I passed a gall stone that temporarily blocked the shared duct for the organs, which would inflame both the liver and the pancreas. An MRI done yesterday did not show any obstructions. This was good news.

As of this morning, my liver is getting mixed reviews (high bilirubin but other numbers are good), my pancreatic enzymes are much lower (indicating it is not as inflamed), and they are considering not taking out my gall bladder -- at least not for now. I continue to receive intravenous antibiotics as my own immune system is incapable of fighting off major infections and needs all the help it can get. The pain in the are of my stomach has finally eased, and my stomach is mostly complaining about taking all those medications without any food as a buffer.

I may be allowed to eat something today. I have not eaten since Sunday evening or even been allowed more than an occasional sip of water since Monday morning. I am looking forward to putting something besides medications in my stomach.

As far as they can tell, none of this has any relation to my transplant or GVHD, although my fledgling immune system makes recovery slower and that nasty old Graft vs.Host Disease boogeyman haunts every decision. I will likely be in hospital at least until tomorrow, maybe longer as they bring down the infection and watch for improvement in my already abused liver. Back in April, GVHD attacked my liver and did a lot of damage. Prior to this problem it was doing quite well and all numbers were normal. Now, old yellow eyes is back.

Anyway, things are stable for the moment and I plan to report any changes. I thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts. They are a true blessing for me.

God bless and good afternoon,

Mick